The score didn’t tell the whole story Friday night for the Big Rapids Cardinal Football team. The Cardinals lost to the Paw Paw Red Wolves 34-13 but for most of the game the Cardinals were either leading, trailing by a point, or trailing by 1 score.

 

Big Rapids opened their season with a ‘3 and out’ series before a Red Wolf 4-down offsides penalty gave Senior Riley Vennix new life. He took advantage. 7 plays later it was 6-0 Big Rapids. Vennix went 3/3 to Junior Garret Foster for 41 yards en route to the Red Zone. Sophomore Jack Bollman then capped the drive with an easy 2 yard touchdown. Things looked smooth for an offense with a new QB.

 

The Cardinal defense then went to work against a ‘Reed City’ style T offense in Paw Paw. Coach Selzer’s game plan was to “load the box to stop the T run game.” Senior Philip Wilber, aka ‘Cheese’, did just that. Philip led the way with an astonishing 15.5 tackles on the night but if you tuned into the Big Country 100.9 broadcast, you would’ve thought he had 50 tackles. Wilber’s name was called on almost every play defensively.

 

In typical T fashion, Paw Paw ran 14 plays on their opening drive for 56 yards, all rushing, culminating in a 4th and 1 on the Cardinal 9 yard line. Wilber and Sophomore Wyatt Skiera stood up Paw Paw’s PJ Deyoung and threw him back where he came for a 1 yard loss.

 

Flipping to offense, it then took 3 plays to go 91 yards. Vennix hit Senior Kaleb Dubowski in stride as he burned his defender for a 78 yard touchdown. A botched extra point made it 13-0 Big Rapids. A great start on both sides of the ball!

 

But then things started shifting. Paw Paw returned the kickoff to the 42, Big Rapids stood offsides for a free 5 yards, then on a 3rd and 7 the rare T-Offense pass play came out for Coach Strey, 2nd year coach for Paw Paw. QB Gunnar Goodell hit lone receiver Troy Vandenberg for 34 yards to the Big Rapids 8. 2 plays later, PJ Deyoung ran the ball up the back of Junior Darrin Strey for a touchdown. Coach Strey would use this same tactic repeatedly as the night progressed, all to great effect. “They like to run behind [Strey] in critical downs.“ Coach Selzer said pre-game. Darrin Strey, the son of Coach Strey, is a 6’7” 285 pound University of Cincinnati commit for O-line. The kid is the real deal too.

 

He, like the rest of the offense, would work to wear down a Big Rapids defense that found itself on the field for 65% of the total time played. Big Rapids would only run 14 offensive plays in the 2nd half. From 6 minutes remaining in the 2nd quarter, Paw Paw would rack up 34 unanswered points to get to our final.

 

Those points came from mistakes and misses for Big Rapids that could just as easily have gone Big Rapids’ way. A missed Jace Heck 27 yard field goal as the half ended hurt. Big Rapids could have retaken the lead for the half. But then on their 1st possession of the 2nd half, a turnover on downs on their own 18 led to the 3rd score for Paw Paw after a critical 4th and 5 pass interference penalty took the ball to BR’s 7. Deyoung found his best friend Strey again, and the Red Wolves had their 3rd unanswered touchdown.

 

However, there were exceptional individual efforts from Big Rapids. Senior Riley Vennix had 217 yards passing, 29 yards rushing, and 3 solo tackles on defense. He made a fantastic defensive play to break up a pass late in the 3rd. Senior Kaleb Dubowski led the receivers with 90 yards and added 4 tackles on defense. Junior Garret Foster tallied 73 yards receiving and 4 solo tackles. Sophomore Jack Bollman added 28 yards receiving and 6 tackles. And Senior Philip Wilber finished with an estimated 15.5 tackles, but again the jury is out if that number needs correction higher.

 

Overall, the score was not emblematic of the product on the field. Coach Selzer’s Cardinals are loaded with a solid front line and exceptional talent and athleticism in the skilled positions. With more playing time, this team will be dangerous. We saw it early Friday night. We just need to see it for 4 quarters next Thursday when Big Rapids hosts Newaygo to open conference play.

 

Game versus Newaygo is Thursday, August 31, at 6:00pm at Cardinal Stadium.

Listen to the broadcast on 100.9, at WWBR.com, and via the WWBR mobile app.