Local Sports Journal

GRAND RAPIDS – Sure, it was a different week, but the results were the same.

The Muskegon Catholic Central varsity football again suffered from its small roster, falling to a much larger Grand Rapids Catholic Central team Friday night 16-13.

“It was same story almost identical last week,” said Crusader head coach Steve Czerwon, referring to the similar nature this week’s loss match last week’s versus rival Mona Shores. “We came off the ball fresh… I’m just playing guys both way.”

The two-way duty of so many players doomed MCC’s good start. Catholic (0-2) again started strong, when Blake Sanford pulled in a 20-yard TD pass from QB Nick Holt in the first quarter to make it 6-0. The Crusaders went up 13-0 in the second quarter when Holt capped a drive with a 10-yard TD run. Griffen Seymour’s PAT kick made it 13-0.

But GRCC scored the next 16 points, the first a touchdown by way of a pass from Joe Nixon to Colin Moran from 4 yards away to make it 13-6.

Nixon connected with Colin Moran in the third quarter from 33 yards out to make it 13-all, and Jacob Rizik’s 32-yard field goal midway through the fourth  proved to be the game winner.

“(Rizik) snuck it through the inside of the post,” said Czerwon. “I give him credit for hitting a clutch field goal.”

Though the Crusaders out-rushed the Cougars 181-80, Czerwon said the running game wasn’t the only thing his team had in mind going into the game.

“We knew we couldn’t run the ball the way we wanted to,” he said. “We had to do some things outside of our comfort zone. We had some success. We got down to the eight yard line in the third quarter and couldn’t convert on a fourth and one.”

Holt finished with 10-for-20 passing for 96 yards and one TD throw and one pick. Holt also rushed for 91 yards on 16 carries.

Lamar Jordan led the Crusader receivers with three catches for 34 yards.

Alex Lewandowski led the MCC defense with 11 tackles, while Tommy Scott had eight stops and Holt finished with seven.

“We knew our toughest two games were Week 1 and Week 2,” said Czerwon. “Hopefully, we can take what learned from (those games) and get on a roll.”