On Thursday night, the JV football team took on its heated rival, the Forest Hills Northern Huskies, in a hard-fought battle. The Huskies defeated our Rangers last year by a score of 36-21, which was sure to motivate the team ahead of Thursday. If that was not enough, the team is also coming off a string of losses that the players felt they should have won. The team proved resilient through the early struggles, as they went on to defeat the Huskies in a back-and-forth game by a score of 34-26.

Starting off the game, the Husky offense had the ball but the defense got a solid stop and forced a punt. The Rangers drove the ball at will, picking the defense apart with solid throws and runs from sophomore quarterback Carson Mocherman. The offense proved too much to handle for the Huskies from the beginning, with the first score of the game coming from the Rangers, as Carson threw the ball straight into the hands of sophomore wide receiver Maguire Mahacek to make the score 6-0.

After FHC dropped a punt in the end zone, the Huskies recovered the ball for a safety and then received the ball, which led to a touchdown immediately after. The Huskies converted the two-point conversion before the half to make the score 10-6, with the advantage to the Huskies.

Right after halftime, Carson snuck the ball into the end zone with a strong run in for the touchdown to reduce the Husky lead to 18-13. The heavy Ranger offense took over and looked much stronger than in recent games, as they continued to run the ball straight through the Huskies. With good blocking on the offensive line combined with exhilarating speed from sophomore running back Sawyer Bosch, Sawyer ran back-to-back touchdowns on the ground to give FHC the lead with a score of 26-18.

With 2:40 left in the game, desperation time approached for the Huskies. Husky quarterback Ethan Erickson got a quick score with a throw into the end zone and then successfully converted the two-point conversion. Knowing they could not stop the strong Ranger offense, the Huskies decided to onside kick it. FHC recovered the ball and knew their drive of the season was ahead of them. On one of the first plays of the drive, Carson took the ball back and put a pass on a platter for sophomore wide receiver Evan Van Artsen, who took the ball in for a 5o-yard score. This touchdown would seal the deal for the Rangers, who went on to stop the Huskies on their final drive and win by a score of 34-26.

With this win, the Rangers improved to a record of 1-3 overall and started conference play off strongly, as they now have a win under their belt against one of the tougher teams they will play. Next week, FHC will be taking on the Northview Wildcats in only their second home game of the year. The Rangers will be looking to improve to 2-3 on the season against a evenly-matched team in Northview.