Reeths-Puffer football has tough night in loss to Muskegon

MUSKEGON — It's been a rough season for Reeths-Puffer, and things tend to get rougher when Muskegon shows up on the schedule. The Big Reds overpowered R-P Friday night, 61-7, sending the Rockets to a 2-6 overall record (1-4 in the O-K Green Conference).

Muskegon used its prodigious size advantage to create big running lanes for its players, which resulted in a lot of huge gains. Amiere Chandler got the scoring started with a 29-yard touchdown run, one of two he had in the first quarter alone as Muskegon built a 27-7 lead.

"They outnumbered us and had leverage in a lot of their schemes, but also, they're obviously a lot larger than us," R-P coach Cody Kater said. "They used that to their advantage, but I think they also executed their offense really well. I'd like to know what the (number of) flags were. They're a good, disciplined team."

The one bright spot for the Rockets in the game was an impressive 84-yard kickoff return for a score by Mason Darke after the Big Reds went ahead 20-0. Darke showed off the remarkable athleticism that's made him a track superstar at the school, shaking off one tackle and simply outrunning the rest of a very speedy Muskegon team to the end zone.

Kater said Darke considered not returning to the football team for his senior year, but he's become one of the team's most consistent performers and reliable leaders in the locker room. He was voted a captain in preseason.

"He's a high-character dude that's in the locker room," Kater said. "His responses to certain things are what sophomores are needing to hear right now. That's what I'm most proud of having him in the program.

"You're starting to see him be really comfortable in a lot of different kinds of games and make those kinds of plays. He's sitting around 800 yards receiving for this year, so he's been the guy that's been the most consistent. You watch him practice on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, and it's going to be the same."

Lamar Bradford ran a couple of touchdowns for Muskegon and launched a nice pass to Arquez Petty on one drive that ended in his own score. The Big Reds kept scoring later, even after putting in reserves.

Unfortunately, some R-P players didn't follow Darke's lead, which has led to low numbers. The Rockets are playing 11 sophomores right now, Kater said, more than are on the JV team, and have only nine juniors. That's not a place the program wants to be; R-P would prefer to pull up only sophomores that are forcing their way onto the varsity roster with high-level play, rather than doing so because numbers dictate it.

"We're hoping, obviously, not to have to move all those sophomores up, but there is something right now within our football community that we've got to create an enrichment about why football matters and go from there," Kater said. "The sophomores are learning really tough lessons. I just hope that they're able to zoom out and reflect on them, rather than point a finger and make an excuse and not do any learning."

As the Rockets wind down a season they'd hoped would produce better results, the focus will be on trying to knock off Forest Hills Eastern and giving the seniors one last feeling of victory at home. R-P has been unable to secure a home win this season.

"We define toughness as doing the next right thing in our program," Kater said. "That's got to be put to play this next week and have a focus on Forest Hills Eastern, and giving these seniors an opportunity to walk off this field with a victory and feeling like they helped lay the foundation for where these sophomores want to go."