Tag Archives: Rockford Football

East Kentwood falls short at Rockford in OK Red football showdown

Citizen Journalism, City of Kentwood, Kentwood Public Schools, Local Sports, Sports, West Michigan, , , , ,
East Kentwood at Rockford Football. (WKTV Friday Night Highlights/9-29-25/Eli Reed)


By Greg Chrapek
WKTV Contributor
greer@wktv.org


In a battle between two of the premier Division 1 high school football heavyweights in West Michigan, the Rockford Rams made a few more big plays than East Kentwood and that proved to be the difference as the Rams grabbed a 21-14 OK Red win.

Defense and the running game played big parts in the showdown as Rockford handed the Falcons their first loss of the season.

“I thought it wasn’t one of our best games,” said East Kentwood Coach Tyrone Spencer. “I felt that the effort was there. We fought hard, but we definitely made a lot of mistakes that we could’ve prevented. We had a lot of opportunities on our end that we did not take advantage of. We could’ve played a lot better overall, especially on defense.”

Neither team was able to put any points on the scoreboard during the opening quarter of the game. 


Rockford on offense during the Rams 21-14 home victory over East Kentwood Friday. (Photo Courtesy, Eli Reed)

Rams strike first

Rockford broke the scoring drought in the second quarter, when it scored on a 19-yard touchdown run to go up 7-0 with 10:35 remaining in the first half after the extra point kick.

The score remained that way until late in the first half when both teams scored in the final minute of the half.

East Kentwood tied the game when quarterback Kayd Coffman capped a drive by running in for a touchdown from four-yards out. Jayden Garcia kicked the extra point to tie the game at 7-7 with 49 seconds remaining in the first half.


East Kentwood quarterback Kayd Coffman sets the offense during the Falcons 21-14 loss to Rockford Friday. (Photo Courtesy, Eli Reed)



Those 49 seconds, however, proved to be enough time for Rockford to regain the lead before halftime. 

Starting on their own 25-yard line, Rockford quickly moved down field on a 15-yard run by quarterback Braylen Daniels and a 38-yard pass play from Daniels to Jax Eichbauer. Daniels then finished the drive connecting with Jackson Cummings on a 22-yard touchdown pass with 12 seconds remaining in the half. Rockford added the point after to take a 14-7 lead into halftime.

Both defenses tightened up during the third quarter as neither team put any points on the scoreboard.

Midway through the fourth quarter, East Kentwood drove down to the Rockford one-yard line, but on a fourth down and goal from the one, the Ram defense came up big and kept the Falcons out of the end one.


East Kentwood fans filled the visitor stands during their 21-14 loss to Rockford Friday. (Photo Courtesy, Eli Reed)



Rockford turned to its ground game and went on a long drive of its own. The Rams eventually scored as Luke Ahern ran across the goal line with 5:04 remaining in the game, giving Rockford a 21-7 lead.

East Kentwood, however, refused to fold and cut the deficit to 21-14 with 3:48 remaining in the game. Coffman broke free for a 39-yard touchdown run.

That was as close as the Falcons would get as Rockford put the game on ice with its running game.

“We missed some shots we had,” Spencer said. “We had three fourth-and-ones that we missed and we have got to get those. Against good teams you are not going to get too many opportunities and you have to take advantage of them when you get them.”



East Kentwood and Rockford battled it out Friday night. (Photo Courtesy, Eli Reed)



East Kentwood finished with 358 total yards; 231 on the ground and 127 through the air.

Coffman led the way for the Falcons with 101 yards on seven carries and two touchdowns. He also completed 13-of-28 passes for 127 yards.

Jesse Phillips added 59 yards rushing on 12 carries, while Nasir Williams added 51 rushing on 13 carries.

Ahman Edmonds led the Falcons with nine catches for 90 yards, followed by Owen Van Der Veen, three for 33 yards.

Malachi Daly with seven tackles

Malachi Daly led the Falcons with seven tackles, followed by Major Barnes, five tackles and an interception, Donavan Jones, three tackles, an interception and a tackle for loss and Jaziel Negron, four tackles, including a tackle for loss.

“Defensively, we did create three turnovers so we did do some good things on defense,” Spencer said. “We did miss some alignments on defense so we have some things to work on defensively.”

With the loss, the Falcons fell to 3-1 overall, 1-1 in the conference. They return to action Friday when they host Caledonia (2-2 overall, 0-2 in conference play) with losses to Hudsonville and Grandville.

“We are excited about this week,” Spencer said. “I think we match up well with Caledonia. Like everybody else in the OK Red, there are no gimmees. You have to come ready to play and ready to play hard. We can’t have misalignments and miscues. We have to be ready to play our best on offense, defense and special teams.” 

Rockford defeats host East Kentwood 45-27; both teams headed to Division 1 playoffs

Citizen Journalism, City of Kentwood, Kent County, Kentwood Public Schools, Local Sports, Sports, West Michigan, , , ,



By Cris Greer

WKTV Managing Editor/Sports Director

greer@wktv.org



Visiting Rockford knocked off East Kentwood 45-27 Friday. The Rams improved to 5-2 in the OK Red, 7-2 overall, while the Falcons fell to 4-3 in the Red, 5-4 overall.


Despite the loss to Rockford, the Falcons already had clinched a Division 1 playoff berth with their 31-7 win over Jenison last Friday. Rockford also is headed to the playoffs.


Stay tuned for the playoff brackets which drop Sunday night.

Rockford advances to district final with 50-14 win over East Kentwood

City of Kentwood, Sports, West Michigan, ,
Check out these great highlights of the Rockford/East Kentwood Division 1 playoff opener Friday. Rockford defeated East Kentwood 50-14. (WKTV/Hunter Veltema)



By Zach Fanko, WKTV Contributor

Momentum swings in football can be fickle and East Kentwood experienced that firsthand tonight as Rockford ran away from the Falcons for a 50-14 Division 1 district semifinal victory.

Things got off to a rough start for East Kentwood as a sack and fumble on the game’s first play led to a Mac VandenHout touchdown on a quarterback keeper from 2-yards out to put the Rams ahead 7-0 at the 11:02 mark.

The Falcons responded with a drive of their own as QB Ben Cash found his receiver J’Kari Couch twice, once on a nice deep ball to setup Elisee Kanda for one of his two TDs tonight to even the game at 7-7 with 6:04 left in the first quarter.

Rockford didn’t waste any time getting back into scoring position as Alex McLean returned the ensuing kickoff all the way back to the East Kentwood 13-yard-line.

Two plays later, VandenHout connected with Ethan Lyon for the 11-yard score and a 14-7 lead.

The East Kentwood offense lines up against Rockford’s defense during Friday night’s Division 1 district semifinal. (WKTV/Zach Fanko)

Following a Rams’ field goal, the Falcons trailed 17-7 before Couch had another big catch inside the 10-yard line.

Kanda finished off the drive with a 1-yard TD run to bring the score to 17-14 with 1:57 left in the opening stanza.

On the next drive, East Kentwood seized possession on a 4th-and-goal stop at the 1-yard-line by Kanda with 8 minutes remaining in the second quarter.

Then disaster struck as Cash had trouble with a shotgun snap and lost the ball out of the back of the end zone for a Rockford safety to make it 19-14.

The Rams took advantage of the swing in momentum as senior QB VandenHout capped off a 70-yard drive with a 1-yard keeper for the score.

VandenHout later connected with McLean, who outran the entire Falcons’ defense for a 49-yard TD and a 33-14 advantage at halftime.

McLean finished the game with seven receptions for 98 yards and three total TDs, while VandenHout scored five TDs (two on the ground) as Rockford (10-0) advances to next week’s district final against the winner of Caledonia and Grandville.

Despite the loss, East Kentwood (5-5) Coach Tony Kimbrough says his team has a lot to be proud of after qualifying for the playoffs. The Falcons finished 2-7 in 2021.

“Proud of our seniors and the way they turned it around,” Kimbrough said. “They put in the work, they led us, they did all the right things in the offseason.

“I told them not to let this define them, because we did some great things this year.”

The future is bright for East Kentwood football according to Kimbrough, who is challenging his younger players to take it to the next level in the offseason.

“Our seniors had a great message for our underclassmen,” Kimbrough said. “Hopefully, they take it to heart and work twice as hard in the weight room, speed and agility, all the things I’m going to ask of them.

“We’ve got some talented kids coming up from JV and we should be really good on the offensive and defensive line.”

Rockford remains unbeaten after 41-20 win over East Kentwood

City of Kentwood, Sports, West Michigan, , , ,

By Zach Fanko, WKTV Contributing Writer



With its game last week against Grand Haven forfeited, Rockford made use of extra time in preparation for East Kentwood in a 41-20 victory over the Falcons.



The Rams clung to a 7-0 lead after one quarter and were still ahead 14-7 when disaster struck East Kentwood before halftime in the form of a special teams mistake. The Falcons lined up for a punt late in the first half, but instead were unable to get the punt off and failed to convert on fourth down.



“You can’t give up short field and especially to one of the best teams in the state,” East Kentwood coach Tony Kimbrough said. “You do that and they will make you pay for it.”



The Falcons did indeed pay for their mistake as Rockford converted the short field into a touchdown and a 20-7 lead at the break.

East Kentwood players receive instruction from their coach during Friday night’s game against Rockford. (WKTV/Nathan Piers)



Using a combination of exotic blitzes and different fronts, the Rams defense was able to shut down East Kentwood’s offense in the second half and build a decisive lead.

“Defensively we were solid all night long,” Rockford coach Brent Cummings said. “Pretty proud of our defensive line and linebackers. We wanted to attack their size with our team speed.”



It is often said that football is a “game of inches” and for East Kentwood it was the “little things” that prevented them from winning tonight, according to Kimbrough.



“We were battling early on and it was very close,” Kimbrough said. “You make a little mistake here and there and it can really make the difference. We have to be more technically sound.”



Ben Cash led the Falcons offensively with 74 rushing yards and a touchdown, as well as Elisee Kanda with 54 rushing yards and two scores. Stellan Bowman had 12 tackles and two sacks on defense.



East Kentwood (3-2, 2-1 OK Red) faces another stiff test as it travels to unbeaten Caledonia (5-0, 3-0 OK Red) next Friday. Meanwhile, Rockford (5-0, 3-0) clashes with Grandville (4-1, 2-1 OK Red).

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