By K.D.Norris
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.
