Photo by Shelly Evilsizor
After a Week 4 loss to Parchment, Constantine coach Shawn Griffith said his team would have to play a lot better to get past Kalamazoo Christian. Mission accomplished.
The Falcons came out swinging in the first quarter and delivered the knockout blow in the third for a runaway 61-37 victory over the Comets in Kalamazoo. Constantine improved to 3-2 overall and in the Kalamazoo Valley Association, while K-Christian fell to 2-3.
Justin Hull took full advantage of the daylight provided by his offensive line and churned out 198 yards and three touchdowns on 14 carries (14.14 average). Quarterback Matt Hasbrouck added 117 yards and a pair of scores on five carries and Andres Montoya put up 191 yards and scored twice on nine takes. Taylor Reiff joined the party with 47 yards and a TD.
“I thought we kind of controlled the line up scrimmage up front on offense,” Constantine coach Shawn Griffith said. “We hadn’t done that yet this year. Defensively, I don’t think our run defense was much better than it was against Parchment, and the receivers were able to get behind us. Back to the drawing board trying to figure that out.”
K-Christian’s Brennan Heidema threw for 238 yards and five touchdowns on 11-of-22 passing. He was intercepted once. But for the most part, the Falcons turned the game into a track meet, outgaining the Comets 562-181.
Luhk Mullendore recovered a fumble in the end zone in the second quarter to account for the rest of Constantine’s points.
“As far as our start, we talked about that as well. We talked about that with the Parchment game; that was a concern because we got off to such a horrible start and then we were playing catch-up. We came out at the start of the third quarter and got a turnover — a fumble recovery — and took it from there.
“It was some blocking scheme adjustments we made that really opened up some gaping holes and allowed us to make a lot of long runs.”
Zach Sherman led Constantine with 14 tackles and Spencer Tefft followed with 11.