Football Preview: Week II

Mystery ref returns for another season

By Ken DeLaat, N3 Sports

“In football everything is complicated by the presence of the opposite team.”- Jean-Paul Sartre

All 6 of our local teams are at home Thursday and what better way to welcome in the Labor Day weekend than sitting in the stands of a high school football game?
Fremont and White Cloud enter week 2 as the only undefeated teams (1-0) but it is definitely but it is seriously early in the season and we have 5 new coaches still integrating their brand of football into their teams.
Newaygo and Grant begin conference play while Fremont Hesperia White Cloud and Holton tune up with one more noncom game before heading into league competition.

Big Rapids at Newaygo
Both teams fell short in their openers last week.
And while the Cardinals made it into the endzone three times in their loss to Coopersville, the Lions have yet to see any points put on the board. BR faced a Bronco team that seemed capable of scoring at will as they yielded 42 points while Newaygo held Kent City to just under half that.
Early in the season, but the Cards have always proved to be tough competitors and the Lions will have to find a way to generate more offense than they did last week when the Eagles seemed to have a player in their huddle.
This will be the last home game for the Lions before the rivalry game with Grant later in the month so the fans are going to be hungry for that first win. 

Beaverton at Fremont
The Packer faithful will be filling the stands as they evaluate the new version of Fremont Football in the home opener.
The team notched a win on the road last week defeating Hart and Coach Hudson praised the work of his defense and o-line in his post game words. We don’t know much about the Beavers, and they lost their opener to Evart but they have a lot of personnel back from last season and look to compete in the always tough Jack Pine Conference. 
The Pack will be initiated into the WMC next week when they welcome in a strong Oriole team and a win here would provide some needed momentum going forward.

Chippewa Hills at Grant
The Tigers are at home facing a Warrior team that was taken out of the game early last week by a formidable Gladwin team that scored twice in the first four minutes and held the top CH rusher to just  38 yards.
Grant lost a tough one to a strong Comstock Park team but the warriors aren’t the Panthers and the Tiger defense isn’t likely to be any more forgiving than the Flying G’s were last week.
Should be a good home opener for new Head Coach Jason Hil and the Tiger fans.

Hart at White Cloud
The Cloud has a shot at going 2-0 but it won’t come easy against the Pirates. A spirited defensive effort by Fremont kept Hart in check and the WC D will want to put together some early stops because their visitors have a lot more weapons than they showed last week. Stopping Pirate RB Joseluis Andaverde will be a priority

Perry at Holton
The Red Devils opened against a Manistee team that looks to be a top contender in the Lakes Division of the WMC and their size and speed enabled them to take control early.
Coach Moore’s team gets a chance to reboot here but Rambler qb Austin Poirier is an absolute force on the field and engineered a 4th quarter comeback in their opener. Containing him will be the key but it ain’t gonna be easy.

St Louis at Hesperia
The Panthers came up just short in their opener but Thursday they give home fans another shot at celebration when they go up against St Louis. The Sharks qb Thomas Zacharko can do a lot of things well and will be tough to rein in so the Panther offense will need to once again put up some points to capture this one.


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