East Grand Rapids checkmates Grand Rapids Christian

High quality action shots from this game are available from DavidChandlerPhoto.com

It was a chess match Friday night when East Grand Rapids visited Grand Rapids Christian.  You could feel the tension as coaches Peter Stuursma and Don Fellows made moves and countermoves, but in the end Stuursma and East Grand Rapids won out, edging Grand Rapids Christian, 21-14.

The first six minutes of the game belonged to David Drummond.  The Pioneer tailback carried nine times for 59 yards in that initial drive, finishing off with a touchdown.   The Pioneers marched down the field again midway through the second, looking every bit the unstoppable juggernaut they were billed as Stuursma expertly marionetted his players from the sideline, but a fumble in the shadow of the endzone lopped the head off the promising drive before it could be crowned.

Eagles safety Kevon Frazier returned it 41 yards back to midfield.  A quiet crowd screamed.  The stands shook.  And a sleeping giant awoke.  Having tallied negative-1 yards rushing to that point, Eagles running back Andre Davis railed off three consecutive runs totaling 40-yards.  But again, just as Christian was beginning to feed the beast, their drive too was cut short of the endzone by a turnover.

Christian's Andre Davis

The stalemate continued, East with a slight, 7-0 advantage, into the third quarter.  But that’s when the chessboard began to tilt as a decision made before the game even started took effect.

“The difference in the game was the third quarter,” said Stuursma.  “We decided to kick it downwind in the beginning to see if we could pin them in, and it served our guys well.  Our defense stepped up tough, and especially in the redzone they were huge.”

Apart from the game’s opening drive the first half had been played essentially even.  But that third quarter was an entirely different story.  The Pioneers played the entire quarter from their opponents’ side of the field, which enabled them to continue to run the ball, playing the field position battle and waiting for an opportunity.

Carrying a 4-1 ratio of runs to passes into the play, East quarterback Ryan Elble’s play action fake took everyone by surprise.  The defense running to the left, Elble found receiver Deon Jobe cutting against the grain for a 15-yard touchdown rope to put the Pioneers up 14-0.  And then the middle of the Eagles defense opened up for fullback Trent Voss, who rumbled in for a 33 yard touchdown of his own.

And suddenly the Eagles felt the pressure.

Christian quarterback Matt Grasmeyer beat the Pioneer defense to the corner for a touchdown late in the fourth quarter, and then found junior receiver Brandon Pott for another touchdown, but by then it was too late.

East Grand Rapids' Trent Voss was beastly on both sides of the ball

Defensive equity

East’s defense is lead by a pair of senior studs, either of whom could legitimately play major college ball. Defensive back Deon Jobe had a pick (almost two, if not for a penalty) and a couple big hits, but his real impact was felt in what didn’t happen on Christian’s side of the ball, as he blanketed Christian’s Staten all night (Can we coin the term: Jobe Island?).  And linebacker Trent Voss, who at 6’3” and 215 hits like a wrecking ball and can run sideline to sideline with anyone.

Missed opportunities

It would not have taken much for the game to go an entirely different direction.  Christian’s Christian Benn and Jaylin Staten broke free behind the EGR defense on two separate occasions, but the ball was overthrown.  Take a little zing off any one of those balls, and you’ve got seven points.