Seniors Ty George, Ryan Dunn, Andrew Tebeau, Matis Butlevics, and Brennen Bouma were the starting five Thursday night as FHC took on Ottawa Hills on senior night. All five made huge contributions throughout the night and capped off an incredible regular season with their winning streak at 18.

As Brennen and Matis made their first appearances of the season, each got their shot early in the first quarter. Matis scored the first bucket of the night from just beyond the free throw line and Brennen followed with big-time three to give FHC some early momentum.

“Both of those shots were not made tonight; they were made over the last three months,” head coach Ken George said. “I’ve said to them both, once a week at least, that you have to prepare for your moment. I said that you can’t show up in your moment unprepared and expect a good result. They’ve worked three months, two hours a day for that. And I’d think they would tell you it’s worth it.”

FHC and Ottawa Hills exchanged buckets throughout the first quarter, giving the Bengals a one-point lead at the end of 8 minutes 12-11. The Ranger offense took off in the second as Ty, Andrew, and sophomore Jimmy Scholler had a huge quarter.

The Rangers went into the locker room up 39-24, but Ottawa Hills came out firing in the third as it took them only two minutes to cut the lead to 4. Junior Daniel Deindorfer then allowed experience take over, and he became a huge part of FHC holding onto their lead.

“[Daniel] comes in right now and he scores,” George said. “He has been really crucial off the bench in the last few games for us. Daniel’s and-one was big, he’s shooting free throws, and I was really proud of him.”

The fourth quarter belonged to Ty who had 15 of the 23 points scored by FHC. He also finished with 31 on the night, and 72 total points against the Bengals this season.

With just over 4 minutes left in the game, Ty hit a three off of a handoff from Andrew and gave FHC a less strenuous 7 point lead.

“I knew that I had to be aggressive from the start based on what happened last time,” said Ty, who finished the regular season average 19.5 points per game. “I thought they would be all over me and that’s what happened. I was happy with my individual performance, but more for the guys around me. We needed this win heading into Monday.”

FHC heads into the postseason as an obvious favorite to win the district title but has to make their way through the East Grand Rapids Pioneers in the opening round Monday night. FHC has gone undefeated in the conference for the first time since the 2014-2015 season, and the third time in George’s 24-year coaching career.

The Rangers will host all three rounds of the district and have high expectations for an extensive run in this year’s tournament.

For last night, however, it was special seeing the starting senior five in their last regular season game at home.

“It was great to get that last regular season win in the jungle,” Andrew said. “I think the best two things that happened tonight were the opening two buckets from Brennen Bouma and Matis Butlevics. They’ve been working so hard for that for this whole season and it was awesome to see them come in on the last night and make those shots.”