Local Sports Journal

The Shelby Tigers didn’t let a halftime deficit keep them from capturing a Week 1 victory. 
The Tigers scored 27 second-half point to overcome Grant 33-14 on Friday night.

Quarterback Spencer Peters threw three touchdown passes and finished 7-of-15 for 163 yards passing for Shelby.

Forrest Courtright had a pair of touchdown runs and with 85 yards on 17 carries. Nathan Lents had a 31-yard touchdown reception among his three catches for 60 yards.He rushed six times for 71 yards.

Devon Mussel put Shelby on the board first with a 9-yard touchdown catch. He had two catches for 46 yards adding seven rushes for 55 yards. Shane Katiazi had 57 yards receiving, including a 46-yard touchdown catch.

Grant’s offensive leader was Brandon Bouwkamp, who rushed 11 times for 127 yards.

On defense, Shelby was led by Ben Schroeder with 13 tackles, Austin Porter with 12 tackles, Courtright added 10, Casey DeWitt had nine tackles and Tony Guerra had five.

“They gave us a different alignment defensively and we had to make some adjustments at halftime,” said Shelby coach Lorenzo Rodriguez. “They were putting nine to 10 guys in the box and we just had to take advantage of the aerial attack.

“We stuck together as a family, we were all on the same page as best as we could. Also made sure the veer option wasn’t going to take advantage of us,” said Rodriguez. “This gets us on a good start, we need to get off to a fast start. We’re going into the WMC next week and hopefully we’ll improve from here.”

Ludington quarterback Chad Large breaks into the open field during Friday night’s game. The Orioles fell to Manistee 36-34. Photo by John Morin.

Manistee 36, Ludington 34: At Ludington, for the second year in a row, the Chippewas captured a narrow victory over the Orioles. Last year, Manistee posted a 40-39 victory over Ludington in the season opener.

Quarterback Chad Large directed a late drive that ended up in the end zone, but the two-point conversion failed and Manistee survived. Large finished the game with more than 300 yards passing. He also threw for five touchdowns.

Hesperia 45, White Cloud 0: At White Cloud, Hesperia opened the season in style with a lopsided victory over the host Indians. Hesperia led 14-0 at the half before breaking the game wide open with 31 points in the second half. Cash Bolles topped the 100-yard mark in rushing.

Fremont 49, Sparta 48: The host Packers avenged last year’s season-opening loss with a narrow victory on Friday night.