Reeths-Puffer’s Bryce Ross is always around the football, making a ton of impact plays on offense, defense and special teams.
He’s a swiss army knife type of player who does a lot of things really well and desperately wants to win football games.
He starts at slot receiver. He starts at safety. He returns kickoffs and punts.
In every one of those roles he’s produced memorable moments.
But there’s always risk involved for a do-everything player like Ross. Mistakes are bound to happen – sometimes painful ones – and Ross had two big ones in last week's showdown at Mona Shores that played into the loss.
Ross (2) looks for running room while playing quarterback against Farmington.
Ross admits that he took his mistakes pretty hard, but said he also uses pain for motivation going forward.
“I know how hard I work, so when I make mistakes like that I get upset with myself,” he said. “I think being hard on myself is not necessarily a bad thing, as long as I’m ready and understand the next moment.”
“He always wants to make a play, and (the mistakes) are never out of stupidity,” said R-P head coach Cody Kater. “He’s always out there trying to do what’s best for the team. And when Bryce Ross has an experience like that, on the next play he usually does something really good.”
Rocket fans know Ross' great plays easily outnumber the bad ones.
His highlight reel really started last season in the Rockets’ season-opening win against Grand Haven, when Ross caught a touchdown pass from his brother (former R-P quarterback Brady Ross), threw a touchdown pass himself on a trick play, and intercepting a pass on defense.
Ross and R-P head coach Cody Kater during the Muskegon game last year.
He had other big games as a junior, catching two passes for 63 yards against St. Johns, returning a kickoff 91 yards against Muskegon, making five catches (including a touchdown reception) against Zeeland East, and recording five tackles and an interception against Lansing Everett.
Ross has continued his strong play this season, starting with his 15-yard touchdown catch in another opening-game win over Grand Haven.
He came up huge in Week 2 in Farmington, when he was forced to start at quarterback after the first- and second-string QBs went down with injuries.
He turned in a brilliant performance, passing for 203 yards and breaking several big runs, despite having no preseason practice time at the position.
“Coach sent in a lot of plays that I was comfortable with,” said Ross, who helped the Rockets to a 34-18 win. "It was fun throwing the ball downfield, finding guys and making plays.”
Ross celebrates with his brother Brady (12) after they connected on a TD pass last year.
Ross is successful because he’s passionate, gets a lot of out of his smallish 5-10, 180-pound frame, and plays the game with intelligence, according to Kater.
“He’s a student of the game and his eyes are always in the right spot,” Kater said. “He knows how to get around the ball, he knows what needs to be done, and he’s going to keep learning more and getting better with experience.”
Ross’ contributions continued last week against Mona Shores, when he caught a 15-yard touchdown pass, set up a field goal with a 41-yard kickoff return, and led the defense with six tackles and nine assists from his safety position.
There were also the more difficult moments.
One came early in the game when Ross was flagged for roughing the passer, negating a Reeths-Puffer interception on the play, and the Sailors went on to score a touchdown on the drive.
Ross breaks up a Grand Haven pass while playing defense last season.
“That was pretty tough,” Ross said. “We caught a pick on that play in the end zone. We were going to have all the momentum early in the game, and two or three plays later they scored. In my mind it should have been 0-0 and instead they were up 7-0.”
Another rough moment came late in the third quarter when Ross fumbled a punt that was recovered by Mona Shores and led to another TD.
"That was one of my more disappointing moments of my career,” he said.
In a lot of ways, Ross’ performance mirrored the way his team performed, particularly on offense. Reeths-Puffer moved the ball well but had four turnovers in the game, with two leading to Sailor TDs.
Coach Kater thinks the Rockets may have been distracted by the excitement of playing in a very big game, and Ross completely agrees.
Ross fields a kick against Mona Shores
“All of us were locked in on what we were supposed to do, but we might have been caught up in how we would be feeling after the game, rather than being in the moment and executing,” Ross said. “Playing in front of 7,000-plus people was an experience in and of itself, it was our first really big game in a long time, and some people were picking us to win.”
Kater knows that Ross was hurting inside after game, but knows that like the rest of the team, he will use the experience as fuel for the fire.
“We ask a lot of him, and I know he’s frustrated because he always believes he can do more,” the coach said. “He let himself down, but he’s always going to be able to bounce back. He’s one of our key players and key pieces.”
Ross says the entire team will bounce back and benefit from the tough experience.
“This week been a lot about R-P vs. R-P and how we can get better as a team,” he said. “We are focused on what our team really needs. This week will help us a lot moving forward.”
