Lions host the ‘Cats in the postseason opener
By Ken DeLaat Photos by Alexis Mercer Of the 5 football teams N3 Sports covers, just one managed to play their way into the postseason, the Newaygo Lions. The last time Newaygo made the playoffs,(not including the COVID year when everyone got in) was 2019, also the last year the Lions posted a winning record. And while his players may not have any postseason experience, Coach Munger has been there a few times since his Rockford team qualified 25 consecutive times and those runs included 5 appearances in the State Final with 3 State Championships. Not a shabby resume. Coach Munger and his staff have brought a winning attitude to the school and built a team that plays their hearts out from opening kickoff to final gun. In their two losses to Reed City and Big Rapids his squad played the final minutes as if it was a tie game. Impressive. Now they not only have a ticket to the dance, they’re hosting it. Friday at 7pm they will be paid a visit by the Montague Wildcats (4-5) who fought their way in via a regular season finale beatdown of a pretty fair Ravenna team. The Cats can score a lot of points to be sure but their defense can be shaky at times. In their 5 games prior to the win over the Bulldogs they yielded an average of over 50 points a game. That includes a wild 70-64 win over the Packers a couple of weeks ago. The Lions have a lot of offensive weaponry with Blake Kerr calling the signals and tossing the ball to a bevy of quality receivers. Porter Slominski is a beast out of the backfield and if the Lions are inside the 5 he can smell the endzone. The o-line has been a huge factor in the team’s success and will be counted on Friday to win the war in the trenches. Should the Lions win they will host the winner of Central Montcalm and Kent City next week. This should be a good one. Montague has a legacy of success having made the postseason every year but one during this century and have made it to the Finals 4 times picking up 3 state titles along the way. But this is now and the Lions are hungry to show what they’ve got. It might be a close one but this team is not about to bow out on their home field. Read it here. Clear your schedule for next week because the Lions will be playing game 11.
0 Comments
Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. |
Categories |