This week’s Local 4 high school football Game of the Week is a matchup between two of the best in west Michigan.
The Zeeland West Dux will host the Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central Rangers on Friday, Oct. 4, at 7 p.m.
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The game will be streaming live on Local 4+ in partnership with State Champs Sports Network.
Zeeland West enters this game coming off a 20-8 loss against Unity Christian last week.
The Dux opened the season with a with a successful three-game road trip winning 28-13 against Muskegon, 42-22 against West Ottawa and 60-43 against Whitehall.
Zeeland West followed with a win at home against rivals Zeeland East 28-13.
The team is led by multiple two-way players including quarterback and defensive back Trey Sloothaak, halfback and linebacker Isaac VanderZwaag and fullback and cornerback Keaton Hendricks.
Last season, Zeeland West qualified for the playoffs despite suffering injuries to several key players. The team won three straight playoff games before losing to the eventual Division 3 state champions, Forest Hills Central.
Forest Hills Central enters this game coming off a 34-14 win against South Christian.
The Rangers opened the season with a 21-10 win against Reeths-Puffer. The team followed with a 7-0 win against Portage Central, a 17-14 win against Forest Hills Northern and a 43-20 loss against Unity Christian.
This game will be Forest Hills Central’s third matchup in the highly competitive Ottawa-Kent Gold division. First-year Forest Hills Central Head Coach Dave Fortino says his team is becoming accustomed to playing against some of the best teams in the state.
“This will be our third consecutive week playing a team that’s ranked in the top three of their division,” said Fortino. “Unity (Christian) at the time was ranked three when we played them in division four. South Christian was ranked number one in division four and last week Zeeland (West) was ranked number one in division three. There’s four excellent teams there and then Zeeland East and Wyoming are no pushovers either. So the league is extremely talented. There’s no weeks off.”
Fortino says his team’s defense will need to remain disciplined against the run heavy offense of Zeeland West, which shares similarities to Unity Christian.
“That offense is extremely tough to stop,” said Fortino. “With so many guys packed near the line of scrimmage if you make one little mistake, they can turn a two-yard run into 70 very quickly.”
The offense is led by junior quarterback Nick Williams who threw for five touchdowns in his last game against South Christian and senior receiver Brendan Cargill who caught two touchdown receptions in that game.
“He’s got a really great arm and he can put it in places on the field that maybe not everybody can at his age,” said Fortino on Williams. “He has really gotten better each week at understanding his progressions, understanding what Coach Gallery wants him to do with certain plays and has really gotten good at just taking what the defense is giving him rather than trying to force it into certain situations. His decisions with protecting the football have been really impressive, especially considering he’s a junior.”
The defense is led by senior linebacker Seder Middaugh and junior linebacker Matt Sexton.
Last season, Forest Hills Central beat Zeeland West 18-14 in a playoff semifinals matchup. The Rangers went on to win their first Division 3 state championship after beating Mason 27-10 in the finals. Fortino says his team’s expectations remain the same as last season.
“We have definitely not shied away from saying our expectations have not changed,” said Fortino. “We still obviously have a lot of work to do at this point of the season.”
“You have two teams that met in the semifinals last year to get there and it was a very close, well-contested game,” said Fortino. “It was one of the most exciting games I’ve ever been apart of as a coach. With well-respected programs that do things the right way and play team football, I think both of us still have those same goals.”