GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- Zeeland West beat Flint Powers at Ford Field last November for the school's third state championship in five seasons. The next day West Catholic topped River Rouge for a third consecutive state championship. Friday night, they meet for the first time.
"There is a lot riding on this game, obviously," Zeeland West senior quarterback Hunter Blauwkamp said, "but it's a non-conference game. But it should be fun to see how it turns out."
As if the game needs anymore hype, it also serves as West Catholic's first home game of the season.
"We are really excited about it," West Catholic senior quarterback David Fox said. "It's a good chance to show our home crowd in our home opener what we are made of, coming out with a 2-0 start."
This game figures to be a contrast of styles, and West Catholic likes to play uptempo out of the spread formation, while the Dux can control the clock with their wing-T running attack.
“We have got to make first downs, and that is how we approach every series" Zeeland West head coach John Shilito said. "We want to take care of the football; we don’t want to make a lot of mistakes. But we know that our margin for error won’t be great against this kind of team.”
During all of their success, the Falcons have prided themselves on playing their best football at the end of the season. Even with a coaching change, that remains the focus.
“Our goal is to get better every week," West Catholic head coach Joe Hyland said. "So it’s not the Super Bowl. I think for either team, we are both undefeated, and I think we’ve all been around long enough to know that one game doesn’t make a season. For us we know that this is going to be a really good test against a really good football team, so that part is exciting.”
