By Dave Hart
LocalSportsJournal.com
GRAND HAVEN – The Grand Haven football team was feeling like they were going to surpass their win total from the last two seasons after scoring on the first play of the second half to take the lead on Friday night.
The Bucs took a 20-13 lead after a 70-yard touchdown run by Andrew Willemsen on their first play of the third quarter.
But the wheel came off from there as Traverse City West scored the final 22 points to come away with a 35-20 win over the Bucs in Grand Haven in Week 2 of the season.
Grand Haven is now 1-1 on the season and will look to bounce back next week at home against Holland West Ottawa.
“We had a couple of possessions in the second half where we went three-and-out and we couldn’t afford to do that against this team,” said Grand Haven coach Andrew Biedenbender. “We also had a couple negative plays, and we have to avoid that moving on.
“We have a lot of growth to be made, but I think these guys have a lot a head of them. This one stunk, but we still have a lot of football left to play.”
The Buccaneers struggled defending TC West quarterback Owen Hendrix, especially in the second half. Hendrix went 10-for-16 passing for 195 yards and two touchdowns, while also rushing for 151 yards on 29 carries and three scores.
“He is something else,” Biedenbender said. “He is a big running back that can sling it too so that was tough for us.”
The Titans opened the scoring on their second possession of the game on a 22-yard pass from Hendrix to Drew Esper with 3:22 left in the first quarter to take a 7-0 lead.
The Bucs quickly responded, scoring on a 78-yard kick return for a touchdown by K.V. Korenstra on the next play to cut the deficit to 7-6.
TC West responded on the first play of the second quarter to take a 13-6 lead on a 43-yard connection from Hendrix to Esper.
The Bucs drove the ball 65 yards on 14 plays on their next drive that ended with a 1-yard touchdown run from Willemsen with 5:05 left in the second quarter to tie the game 13-13.
The game was tied at halftime.
Grand Haven exploded on its first second half play with a 70-yard run from Willemsen to give the Bucs a 20-13 lead. But that was all the squad could muster offensively the rest of the way.
Hendrix gave the Titans a 21-20 lead with 6:59 left in the third quarter on a 6-yard touchdown run and a successful 2-point conversion.
TC West increased its advantage to 28-20, scoring on a 28-yard run by Hendrix with 2:20 left in the third quarter.
The Titans got the ball back with just over a minute left in the third quarter and melted the clock to under a minute in regulation before closing the scoring on a 2-yard run from Hendrix.
Willemsen led the Bucs with 101 rushing yards on 12 carries while scoring two touchdowns. Luke Berry was 7-for-12 passing for 92 yards.