By Craig Beilfuss
LocalSportsJournal.com

MONTAGUE–Spring Lake quarterback Reid Grimmer was just what the Lakers needed in their season opener against Montague on Thursday.

The junior scored three touchdowns and rushed for 141 yards on 23 carries to lead Lakers to a thrilling 34-28 road win against Montague.

Grimmer didn’t do it alone as Wren Dephouse picked up 99 yards on 10 carries and Bryce Collins rushed for 60 yards on nine attempts.  Spring Lake rushed for 370 yards. 

“I don’t know what the final stats look like, but I thought we moved the ball fairly well when we didn’t commit needless penalties,” said second -year Spring Lake Coach Cody Mallory.

“It was really good to see the guys execute at a high level, especially because we had to run the ball quite a lot. We did a good job with that and our receivers did a really good job blocking for them. Reid did a good job of running the option and the offensive line did a pretty good job blocking up front,” said Mallory.

“Montague is well coached and a very good team,” he said. “We definitely have some stuff to clean up. I was really happy for our guys. It’s always nice to get that week one win … it’s huge.”

The Lakers opened the scoring in the first quarter on a 1-yard run by Grimmer to take a 6-0 lead.

Montague took the lead in the second stanza on an 81-yard pass play from Mason Darke to wide receiver Isaiah Atchison. Chris Aebig converted on the extra point to give the Wildcats a 7-6 lead.

Photo/Leo Valdez

The Lakers scored just before halftime on a 2-yard run by Grimmer and the Lakers led 12-7 at the half.

Montague chewed up seven minutes on the opening drive of the second half and took a 15-12 lead on a 10-yard run by Darke, a sophomore, and a 2-point conversion.

Grimmer scored his third TD on a 9-yard run and he converted the 2-point conversion to put the Lakers back in front, 20-15.

Montague regained the lead just before the end of the third quarter on a 38-yard run by Adam Baird. The Wildcats took a 21-20 lead into the fourth quarter.

Spring Lake gained control of the game by scoring two touchdowns on a 6-yard run and 5-yard interception return by Dephouse.

Montague wrapped up the scoring on a late drive as Darke connected with Atchison on a 16-yard TD reception.

“I was really proud of how Mason played tonight,” said Montague coach Justin Dennett. “You’re going to see two interceptions in the stat line, but they are really not on him, they are on me. He ran the ball well and made right decisions and got us out of trouble at times.

“Our defense really played solid, but we just couldn’t get off the field on third down,” Dennert said. “Hats off to Spring Lake. They run that offense really well. It’s tough to get them off the field. Our defense did some really good things. We’re young and still need to grow. I was really happy with the way our guys responded tonight.”

Montague racked up 349 yards of total offense. Baird led the Wildcats with 48 yards rushing. Darke was 12-of-21 in the passing department for 185 yards with two touchdowns. He also was picked off twice. Atchison caught four passes for 116 yards and scored two touchdowns.

Jackson Lemmen led the Spring Lake defense with seven tackles while Dephouse had four.

Spring Lake (1-0) will host Belding next Thursday while Montague (0-1) will take on Ravenna at home.

Photo/Leo Valdez

Photo/Leo Valdez