By Craig Beilfuss
LocalSportsJournal.com

High school football fans were in the house and ready for a Thursday-night football dress rehearsal leading up to the 2021 season with a scrimmage at Montague. The Wildcats played host to four west Michigan high school teams: Ravenna, Shelby, Spring Lake and Muskegon Catholic Central.

Each team battled against two opponents in front of a solid crowd on a beautiful summer evening, just a week before the season opener for each team.

“We came out healthy and pleased with the effort,” said Muskegon Catholic Coach Steve Czerwonl.

“Our kids played hard tonight with great energy and flew around, which I was very pleased to see,” said Spring Lake Coach Dan Start. “We have a few things we need to clean up, but all in all, it was a great effort and I was glad to get out of the scrimmage healthy.”

First-year Shelby coach, Phil Fortier, was glad for the opportunity to play against the quality of teams that his Tigers competed against.

“Very pleased we got to go up against two quality teams like Spring Lake and MCC,” said Fortier. “Our kids got a great look from them and we got another opportunity to grow as a football team. Our kids competed and we got better tonight.”

Want to know what 23-teams in West Michigan might look like this season?

LocalSportsJournal.com’s football preview section is hitting area news stands next week and fans will be able to grab it for free.

Check out a few photos from the action on Thursday.