MUSKEGON TWP. — After several close calls and near misses in recent seasons, the Reeths-Puffer football team has finally slain “the beast.”
The Rockets have been growing as a program over the past two seasons, but were still searching for a signature win against a perennial power in the O-K Green conference, like Muskegon, Mona Shores or Zeeland West.
On an emotional Senior Night on Friday, that win finally arrived.
Reeths-Puffer’s defense stood tall and the offense made enough plays for the Rockets to pull off a 14-12 win over Zeeland West — R-P’s first ever win against the Dux — to close the regular season.
R-P's Elliot Schneider (28) finishes off a tackle. Photo/Jeremy Clark
“Our message this week was ‘Kill the beast,’ and it had nothing to do with Zeeland West,” R-P Coach Cody Kater said. “It had everything to do with this beast lurking around in our hallways and in our program and in other programs, just the way people talk, that we can’t do things like this.
“At the end of the day we found a way, and we hadn’t been finding ways against programs like this the last two years. It was great to get that beast out of our program.”
After R-P scored more than 35 points each of the last three weeks, it was the defense’s turn to lead the way on Friday. The Rockets came up with several huge stops, led by senior Caiden Bolduc with eight solo tackles and eight more assisted stops.
“Last week our defense was shaky in that situation and it came down to our offense,” Bolduc said. “This week our defense had to step up.”
The senior credited his coaches and teammates for coming together to stop the Dux’ Wing-T offense.
R-P's Caiden Bolduc (8) makes one of his eight tackles. Photo/Jeremy Clark
“It takes a village,” Bolduc said. “Everybody’s got to be keyed in on their assignment. Everybody’s got their specific role to play in that.”
At 7-2 overall, and 5-2 in the O-K Green, the Rockets are playoff-bound. While matchups won’t be set until Sunday night, a rematch with Mona Shores looms as a strong possibility.
Wherever the Rockets end up, Kater is ready to go to battle with his team of "R-P dudes.”
“This is a special group, they’re a lot of fun to coach,” Kater said. “They love football, they love one another, they love R-P. Straight-up, just R-P dudes across the board here. I think when you get those things, when you have that chemistry, it’s hard to break.”
Perhaps the biggest moment of the game came in the first quarter.
R-P's Brody Johnson (24) plows ahead for yards. Photo/Jeremy Clark
Zeeland West got the ball first, scored a touchdown after a nearly six-minute drive, then recovered an onside kick. With under a minute left in the opening quarter, the Dux had a fourth-and-two at the R-P 13-yard line.
Facing a possible two-score deficit before the offense even took the field, the Rockets instead stood tall and forced a turnover on downs.
“That fourth down stop was huge,” Kater said. “We’re rather thin up front, so I think our defensive staff did an outstanding job of creating a plan that could help us slow the game down a little bit and keep people in front of us to make plays at the right time."
Reeths-Puffer’s offense finally took the field with 46 seconds left in the first quarter. The Rockets turned it over on downs at the ZW 8 on their first drive, but the defense then forced a three-and-out to give R-P the ball at the ZW 37 after a punt.
Brody Johnson runs around several Zeeland West defenders. Photo/Jeremy Clark
The Rockets scored five plays later on a 23-yard touchdown pass from Antrel Jones to Brody Johnson. An extra point by Luke Callender gave R-P a 7-6 lead with 45 seconds left in the first half.
The Rockets extended the lead to 14-6 on the opening possession of the second half with a 13-yard run by Johnson and a Callendar PAT with 7:16 left in the quarter.
Zeeland West answered on its next drive to pull within two points. A touchdown with 9:53 left in the game made the score 14-12. Reeths-Puffer again stymied a two-point try to maintain the lead.
R-P didn’t score on its next drive, but it did run more than six minutes off the clock and pinned ZW deep in its own territory. A punt by Jaxson Whitaker was fielded at the three-yard-line, where Ethan Muskovin made a big stop to force ZW to start inside its own five with 3:24 to play.
“Check that punt out, man,” Bolduc said. “Put that on the list, that was key. That punt set it up and we just held it.”
Bolduc (8) takes down ZW ball carrier. Photo/Jeremy Clark
The Rockets defense forced a turnover on downs with 12 seconds left before the offense took a knee to end the game.
Jones finished 10-of-13 passing for 110 yards and a touchdown. Johnson rushed for 75 yards on 19 carries and had two catches for 28 yards.
Kameron Coleman added 39 yards on six rushing attempts while Whitaker caught four passes for 42 yards.
Shaun Haley had four tackles, including one for a loss. Brooks Johnson had two tackles, along with three assisted tackles.
