The season is over for the freshman football team, who finished 7-0-2. The Rangers were stifling on defense, holding every team but Grandville scoreless throughout the year. This defense was complimented by an explosive offense that scored 213 points throughout the year, beating Greenville and Ottawa Hills by 40 and 51 points. The Rangers were dominant for most of the season, dipping only near the middle of the season where they tied Grandville 14-14 and Northview 0-0. The team’s season was capped off with four straight wins.

“Overall this was a very successful season,” head coach Ty Hallock said. “Many of our players grew on and off the football field. Their hard work was very appreciated, and it showed with a 7-0-2 record.”

The first two games established the team’s defensive dominance, with the first game versus Jenison and the second game versus West Ottawa both being shut outs. The scores of the games were 14-0 and 19-0. The third week brought possibly the biggest challenge all year against Grandville.

“Grandville was pretty special, our guys really battled that game,” Hallock said as he described his favorite game of the year.

Grandville was a powerful team with a slow, grinding run game that is very hard to defend against. Through hard work on the defensive end and a great score by the offense, however, the game was 14-6 in the fourth quarter. The Rangers stepped up and ended up tying the game with a long pass to Levi Mckenzie and a two-point conversion by Lannan Partlo.

“It felt very good… I just needed to go out and make a play and that’s what happened.” Levi Mackenzie said about his long reception to give the Rangers the opportunity to tie.

After the Grandville game, the Rangers would not be scored on for the rest of the year. The next game was against West Catholic. The Rangers took them on in stride, controlling the game and scoring the most yet that season for a final score of 26-0.

Next week versus Northview would prove to be a bizarre and interesting game. Central and Northview were both stopped cold by each other’s defenses with no end in sight. Turnover problems exasperated their troubles and the game ended in an extremely uncommon 0-0 tie.

The next game versus Cedar Springs picked the Rangers back up as they combined with the JV team to play against Cedar’s similarly combined team. This game was a success, with the final score being 25-16. It was a difficult environment to play in, as the two teams were not used to playing with each other, but the teams clicked well and banded together for a great win.

Back into their normal schedule, the freshman team destroyed Ottawa Hills 51-0, with a running clock put on the second half to limit the scoring with the dominant performance from the Rangers. Next week versus Lowell was not as dominant, but the Rangers still beat them 26-0. Greenville was another scoring spree, with the score ending 40-0.

“Overall, the difference from the beginning of the year to the end was amazing. They really came and began to execute at a very high level by the end of the year… Coach Sultini, Coach Ropp, Coach Kimball, and our varsity staff really deserve a lot of credit for these guy’s growth during the season. These coaches really work well with the players to get them ready to play!” Coach Hallock commented on the growth of the players over the season.

The Rangers killed it this season and the team hopes to continue their success into the next season. Rowan Clay shared his thoughts on the season and going into next season.

“The season was unbelievable, and I think we just need to work hard to achieve more going into the JV season next year.”