Pittman, Mona Shores make Puffer pay for its mistakes on ‘Sailor Salute’ night

By Tom Kendra
LocalSportsJournal.com

NORTON SHORES–Mona Shores took advantage of Reeths-Puffer mistakes – and cashed in each time it had an opportunity – to pull out a critical, rivalry win on Friday night.

Quarterback Jonathan Pittman, a 6-1, 221-pound senior, did most of his damage with his legs, scoring TDs on runs of 1, 9 and 3 yards to lead host Shores to a 28-10 win in front of a standing-room-only crowd of more than 7,000 on “Sailor Salute” night.

“I thought our defense was lights-out tonight,” said 13th-year Shores coach Matt Koziak. “Puffer is a super scary team to defend. They are very good and they did move the ball, but we kept them out of the end zone until late in the game.”

Puffer had plenty of opportunities earlier in the game, but two costly interceptions and mistakes in the red zone doomed the Rockets repeatedly.

Shores (2-1, 1-0 in the O-K Green), meanwhile, cashed in each time it had a chance.

The Sailors struck first through the air midway through the first quarter, when junior Micah Carafelle made a nifty, 23-yard scoring grab in tight coverage to make it 7-0.

Pittman pushed the lead out to 14-0 late in the first quarter on a 1-yard run.

While past Shores teams have been more explosive and generated more big plays, this teams relied on old-fashioned, smash-mouth football, with big backs like sophomore Tomarion Steward (6-0, 214) and senior Andrew Baker (6-1, 210) running behind a big offensive line.

“I get to play more on offense in these physical game at H-back,” said Baker, a starting linebacker who played the entire game Friday on offense as well. “We are definitely more of a power team this year. We knew we needed to come out strong after the loss last week (against Rockford) and we were able to move the ball.”

Leading the way up front were the senior inside trio of center Luke Emmons (6-3, 315) and guards Jaden Brown (5-9, 305) and Eric Gould (6-0, 245).

The Rockets looked like they were going to cut the lead in half early in the second quarter, before junior Jaeger Johnson intercepted a pass at the 1-yard line.

Puffer (2-1, 0-1 in the O-K Green) did force a three-and-out, followed by a nice punt return by senior Bryce Ross.

But once again, the Shores defense stiffened when it had to, holding the Rockets to a 22-yard field goal by Luke Callender, making the score 14-3 at halftime.

Shores, which has now won seven in a row over Puffer and 9 of the last 10, had the only score of the third quarter.

After completing a 26-yard pass to Carafelle on a 3rd-and-25 situation, Pittman bolted 9 yards up the middle on the next play to make the score 21-3.

“We didn’t give up anything over the top tonight against those big receivers,” said Koziak, referring to the R-P senior duo of Travis Ambrose (6-8) and Jaxson Whitaker (6-4). “Rockford burned us a couple of times, but we cleaned that up. We made them work for everything that they got.”

Shores put the game away early in the fourth quarter after another Puffer miscue, this time a fumble on a punt return deep in its own territory.

Pittman plunged in for his final score and Jeremiah Love booted his fourth PAT to extend the lead to 28-3.

Puffer finally found the end zone with 3:45 remaining, capitalizing on a fumble (Shores only turnover of the game). Antrel Jones, the Rockets’ 6-4 senior quarterback, hit Bryce Ross on a 15-yard crossing pattern to complete the scoring.

R-P senior running back Brody Johnson, who entered the game second in the area with 356 rushing yards after two games, had another huge game – repeatedly finding downhill running room off tackle to move the chains, but he was unable to add to his season total of seven rushing touchdowns.

Linebackers Caiden Bolduc and Elliot Schneider and defensive backs Ethan Winters and Ross had big games for Puffer.

Shores was keyed defensively by the inside defensive line duo of junior Ja’Mari Taylor (6-0, 265) and Love (5-10, 295) and defensive backs Amari Richardson and Johnson, who both had interceptions.

The Sailors will play their third-straight blockbuster home game in a row next week against Muskegon. R-P hosts winless Holland.