By Melvin Lane
LocalSportsJournal.com
MUSKEGON – It’s been said that defense wins championships.
It’s often preached at all levels of football. The Muskegon Big Reds defense has slowly begun to round into form and proved it with its second straight shutout. This time, Muskegon defeated Forest Hills Northern, 41-0.
The Division 3 district game was played at Hackley Stadium. Next week, Muskegon will tangle with crosstown rival Mona Shores, which defeated Reeths-Puffer on Friday night.
Muskegon and Northern played evenly for most of the first quarter, but a huge fourth down stop by Muskegon with 4 seconds left in the quarter near the goal line sparked the Big Reds. Muskegon’s offense started their drive at the 1-yard line and in six plays broke open a scoreless game with a M’Khi Guy 40-yard touchdown early in the second quarter. The Big Reds’ offensive line began to wear down their opponent.
After a Chris Jones fumble recovery, the Big Reds only needed three plays to score as Guy found the endzone again for an 8-yard touchdown. Muskegon’s defensive held firm forcing a three-and-out by the Huskies and were set up near the red zone after a shanked punt. Adrian Rankin Jr. scored on a 2-yard run and gave the Big Reds a 21-0 halftime lead.
Forest Hills Northern came out of halftime and put together the best drive of the game, but a Chris Jones sack on fourth down ended the Huskies’ 10-play drive. It didn’t take Muskegon long to add on to their lead as Guy scored his third touchdown on a 16-yard keeper. Destin Piggee’s electric 65-yard touchdown run, and 23-yard Rankin Jr. touchdown run in the fourth quarter finished off the scoring.
The Huskies found yards hard to come by in the second half as their final three drives ended with 6 yards, 0 yards and -1 yards. Muskegon held the Huskies to three first downs and 125 total yards.
Darekeo Speech led the Big Reds with nine tackles and a forced fumble and Da’Carion Taylor had six tackles. Chris Jones, Stanley Cunningham and Da’Shaun Wallace-Oakes each had five tackles.
Offensively, the Big Reds racked up 439 total yards and were led Guy with 140 total yards and three touchdowns, Piggee had 108 total yards and a score and Jakob Price had 84 rushing yards. During the game Muskegon kicker Adrian Ramos-Velazquez set the school record for most PATs scored in a career with 177. Ramos-Velazquez currently is ranked third all-time in the state for career PATs.
Next week’s game with Mona Shores is a rematch from Week 4 when Muskegon won, 42-21.
Check out photos from the night shot by Craig Smith.
