WHAT HAPPENED: 

At first, viewed as the underdogs, Grand Haven achieved the unexpected at Friday night’s game in Grandville by defeating the Bulldogs on their home turf in the first round of the playoffs. The Buccaneers can attribute their win to an early lead in the first half with an intense D-line, keeping the opposing offense from gaining the extra yards needed to score. Although they had the audience on their toes throughout the entire game, the biggest factor in their final score of 28-7 is the O-line giving senior quarterback Alex Kapala the extra precious moments of time to complete the plays to get the Bucs those touchdowns. 

WHAT DOES IT MEAN: 

The team proved the doubters wrong. Before the playoffs started, the Bucs were voted to lose. The boys not only had to fight through the normal game day struggles including weather and the potential of poor sportsmanship, but on top of all of these obstacles, the squad proved to everyone that it was capable of playing past the first round of playoff action. 

KEY PLAYERS 

• Connor Worthington had several powerful, and many times, unstoppable breakaways helping the Bucs with an edge offensively. Worthington finished with 118 yards rushing on 23 carries.
• Quarterback Alex Kapala’s impression footwork factored in a couple of unbeatable runs, one of which resulted in a touchdown. Kapala ended the night with 41 yards rushing on six carries.
• The entire O-line made every touchdown possible with key blocks for the team to come out with a victory.

KEY MOMENT:

A moment the will not only resonate with the football team but with the school and the community as a whole is the cheering from the audience and team while watching the final seconds of the game tick down and knowing for certain that the Bucs were victorious and will be moving on to the next round of playoffs. 

THEY SAID IT:

“We had more faith in ourselves than anyone else did,” Senior Alex Kapala said. “We trusted each and we won the battle up front that lead us to march the ball down the field or stop the ball on defense.”

WHAT’S NEXT: 

The Bucs will continue onto the second stage of the playoffs. The team will take on Hudsonville for the district championship, a team that the Bucs fell to 33-0 on September 13.