The Forest Hills Central freshman football team entered its matchup Thursday undefeated at 2-0, squaring off with a powerhouse in the Grandville Bulldogs, expecting a close game. Instead, the Rangers were soundly defeated, as the Bulldogs dominated from start to finish in a convincing 44-0 win.

The Rangers’ defense simply had no answer for the extremely well executed Wing-T offense that the Bulldogs ran. The Bulldogs were able to consistently pick up good yardage on first down to keep themselves ahead of the chains. Grandville was able to score an astonishing  7 of the 8 times that they had the ball. Despite the loss, freshman linebacker Tate Greer played extremely well on the defensive end, making several tackles.

After trailing 30-0 at the half, the Rangers came out focused and started to march down the field. Freshman quarterback Josh Smith was effective using both his legs and arm. He was able to find freshman tight end Colton Jenkins for big gains twice, once on a crucial fourth and short play. The Rangers got all the way down to the Bulldogs’ 10-yard line before throwing an interception, shifting the momentum back to the Bulldogs. From there, Grandville was able to score twice more and run out the clock.

The Rangers suffered their first defeat of the season, finishing off a daunting non-conference schedule at 2-1. They kick off conference play next Thursday with a big rivalry game as they travel to take on the Forest Hills Northern Huskies.