An extremely physical game at the line of scrimmage left the varsity football team with more than it could handle last night. Despite a solid performance on both sides of the ball, FHC was defeated by conference opponent Cedar Springs 24-14.

“I’m proud of our kids,” head coach Tim Rogers said. “This is a tough situation; they lose their starting quarterback, it’s the Homecoming game, and they’re playing a 4-1 Cedar Springs team that runs the Wing-T. They showed a great deal of character today.”

The Rangers experienced a Wing-T offense earlier in the season against Grandville, and the FHC defense was prepared to stuff the run game at the line of scrimmage. Senior Tate Hallock led the defense with 18 tackles, in addition to senior Justin Hoving with 14 and senior Jay Shields with 8. Despite very long and drawn-out offensive drives from the Red Hawks, they were held scoreless in the first half.

“The [defensive line] played really hard,” Rogers said. “They fought with every last ounce of their fiber in this game and I’m really proud of them; they did a great job.”

The Ranger offense, led by junior Jimmy Scholler in the pocket, was able to march down the field toward the end of the first half and hand the ball off to senior Cam Deines for a 3-yard touchdown. This was the only score of the first half and put FHC up 7-0 at the break.

“Jimmy is learning as he goes; it’s a tough situation that he’s coming into,” said Rogers about his quarterback who went 14 for 21 with 153 yards on the night. “He made a couple mistakes but we didn’t lose the game tonight because of Jimmy. He did some good things and he’ll continue to do good things and get better.”

Cedar Springs received the ball to start the second half and was able to march 70 yards for a touchdown and successful two-point conversion to take the lead. An interception on the ensuing drive allowed the Red Hawks to run out the clock for about a nine-minute drive, only to end it with another 8 points.

Cam was able to respond with a 19-yard run for his second touchdown of the night, but Cedar Springs was able to quickly earn another 8 points to seal the 24-14 victory.

This loss puts FHC at 2-4 (1-2) and makes their road to the playoffs very difficult. The Rangers will host Ottawa Hills Friday for Senior Night.

“We have to do overall better,” Rogers said. “We’re good, we’re just not great, and the little things are killing us right now. We’ll work on those little things and hopefully we can win three more games and sneak into the playoffs at five and four on the season.”