Photo by Shelly Evilsizor
Coming off an 18-point loss at Parchment, Constantine (2-2) is looking for a little bit more from its passing game and a lot more in terms of better tackling Friday at Kalamazoo Christian. The Falcons tossed a pair of interceptions, gained just nine yards through the air last week and gave up plenty of big-chunk plays defensively.
Head coach Shawn Griffith was extremely frustrated with his team’s effort, and now the Falcons have little wiggle room if they want to make the Division 6 playoffs, let alone make a third consecutive march to Ford Field.
Olivet and Battle Creek Pennfield sit atop the Kalamazoo Valley Association standings with 4-0 records. Schoolcraft is along in second place at 3-1 and Parchment, Kalamazoo Christian and Hackett all share 2-2 marks with Constantine.
Scouting Kalamazoo Christian
The Comets thumped Vermontville Maple Valley 42-12 last Friday and are averaging 41 points per game. Defensively, K-Christian has allowed only 32 points so far this season. The program finished 3-6 in 2012, but lost three games by a combined 16 points. It certainly looks like, at least at this juncture, coach Steve Ouding’s crew has figured out how to close out games decisively.
Big boys Cole VanOosten (6-foot-7, 280 pounds) and Carter Wenke (6-4, 270) supply the most beef on the lines for K-Christian.
“Kalamazoo Christian is a huge team,” Griffith said. “Their front is tall and large; Joseph A Banks will love these dudes. Their quarterback (Brennan Heidema) is back from last year, and they have very good running backs.”
Practice report
“We have had very physical practices trying to find 11 people to block and tackle,” Griffith explained. “At times we are very good and at others we are very bad; we really need to work on being more aggressive and much more consistent. We have no new injuries, just sickness, but our kids will be ready to play Friday.”
Mid-season revelation
“Our days of simply out scoring opponents are done; we need to play much better on defense to give our offense a chance.” Offensively, we do not have the football IQ to change a whole lot, so we must get better at what we do.”