Check out our WKTV highlights from host Tri-unity Christian’s 38-22 win over Our Lady of the Lake Catholic in 8-player football Friday.
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A heartbreaking 14-44 loss to Morrice at Grandville Middle School Saturday afternoon sent the Tri-unity High School Defenders home after the second round of the playoffs.
Throughout the first quarter it was mainly an offensive battle. Trailing in the first quarter, Tri-unity was able to claw back and tie the game 14-14. After the first quarter, however, it was a difficult battle to get back in the game after fumbles and interceptions plagued the Tri-unity offense.
“They were bigger, faster, and stronger than us,” Tri-unity head coach Tim Heath said to WKTV.
Being the first loss of the year, the Defenders couldn’t help but hold back tears as Heath addressed the now 10-1 team.
“We’re a tight knit group,” Heath said. “This isn’t a (big school). We don’t have 35 or 40 guys on our sideline. We have 13. It really is a family.”
For seniors Benson Heath, Brayden Ophoff, and Bennett Sinner, this was the last time they’ll suit up as Defenders on the football field. But Heath wouldn’t let the season end without acknowledging all they’ve done for the team.
“Brayden played great, Benson had a big catch, and Bennett had a little momentum going our way,” Heath said. “Our big players still made plays, they (Morrice) just made more.”
Although Saturday afternoon’s game came with an unfamiliar ending for the Defenders, they can find comfort in how they played. Tri-Unity’s 14 points were the most points Morrice allowed since a Sept. 14 game against Lawerence.
“We didn’t play bad,” said Heath. “They just played really good.”
Also around the Wyoming and Kentwood area, both South Christian’s and East Kentwood’s football teams fell to their opponents this weekend. Holland Christian beat South Christian, 22-19. Saline defeated East Kentwood, 42-7.
Tri-unity Christian High School’s undefeated and 2nd ranked 8-man football team survived some early and occasional defensive lapses to post a fairy easy, 50-20, win over Webberville at Grandville Middle School, Friday night, Oct. 26, in the Defenders’ opening-round state playoff game.
Tri-unity (10-0) will now move on to the state 8-man Division 1 regional finals, hosting No. 3 ranked Morrice, also now 10-0 after a 57-0 win over Genesee Friday, again at home and at Grandville Middle School, but this time during the day, with a 1 p.m. starting time on Saturday, Nov. 3.
After giving up an early big play touchdown to fall behind 6-0, the Defenders responded in the first quarter with a 15-yard touchdown run from senior quarterback Brayden Ophoff, a 20-yard scoring pass from Ophoff to senior Benson Heath, and a successful 2-point conversion pass from Ophoff to Colby Langeler to hold a 14-6 lead starting the second quarter.
Tri-unity then added two more touchdowns in the second — a 75-yard punt return by Nick Wedeven (a co-op player from Holland Calvary) and a 9-yard run from Benson Heath — combined with a successful 2-point extra point after the first score, to take a commanding 30-6 lead.
On every drive, it seemed, Defender quarterback Ophoff gained key yards, with his legs and his passing arm.
“I just try to do whatever I can to get the first down, get the yards we need to get,” Ophoff, who was 12-of-20 passing on the night, said to WKTV after the game. And he said he and the team was focused on answering every Webberville challenge. “I told them we just have to move on.”
Webbervile’s Spartans. who entered the game with a 4-5 record, tried to get back into the game with another big play in the second quarter, a 48-yard run, to close the game to 30-12. But Tri-unity answered the challenge quickly, on another TD pass from Ophoff to Heath, a 70-yard scoring run also by Heath with a following 2-point conversion, to take an all-but untouchable 44-12 lead into the half.
“We’ve got some explosive guys that can make big plays,” Defender head coach Tim Heath said to WKTV. “Brandon Ophoff had a couple big runs there. Benson Heath, Nick Wedeven … came up with some great ones. We have the firepower.”
The second half was all but anti-climatic as the Spartans ground out much of the 3rd quarter with a 75-yard drive, mostly on the ground, to close the score to 44-20. But the Defenders answered less than 3 minutes later, after a 50-yard run by Ophoff and a short TD pass from Ophoff to Bennett Sinner, to end the 3rd with a 50-20 lead.
Neither team scored in the 4th quarter.
Heath, after telling his team “to be proud of winning a high school playoff game” after the final horn sounded, reminded his players they need to play better to be beat a team like Morrice next week.
“The big plays (by Webberville) were uncharacteristic of us, there were some blown assignments that we don’t normally have,” Heath said. “Hats off to Webberville, they had some athletes that ran the ball hard. But big plays that we don’t normally give up — that I’m not very happy with … always looking to improve. … We have to play better” next week.
But, next week, playing at home will be an advantage.
“We are really happy that we get to play at home,” Ophoff said. “We’ve had to travel the last couple of years” early in the playoffs.
Four area teams are going to the playoffs this year, including Tri-unity Christian, South Christian, Godwin Heights and East Kentwood. Although the first round of the playoffs can be a door to something bigger, all four coaches are taking a “back-to-basics” approach this week.
“We’re just trying to keep things consistent,” Godwin Heights head coach Brandan Kimble, echoing his fellow coaches, said to WKTV.
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Kimble and his team are taking on the South Christian Sailors Friday, Oct. 26, at 7 p.m., at East Kentwood High School. Godwin Heights finished the regular season 6-3, while Mark Tamminga’s South Christian Sailors gained the playoffs as an at-large team with a 5-4 record.
For Kimble, this week comes with excitement and uncertainty. The Wolverines started off the season 1-3, but as players became more comfortable with their coach and started buying into the system, Kimble says that’s when things started to take off. Now their hoping their kids can keep with the system a little longer.
“We’re just trying to keep things consistent,” said Kimble. “We’re just going to change a few things so they can understand the importance of the week, tweak some things and then add a little bit more intensity to practice.”
Curt Copeland, assistant coach and athletic director for South Christian, is trying to help head coach Mark Tamminga win their first playoff game since 2014, the year they won their last championship.
“We’re trying to retrain our kids and get them back to understanding what it takes to make a deep run and it starts with the first week of the playoffs,” said Copeland.
Also at East Kentwood High School this weekend is East Kentwood’s opening round playoff game. The Falcons (8-1) will be hosting Brighton High School. Located towards Eastern Michigan, the Bulldogs went 7-2, with their only loses coming twice to Belleville.
East Kentwood won their final game last week against Rockford, giving them the OK-Red title. And head coach Anthony Kimbrough couldn’t be more excited for his kids.
“I coach because of them,” said Kimbrough. “I come out everyday seeing these kids wanting to get better. One of our goals was to be OK-Red champs, and beating Rockford Friday, for that to come true is tremendous for our program.”
In 8-man playoff action, head coach Tim Heath and his Tri-unity team have gone 9-0 this season, beating No. 2 ranked Colon in Week 9. They will be hosting Webberville at Grandville Middle School,m also Friday, Oct. 26, at 7 p.m. Colon finished their season 4-5, another at-large team sneaking into the playoffs.
Coach Heath doesn’t plan on changing anything in preparation of his Defenders. For his undefeated team, Heath’s mantra for this week is “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”.
“We don’t do anything different,” said Heath. “… The same preparation that goes into every game we’re taking into this game.”
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