TIGERS VARSITY 2007
CONGRATS TO RAY VANPUTTEN
Our QB was named to the FIRST TEAM ACADEMIC ALL STATE
FOOTBALL TEAM! Ray joins 37 other student
athletes from around the state for this great
accomplishment. Out of the 38 players on this
team, 33 had a 4.0 or better and 24 of the students were
currently 1st in their class. Great Work Ray- You
have shown tremendous leadership in the classroom!
Along with Ray's accomplishments, our Team finished in
the top 20 teams of Division 4. Our
players continue to work hard on and off the field and
this is the reason we are on the upward climb for the
2nd straight year - Great Job to everyone!
ALL-AREA
SELECTIONS
Congrats to the following individuals for their
nominations at the All-Area Meeting:
Offense:
2nd
Team: RB John Wells and OL Mark Wagner
Defense:
2nd
Team: LB Josh Alverson
HM: DB Brad Saxton
and LB Jake Mikula
CONGRATS TO
FOLLOWING KIDS FOR ALL-CONF. SELECTIONS:
OFFENSE:
1st TEAM:
Mark Wagner (OL)
Honorable Mention:
John Wells (RB) and Brandon Castillo (OL)
DEFENSE:
1st TEAM:
Josh Alverson (LB) and Brad Saxton (DB)
2nd TEAM:
Jake Mikula (LB)
We have been talking to players
for a few years now that when you have more success as a
team, you will get more recognition for individual
awards. It's not a surprise that we have had our
best season in the last 3 years in terms of attendance
in the weight room, Grade Point Average in the Classroom
and Wins on the Football field. And now, this was
the best we have done at the All-Conference Selections.
I'm proud of all these guys for how hard they worked the
entire year and they deserved these awards- Great
Job!
Awards Banquet
We had everyone except two of the
kids in attendance, a very well prepared meal, awards
for these players and a highlite video. The
players enjoyed the night and it was a good ending to a
fun season.
We gave away 4 individual awards
as well last night: "Rudy award ( Top Practice and Team
Player)", Most Improved Player, Most Valuable Player and
the "Tiger Award"....
Below is a list of who came away
with the awards:
RUDY AWARD: RUBEN JUAREZ
MOST IMPROVED: BRAD SAXTON
TIGER AWARD: MARK WAGNER
MOST VALUABLE PLAYER: JOHN WELLS
One other thing we did last night
was announce next years captains- They are as follows:
Zech Marsh, Jake Mikula, Brian
Ferrer and Dan Frey.
Thanks again to everyone who
came out last night and has been an encouraging fan and
supporting parent. Thanks!
Newaygo Vs Grant Pictures (More to Come Later)
Awards Banquet(s) -
NOVEMBER 6th @ 6 PM
We will be holding the
Awards Banquets on November 6th @ 6 PM. Varsity will
be held in the MS Cafeteria. 9th and 10th grade will
be held in the HS Cafeteria.
We have a lot more
Pictures Coming Soon...thanks to Mr. Saxton - Below is just
a handful from the Fruitport Game:
Fruitport vs Grant 07 Pictures
Tigers End Season w/
Shutout
The Tiger Defense had been
playing better and better as the season had rolled along and
it showed up in a big way Friday Night. Not only did
the Tiger D shutout the Whitehall Vikings, they also had 2
Interceptions, a fumble recovery and a TD. They led
the charge as the Tigers rolled onto a 14-0 Victory over
Whitehall.
The Seniors deserved this
victory after working so hard throughout the entire season.
It was a nice way to end the season... great work guys!
Last Game of the Year @
Home Tonight Versus Whitehall
We have been a little spoiled
w/ great weather over the last few weeks but it looks like
its going to be wet and cold for the Final Game against the
Vikings. Whitehall has a record of 4-4 and they play in the
West Michigan Conference. We hope we will be able to
send our Seniors off with a Win for their last ever game in
a Tiger Uniform.
Freshman ended the season @
6-3, while the JV ended up at 1-7.
A very hard fought
football game by both teams
Newaygo came into this game
averaging 36 points a game and blowing teams out every week.
Because of this, there was a lot of talk that they would do
the same to our team. That wasnt the case, in fact it
turned out to be a very close game until the final couple
minutes.
We had a fumble early in the
2nd quarter that gave them the ball at our 1 yard line and
they punched it in from there to give them a 7-0 halftime
lead. In the second half we had 3 offensive
possessions inside Newaygo's 20 yard line and we came up
short all 3 times, 2 of them by a matter of inches.
The game was still 7-0 going
into the 4th quarter and we had the ball deep in their
territory. On 4th and 3 John Wells lunged for a first
down and it appeared he had made it, but when they brought
the chains out, we were about 2" short from a first down.
Newaygo then broke a couple long runs and scored again with
about 6 minutes to go to make the score 14-0. Our team
responsed one more time with another great drive down to the
Newaygo's 5 yard line with about 3 1/2 minutes left, but
again couldnt get the ball in the end zone. Newaygo's
last score came with about 30 seconds left in the game to
make the final score 21-0.
As usual, both teams played
very hard all night and although the score doesnt show it,
it truly was a great game and a game of inches.
We have one final home game this week against Whitehall, who
is currently 4-4.
I would like to thank our
parents and fans for their support last Friday Night.
We had a very supportive and energetic crowd with consistent
chants of "Let Go Tigers". Our players were talking
about our crowd and enjoyed it very much- THANK YOU!
Rivalry Week: Varsity @
Newaygo 7 PM
We are coming off from our
1st road win last week versus Tri-County. Tonight, we play
our last game on the road as we head North to play the Lions
who are currently 5-2 and playing good football. We
have had a great week of practice, (with the exception of a
few injuries) and we are confident our team will play very
hard with a ton of enthusiasm tonight. This
should be a fun game to watch and we hope all of our Tiger
Faithful will dress up warm and come out with a ton of
energy to support the team tonight.
Our 9th grade fell to 5-3
last night playing one of the best 9th grade teams around
the area- undefeated GR Christian. Our JV also lost to
Newaygo.
Grant 48 Tri-County 6
We
started off a little shaky with a couple turnovers inside
the Tri-County 20 yard line on our first two drives.
But once we eliminated those mistakes, we were able to get
points regularly and the D played great all night coming up
with 5 turnovers. The offense also totalled over 500
yards of offense for the first time in 3 years.
Our team has now won 3 out of its last 4 games with the only
loss being to league leading Fruitport. This was a
very important victory as we head into a big game against
the 5-2 Newaygo Lions who are coming off a loss to Fruitport
28-14. We will need a great week of practice from the team
and a ton of support from our fans Friday Night.
GRANT @ TRI-COUNTY
TONIGHT 7 PM
We are coming off
from 3 straight home games and posted a 2-1 record in those
games. We now enter the final third of the season as
we go back on the road to face the Tri-County Vikings.
We will see all of the Tiger Faithful at 7 PM tonight.
The 9th Grade
improved their record to 5 wins and 2 losses by defeating
Tri-County last night. They will face their biggest
test of the season next week as they play the 7-0 Grand
Rapids Christian Eagles. The JV was able to get their first
victory of the year last night with a final score of 35-12.
They will play host to Rival Newaygo next week. Great
Job to Both Teams.
A FEW PICTURES OF
THE FRUITPORT GAME COURTESY OF ZECH's MOM- THANK YOU!
Fruitport 25
Tigers 0
Fruitport shows why they are
undefeated in our league. They are big, strong,
physical and very good on the Line of Scrimmage. They
are extremely tough to slow down and when you make the
mistakes we made in the 2nd half, its almost impossible to
prevent them from scoring. The score was 7-0 at half
and we had a couple chances to put points on the board but
failed. In the 2nd half, we dropped 4 passes, threw 2
interceptions and fumbled 3 snaps from center and those
mistakes led to the last 3 Fruitport touchdowns. They
are a great team and deserve credit for the way the played
but this could have been a different game if we would have
limited our mistakes. We need to come back out and
have another good week of practice as we go back on the road
this week to Tri-County.
Freshman won again and
improved to 5-2 and the JV game was postponed due to
lightning.
Two in a Row: Tigers 13
Spring Lake 10
After starting the season 0-3, our
team has rebounded with back to back victories. Last Friday
night, your tigers played hard all night and came away with
a 13-10 victory over Spring Lake. After falling behind
3-0 early in the first quarter, Grant responded with 13
straight points. Spring Lake then had a long run to
set up a score and make it a 13-10 score. On the next
kickoff, we fumbled and they recovered on our 30 yard line.
But the defense came up big and held them to a 47 yard field
goal try, which came up short and the Tigers hung on to win.
This was a much needed win as we head into a game versus a
great Fruitport Trojans team, who is now 4-1 and defeated
Orchard View last Friday Night. See you this Friday
night for our Homecoming!
The 9th and 10th grade both lost last
week to the undefeated Spring Lake 9th and 10th grade teams.
Tigers Defeat Ludington 34-6
Our team couldnt wait to play at home
on Friday night after starting the season with 3 straight
road games. The players played with great emotion and
enthusiasm all night and executed better than they have all
year. We were able to set the tone early too with a
nice opening kickoff return from John Wells, followed by a
40 yard touchdown drive from the offense. The players
have continued to work hard in practice and it finally payed
off on Friday night. Thanks to everyone who came out
to support us Friday Night. Next week we are at home
again versus the Spring Lake Lakers!
9th Grade team improved to 3-1 and the
10th grade team fell to 0-4
OV pours it on last week
Ov was coming off a loss in a game
where they had a bunch of penalty's and four turnovers, but
we didnt see that OV team. They executed their Offense
perfectly and were too strong and fast for us last Friday.
They are a program we have continued to struggle with year
after year and have a lot of work to do to get to that
level. Our players kept fighting to the end of the
game and after the onslaught in the first quarter actually
outscored them the rest of the way 16-14.
We have our first home game versus
Ludington this Friday night @ 7 PM...
Players of the week
We have been awarding an
"honorary captain" each week for hard work during practice.
Those awards so far have gone to Jake Mikula, Matt Becker
and Dan Frey.
Jake Mikula had a great first
couple weeks of practice and had an exceptional scrimmage to
earn him the award.
Matt Becker had an
interception, very good coverage all night on Birch Runs
receivers and a few tackles to earn him the award.
This week Dan Frey earned it
after coming off from an ankle injury and not playing week
1.He still ended up rushing for over 100 yards against
Fremont.
Great Job Guys, keep up the
good work!
We have also started awarding
"scout team" players of the week. These are kids who
are focusing on not only getting their own selves better
each week, but focused on getting their teammates
better each and every week. Sometimes it may seem like a
thankless job, but it's so important for our improvement as
a team.
Our Scout player of the
week last week was Chad Dauchy. I wasn't even sure he
was going to play this year as we didnt see him much in the
off-season but he is definitely getting better each and
every week. He did a great job at Defensive End last
week and made Cody Brooks work hard to get ready for
Fremont. Cody turned in a very good performance Friday
night opening holes for Dan Frey and Company. Great
work Mr. Dauchy!
Fremont 21 Grant 20
It was a very tough ending
for us in what ended up being a great football game.
It was a back and forth game all night and we came out on
the short side. We were coming off a lopsided loss
last week and it's always interesting to see how the kids
respond to those types of situations and are kids responded
well. We executed much better, outgaining Fremont in total
yards. We played with a lot of emotion and heart too. But, a
couple turnovers, a few long pass plays by Fremont and
missed opportunities by us in the kicking game ended up
costing us the victory.
Its not going to get any
easier in this league, so we have to get back after it and
have another good week of practice as we go forward to face
Orchard View at their place next Friday night.
Enjoy your long weekend- see
you at practice Monday ( 6 PM)
Grant Vs Fremont
Tonight @ 7 PM
Fremont (1-0) is coming off
from a win over Lakeview 7-6. This should be a great
football game tonight and we hope all the Tiger Faithful
will be there helping the team out.
9th and 10th grade both loss
last night. 9th grade (1-1) lost to a very good Bryon
Center team, a team that won last week 62-0 and the JV team
(0-2) lost to a good Fremont Packers team.
NOT WHAT WE EXPECTED
I'm not sure "dissappointing"
is the right word after Friday Nights lopsided loss to
Birch Run 33-0. We had very high expectations going
into this game and felt like the guys were prepared, but we
just didn't play well in any aspect of the game on Friday
Night. Our Defense couldn't get off the field in
critical situations, including on the opening drive when
Birch Run went for it and got it on 4th and 1 on their own
39 yard line. The Panthers ended up 6 for 6 on 4th
down plays and it took its toll on the defense. We
also struggled miserably on offense, as we made mental error
after mental error. We also had too many turnovers and
penalties to sustain any type of drives versus a great
Panther Defense!
I have no doubts that our kids we will come back, have a
great week of practice and give Fremont a great football
game. The game will be this coming THURSDAY @ 7 PM.
Birch Run Tonight- 7 PM
@ their place
We hope our fans will make
the 2 1/2 hour trip to Birch Run tonight. We expect a
great game and effort out of both teams tonight and hope you
will be there to support the Tigers!
As for the younger levels,
the 9th grade started their season out on the right foot
last night by getting a 13-0 decision. Two long runs
by Hutchins and Alex along with some great defensive play
led this team to victory.
The Jv Team struggled right from the beginning of the game
as they fumbled the opening kickoff and Birch Run followed
it up with a TD two plays later. The final score was
34-6 Birch Run.
One More Final Week of
Preparation
This team has been hard at
work for a long time now and we have one final week to put
things together before we make the long road trip over to
Birch Run. We have showed improvements each week and
we had a good scrimmage versus Comstock Park, Kent City and
Muskegon Oakridge. We still have work to do yet though
in order to get ready for a great program like the Panthers.
We are now on the school
schedule starting this week:
Monday: 3:25-6:15
Tuesday: 3:25-5:45 followed
by "D" Meeting 5:45-6:30
Wednesday: 3:25-5:45
followed by Team Dinner
Thursday: 3:25- 4:55
Friday: @ Birch Run
GAMETIME 7 PM
LESS THAN 2 WEEKS 2 GO
One week of two-a-days in the
book. Kids are working hard and getting in shape.
We ended this first week with a black and orange scrimmage
on Saturday. The kids were divided up as equal as
possible and it showed as it was a very competitive match up
and kids really showed up w/ good intensity and enthusiasm.
It was a fun morning w/ the kids and we had a nice turnout
from our parents. Thanks to everyone who came out on a
warm Saturday morning!!
Dont forget this week's
schedule:
Monday: 3-9 PM
Tuesday: 3-9 PM
Wednesday: 3-9 PM (Could
possibly be cut shorter if Monday and Tuesday workouts go
well)
Thursday 8-11 AM (Pictures
from 10-10:40)
Friday: SCRIMMAGE -
VARSITY AT HOME, While the JV AND 9th @ Comstock Park
10 AM ( TEAMS INCLUDE Comstock Park, Grant, Oakridge
And Kent City)
JULY NEWSLETTER IS HERE
There have been slight
changes to next weeks schedule once again. We will
have Varsity Equipment Handout on Monday, Varsity Parents
meeting and dinner on Tuesday and then everyone is off until
the start of practice. We were going to have a 9th and
10th grade parent meeting, but have postponed it until
August 10th. Check out the July Newsletter above for
more information.
Hope Everyone Enjoyed
their week Off
We are coming off a nice
short vacation and I hope everyone had a enjoyable time with
family and friends. Now its time to get back to work
with the Tiger Football Family.
We have had a very busy week
so far as we've had our normal weight room workouts along
with 7 on 7 workouts at Cedar Springs and Hudsonville High
School. We will continue 7 on 7 events this Saturday
at Muskegon Oakridge and again next Tuesday back at Cedar
Springs. This Saturday we start at 9 AM and next
Tuesday is @ 6 PM.
Hard to believe, but we are
just 24 days away from our first practice!
Less than 60 days
until 1st Game
The month of June is
all but gone and the season is approaching us fast.
June has been a busy month for a lot of kids but July is
going to be even busier.
We start the month
with a relaxing 1st week as everyone is off and can spend
time with friends and family. But Starting on July
9th, we have 7 on 7's starting up, we have back to back to
back Saturday events, youth camp, group meetings and
weights. We need our committment level to continue and
climb over the next few weeks. Our attendance has
gotten better over the last week, but still have a ways to
go.
Congrats to Brandon
Bogner and Kaleb Vargo. We elected one 9th grade
captain (Brandon) and one JV captain (Kaleb) for next year
at last weeks football camp. Both of these kids are
leaders in attendance for their classes, both have made huge
strides in overall strength and we feel both will have big
impacts this coming season. Great job so far this
off-season, keep it up.
Busy
1st week of Summer
This 1st week
of the summer included 3 days of lifting, a Lineman Camp at
Oakridge and the first ever Commanche workout.
As for the
lifting, are overall numbers were up from the last two
years, but as a coaching staff we were very dissappointed in
the turnout. We have talked with several kids who
weren't around and believe the numbers will climb
considerably next week.
The Oakridge
Lineman Camp was one Hot Day. With Temps reaching 96
degrees that day, we had 9 kids getting great coaching from
members of various High School staffs (including ours) as
well as the Grand Valley Lakers Staff. The kids in
attendance were Mark Wagner, Brian Wood, Josh Alverson, Zech
Marsh, Kaleb Vargo, Cody Spooner, Spencer Proctor, Chris
Lightfoot and Mason Stickney. Another exciting
part of that day was that 5 of those 9 kids made it back for
the lifting session at night after putting the long day in
at the camp!! Great Work Men!
In addition to
the regular summer workouts, we also issued a challenge to
our kids of 3 additional grueling workouts- we have named
these the commanche workouts. The first of those 3 workouts
was today and we had 18 kids who showed up for the
challenge. These kids showed tremendous heart and
teamwork this morning helping each other through a grueling
workout. We were excited to have this many kids attend
this first event on a Saturday Morning during the summer and
we are looking forward to the next two events as well.
Next up for a
handful of kids in our program is the U of M Football Camp.
We are very excited that 7 of our varsity players are
leaving tomorrow for a 5 day camp in Ann Arbor. Randy
Ives, Zech Marsh, Josh Alverson, Brian Wood, Jake Mikula,
Brad Saxton and John Wells are all excited to get in better
shape, meet other great football players from around the
state, and work on techniques early this summer. Have
fun guys!
Dont forget
that this week is also our High School 1 day team camp and
grillout. This coming Thursday from 5-9 PM we hope to
have our entire program in attendance for this event.
If you havent turned in your form yet, please get with Coach
Chapman asap or turn it into the High School office.
Of course we will see you at the weight room first this
coming Monday!
SCHEDULE CHANGES
There are some small changes and
updates to our Summer Calendar:
1) Our practice field and game
field is going to be getting fixed up nice and we need to be
off from it this summer. Therefore, the 7 on 7 event
that was originally scheduled
IS CANCELLED!
2.) We need to move our
"equipment handout" days to the week of July 23- More Info
to follow at a later date.
3.) We will have a 9th and 10th grade
parent meeting on July 30th as well while the kids are
lifting weights- parent meeting should last from 7 PM until
about 7:35 PM.
Reminders for the upcoming
weeks:
Community Help:
Make sure if your signed up this coming weekend that you
make it there on time and represent the school and football
program in a professional manner. Grant's township
cant be more happy that your volunteering your time.
Thanks in advance for your help!
EXAMS:
One last reminder- please take time to study hard for the
last few exams. We need each one of you to get it done
so that we can meet our 3 academic goals.
IRONMAN: Juarez
and Castillo ended the last two weeks of lifting by being
our lifters of the week. Both of these kids have been
very committed all season long and in the top 7 in overall
attendance. Juarez has been one of our top kids in the
dot drill all year and has worked hard to get stronger each
week. Castillo has really made progress in the weight
room lifts and we are looking forward to him playing this
summer as this will be his third year on Varsity. Both
kids ended the year strongly- Great Job and we will see you
more this summer.
Helmets for Camps: If
your attending the Oakridge Lineman Camp or the U of M
Football Camp, we will be getting you helmets on Monday the
11th at the lifting sessions. Please make sure you
attend one of the sessions on that day.
Commitment Forms:
If you plan on being with us this summer for the
committed time, please sign the sheet and return it next
week.
Pledge sheet and
Camp Forms: We need your camp forms turned
in asap possible so that we can order t-shirts accordingly.
Also, please be working on those pledge sheets if you want
to go after some of the ideas to make our field that much
better.
Great Turnout for Program
Meeting
We held a meeting After
School yesterday to see who was planning on playing
football. We had our best turnout in a long time, as
we had 90 kids in attendance. We also have about 5
other kids who are playing JV Baseball who couldnt make the
meeting. This was very encouraging to see as the last
two years we have had 81 and 82 involved in the program and
the year before that it was around 76.
We had 33 Varsity Players
attend, 27 JV players and 28 Freshman. The kids
received the May Newsletter, Fundraiser Pledge Sheet, Tiger
Football Camp Form, SUMMER CALENDER (JUNE,JULY AND AUGUST),
Varsity Attendance sheet, Weight Room updates and
whole lot more verbal information regarding grades,
physicals, 7 on 7's, and other available camps as well.
If anyone needs the handouts
that were giving, see me in the weight room and I will get
them to you. A copy of the Newsletter is Posted Below:
MAY NEWSLETTER HERE
Brian Wood was our Ironman
last week. Brian is one of the leaders in attendance
and in total overall strength. He is working hard and
loves Tiger Football. He does a great job with helping the
younger guys in their lifts as well. We have high hopes for
Brian this upcoming year and we know he has high hopes for
our TEAM. Good Week Brian!
Brian Ferrer gets Ironman of
Week Award
Brian has been working hard
this entire off-season, including hitting the weight room
during b-ball season. His committment to the program
has been great this year. He had a very good week
during our testing last week as he jumped up 155 lbs in his
4 lift totals. As the off-season has gone along, Brian
has continued to make an impression and we feel he has a
chance to be a big contributor next fall.
Our May Newsletter
should be out early next week with more updates and info...
Reminder to all Players:
We have a meeting for the entire program 9-12th grade NEXT
WEDNESDAY AT 3:15 in the Fine Arts Center. If you plan
on being part of the Tiger Football Program, you need to
attend this meeting so make plans now to be in attendance.
Test Results are now Updated by clicking link below:
It was a great week for the
Tigers in the weight room last week. We had a total of
102 new personal records established out of 113 records
tested last week. We had several players who had their
4 lift total increase by 100 plus lbs.
The varsity player who
increased the most in his total was Brian Ferrer who jumped
up 155 lbs from the last time we tested, 7 weeks ago.
The JV player who increased the most in his lifts was
Spencer Proctor who increased by a total of 175 lbs and the
leading incoming Freshman was Brandon Bogner who increased
his total lifts by 95 pounds. Its not a coincedence
that all three of these players are conistent in showing up.
Great job to these 3 individuals and the rest of the team
for a great couple months!
Our latest Ironman of the
week, went to one of our current varsity baseball players-
Ran Vanputten. Ray has been coming into speed workouts
and also working some QB drills everyother week for about
20-25 minutes while still making an impact for the baseball
team. We have been looking for someone to step up and
want the QB position and right now Ray is the frontrunner
for the job. Keep up the good work!
TEST RESULTS IN WEIGHT ROOM HERE
Weight Room Testing is
Happening this Week
We started the weight room
testing yesterday and will continue through Friday. In
the first day alone, we had 40 new personal records
established. We will have all the results posted by
early next week.
Spring Sports continue to go
well for the Tigers. The baseball team is still
undefeated and currently at the top of the standings with
Fruitport. And the boys track team is coming off
winning their second straight invitational last saturday.
The track team did lose a couple meets last week but is
still on pace to finish near the top of the lakes 8
standings. The Boys Tennis team is coming off a win
over Orchard View last week as well. Keep up the good
work!
Our latest IronMan is one of
our captains- John Wells. John has been close on a
couple different weeks of earning this award. He is a
constant in the weight room and is currently our strongest
man in the program despite only weighing around 175 lbs.
His Bench Press has climbed up to 260 lbs and his Clean is
up to 235 and should be broken later this week. Wells
is a regular in the weight room, while running track too.
Great Job the last couple weeks John!
Spring Sports
Finally Get Kicked Off
After a couple weeks filled
with snow and cancellations, the spring sports finally got
going and it was a good start. The Varsity Baseball
team opened up the season on the road with a victory over
Tri-County and the Track Teams ( Boys and Girls) each won
their meets against Spring Lake and Fremont.
Two Different
Speed Testing Results have been updated
Within the last week, several of our varsity kids tested in
the dot drill and in the 40 yard dash. We had 7 out of
9 kids who had previously tested in the 40 yard dash improve
their times and 7 out of 8 kids improved their times in the
dot drill. You can see the updated results in the Iron
Men Section. Our Fastest Man in the 40 yard dash was
Dan Frey as he ran 4.63.
Our Ironman of the week was Zach Marsh. Zach has been
working hard each and every week. Not only has he been
increasing his size, strength and speed, he has also been a
huge factor in our attendance numbers continuing to climb.
He has shown great leadership among his class and keeps the
pressure on his 10th grade classmates to attend on a regular
basis. Mr. Marsh improved both his 40 yard dash time
and dot drill time this week. Were going to see big
things from Zach on the football field if he keeps up this
work ethic and attitude!
2007 MARCH NEWSLETTER IS HERE
Ironmen of Week for the last Month
It's been a while since we have brought up the Ironmen of
the Week. The last four weeks, we had four new
winners: Team Captain Josh Alverson, Mark Wagner, Jake
Mikula and Kaleb Vargo. All of these kids have
been very consistent week in and week out. They were
also involved in Powerlifting Competition and the varsity
guys have been at all the speed training workouts as well.
Great job to all four - keep up the good work.
The Newsletter is nearly completed, we are just trying to
confirm a few dates and it will be completed. Look for
it to be out soon.
Go Tigers!
STATE POWERLIFTING MEET
We had 6 boys compete in the State Powerlifting Meet
this past weekend - Jake Garza, Jake Mikula, John Wells,
Kaleb Vargo, Cory Acosta and Josh Alverson. All of
them did a great job representing Grant and 3 of them (
Wells, Mikula and Garza) even earned top 10 finishes.
Garza and Mikula both took home 5th place at the JV level
and Wells received 10th place at the Varsity level.
The latest
Newsletter should be out by the end of this week.
Juan
Enriquez Takes 4th Place at Wrestling Finals
Juan shows his toughness and
determination as he ends up with a 4th place finish at the State
Final Meet. Great Job Juan!
In the weight room, we had
our best week in attendance to date. We averaged 42 kids per
day last week. The Varsity group has really stepped up the
last few weeks as we are now averaging about 19 a day... The
JV team has increased their numbers too while the 8th grade class
has lost a few from the previous weeks. Overall, things are
headed in the right direction. We also started speed training
on the 5th and kids are starting to realize they have a long way to
go to get back into shape.
Finally, we had 2 kids (Ray
Vanputten and Matt Becker) attend a QB Football camp this past
weekend. It was a great workout for both kids who went home
with some tired muscles and very sore arms. Were very happy to
see the effort being put forth by both these kids- I'm not
sure Grant has had very many QB's attend Camps in March- this is
very encouraging!
Winter Sports are Winding
Down
Be sure to check out our
B-Ball Team tonight @ Home vs. Fremont Packers ( Round 1-
Districts)...Game Starts at 6 PM. Also, Def. End Juan Enriquez
will be wrestling at the state meet which starts this coming
Thursday, March 8th.
Good Luck to both programs!
At the weight room,
attendance continues to increase. We had our biggest turnout
of the year last week as 39 kids filed into the Fitness Center.
Besides for a summer workout, this is the largest attendance we've
seen since the start of this off-season program was implemented a
couple years ago... The 8th graders continue to impress as they have
a ;arge group who has been very dilligent and consistent. The
Varsity team now has had 31 different players working out at one
time or another, we just need a little more consistency from about
15 of those guys and we would be really making progress.
Overall, its been a great last couple weeks and guys are making good
gains.
The Monthly Newsletter will
be out after the State Powerlifting Meet takes place, which is March
17th.
Good Weekend for Tiger
Faithful
It was an exciting weekend
for Tiger Fans. On Friday Night, our varsity basketball team
started things out right by defeating Fruitport.
On Saturday, things
continued to go well in two different events powerlifting and
wrestling:
At the Wrestling Regional
Meet, Juan Enriquez was able to make it into the final round and
keep his season going.
Finally, at Wyoming Lee High
School, a group of 12 Football Players competed at the Regional
powerlifting meet and had great success. Attendees included:
John Wells, Brandon Castillo, Josh Alverson, Mark Wagner, Brad
Saxton, Brian Wood, Dan Frey, Cory Acosta, Jake Mikula, Chris
Lightfoot, Kaleb Vargo, and Lorenzo Lopez.
We were able to take home
our first trophy as the JV Team Placed 3rd overall in the
competition. We also had 6 individuals qualify for the state
meet, which will be held at Muskegon High School on March 17th:
JV
Cory Acosta: 145
Weight Class 1st Place
Jake Mikula: 155
Weight Class 2nd Place
Lorenzo Lopez 119
Weight Class 3rd Place
Kaleb Vargo 207 Weight
Class 3rd Place
VARSITY
John Wells 181 Weight
Class 1st Place
Josh Alverson -
Qualified by lifting the total weight Required in his weight class
GREAT JOB TO ALL WHO
COMPETED AND THANKS TO EVERYONE WHO CAME OUT AND SUPPORTED THEM.
Reminders and Updates
week Of Feb. 19th
1.) Powerlifting
Meet is this Saturday @ Wyoming Lee: If you plan on attending
you need to see Coach Chapman asap! We will meet at the
Fitness Center 7:45 AM and will probably be back around 2:30/3:00
PM. Traditionally, the meet will start with the JV kids
lifting first and then followed by Varsity. We hope to have
pictures and results from this meet posted on here next week.
2.) Juan Enriquez
Qualified for the Regional Wrestling tournament this past weekend.
Congrats!
3.) Speed Training
and Conditioning is just around the corner. It starts Monday
Morning- March 5th @ the Middle School.
4.) Our Ironman Of
The Week Program started the week of Feb. 5th. Our first
winner of the award this year was Dustin Guerne. Dustin has
been working very hard for well over a year and its paying off.
He has increased his 4 lift total by over 100 lbs since August,
which is well above any of our other players. He has been very
reliable and is also someone who is close to the top in overall
attendance. Great Start to the off-season Dustin- Keep it up!
Congrats to the following
football players for their success at this weekends "LAKES 8"
wrestling conference tournament:
Varsity DE: Juan
Enriquez 215 Lb. Weight Class Champion
Varsity TE: Tyler
Jacobsen 171 Lb. Weight Class 4th Place
JV DB: Mike Newton 112
LB Weight Class 3rd Place
Freshman DE: Kevin
Atwood 140 LB Weight Class 3rd Place
THE 1st 2007 NEWSLETTER IS
NOW OUT:
2007 FEBRUARY NEWSLETTER
CONGRATS TO GRANT TIGERS
BBALL TEAM: DEFEATING RIVAL NEWAYGO LIONS 54-50 IN OVERTIME!!!
Great Game by Both Teams and Fantastic Win For the TIGERS!
36 People show up to watch
the 2006 Highlight Video
We weren't sure how many to expect at the Fine Arts Center last
night, but ended up with a very nice turnout. The group of
Seniors is a tremendous group of kids who we are all going to miss
next year. They made a great impact on this Tiger
Football Program this past fall and they are doing a great job of
building school spirit in the school as well. It was good to
see all of them come out last night for one last hoorah! Go
Tigers!
2006 Highlight Video will be
shown Thursday Night
The Fine Arts Center is
opening their doors for us this Thursday Night ( Jan 25th) @ 6 PM to
allow us to watch our completed Highlight DVD on the big screen.
We will be serving pizza and snacks for all who attend. You
will have an opportunity to purchase one of these DVD's for $25 at
this event.
The weight room attendance
continues to get better since the new year started. We had 3
JV B-ball players coming in to workout before practice last week,
which is a great sign of commitment on their part. We also
have a core group now that we can count on each every time the room
is open. Things are heading in the right direction at the
beginning of this off-season.
Our First 2006 Newsletter
will be out in the upcoming weeks with much more information.
We are very excited for some of the new opportunities our program
will have over the next few months. Stay Tuned!
Back To Work
I trust everyone had a nice
relaxing couple weeks with family and friends, but its now time to
get back to work with your teammates. We started our lifting
sessions again on Monday the 8th. We had 14 different varsity
players attend workouts last week. We also have 12 Varsity
Players participating in either Basketball or Wrestling. We
expect to have about 35 Varsity Players next season which means we
are getting approx. 75% of those players who are involved in
something right now. This is a good starting point but needs to be
improved on. If your not at the weight room or in a sport, what are
you doing to get better? Its hard for us to count on you
during the season if we don't see you in the off-season.
We are excited for the group
who have been at our weight room sessions. There has been
consistency from about 11 Varsity Players and it sounds like we are
going to get about that many to attend the powerlifting meets in
February and March. Any Freshman through Seniors who want to
compete in these events can get with me at upcoming weight room
sessions for more information. Our first meet will be at the
end of February at Wyoming Lee High School.
See you Monday the 15th at
the Fitness Center!
Have A Safe and Happy
Holidays
We are taking a break from
football stuff over the next few weeks. There is no lifting
this week and the motor city bowl team trip this year has been
cancelled. If you have transportation and would still like to
use the tickets, get with me and we will take care of it.
Thanks to everyone who has already been working hard this
off-season. Have a great holiday, be safe and enjoy your time
off. See you in January!
Weight Room Testing results
and speed Testing results will be posted over the next few weeks.
In the mean time, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
OFF-SEASON LIFTING IS NOW
UNDERWAY
Last week was our first week
back to lifting. We averaged 10 "future" varsity football
players and 1 underclassmen. It was an ok start to the
off-season, but unfortunately we were missing quite a few players
who we were expecting in attendance. Today was better as we
had 14 varsity guys in attendance and 4 future JV Players. Zach
Marsh, Cody Brooks and Jake Mikula have done a nice job of getting
our sophmore numbers up in the weight room as we were up to 6 today.
Over the past week, we
tested on the Bench Press, Squat, Deadlift and Power Clean.
Our strongest man in the program so far is John Wells, with Josh
Alverson right on his heals.
Congrats to our Bball Team
as they have gotten off to a 2-0 start this season with wins over
Sparta and Ludington. Our wrestling team, led by our interior
lineman Juan Enriquez, is much improved this year too. Go
Tigers!
We are very exciting to be
working side by side with the Rocket Football Program now. We
believe there are great things to come over the next few years as
this relationship progresses. Be sure to check out all the
Rocket Football Information by clicking below:
http://www.grantrocketfootball.org/
We also have a link to the
left for you to click on too.
7 Players went
down and watched two of the Football Finals
Our 3 captains
(Wells, Alverson and Wagner) joined up with Mikula, Saxton, Toohey
and Vanputten and went down to Ford Field to watch the Division 1
and Division 7 State Finals. Although both games were blowout
victories it was still a great time together. Its always a
great site to see 20,000 fans watching a high school football game.
And its great to see teams from our Area competing for the highest
prize and in 4 different divisions, actually winning the game.
Congrats go out to Muskegon Catholic, Muskegon, East Grand Rapids
and Zeeland West for winning state tites. Rockford and
Coopersville also had fantastic seasons and ended up with being
State Runner-Ups.
We will be
heading back down to Ford Field one more time this year to watch the
Motor City Bowl. If your interested in going, please sign up
at the upcoming weight room sessions. Speed Testing and Weight
Room Testing starts December 4th... See you There!
GO TIGERS
27 Players from
The Tiger Football Program will be involved in Winter Sports
Be sure to get
out and check out the Basketball Games and Wrestling events as we
have 27 players throughout the program who will be participating in
these events. For those of you who are not involved we look
forward to seeing you at each one of the weight room sessions.
We had our first
football meeting today and there was a good turnout from the junior
class but the sophmore class was missing several people. If
you were not there, you need to make sure that you get with one of
the captains for more information.
Reminder: This
coming Saturday we will be heading to Ford Field to watch two of the
eight High School Finals football games. We will first see
Muskegon Catholic at 10 AM and then follow that up by watching two
time defending champion Rockford defend their title. If you
want to go but didnt sign up, get with one of the captains so that
we can make sure we have enough transportation arranged. If
you plan on attending you need to be at the Fitness Center by 6:30
AM this coming Saturday. We should be back around 8 PM...
Please bring $20 with you for your ticket and food money.
Thank you!
Eric Evans and Josh
Hudson earn Honorable Mention All Area Awards
Congrats again to 2 of
our captains as they earned Honorable Mention All-Area last night.
Both of these players were 1st team All-Conference also...
Congrats
Good Luck To all of our
Football Players who are trying out for Winter Sports...We wish you
all the best!
REMINDER: We have our Next
Football Meeting on November 21st at 3:15 PM in the Fitness Center.
We will be discussing all the upcoming off-season events and
workouts.
Thanks to Everyone who
Supported the Tigers This Fall
This was a year that we
didnt really want to come to an end. We had a great group of
kids and a terrific group of varsity parents. Thank you so
much for all your support for this team. Our Senior Class has
laid the foundation of what Grant Football will be like for years to
come: Physical, Disciplined, Fast, Aggressive and Intense.
Thank you to every senior on this football team for working so hard
the entire year. Thank you.
We also need to say
Congrats to members of our team who earned all conference
recognition. Congrats to the following kids:
Offense: 1st
Team Eric Evans (RB #33)
Defense: 1st Team Josh Hudson(DB #2)
2nd Team Josh Hudson ( QB #2)
Defense: 2nd Team Josh Alverson (LB #42)
Hon. Mention: Ryan Toohey (WR #11) Hon
Mention: Rich Hinton ( DL #65)
Hon. Mention: Mark Wagner (OL #56)
Hon. Mention: Jake Mikula (LB #45)
Season Comes to an End
tonight vs Whitehall
Its hard to believe that
this is the last game...the year has seemed to go so fast.
Tonight its the 3-5 Tigers vs the 7-1 Vikings. The game is a
matchup of the 5th place team in the Lakes 8 Conference team vs the
2nd place team in the West Michigan Conference. We hope to see
everyone in Whitehall at 7 PM tonight.
JV's season comes to an
end with a tough loss to Whitehall 14-13. They ended up 4-4-1.
Grant Loses a
Heartbreaker to Newaygo 35-32
We have had our share of
Close Calls this year and most of them we have ended up on the
winning side, but not last Friday. It was a great game all
night played on a very muddy field that went back and forth with
neither team really being able to stop the other one. Both
Teams scored 5 touchdowns, both teams punted once, both teams were
successful on all their 4th down conversions and both teams were
intercepted once. But, only one team (Newaygo) converted all
of their extra points and that ended up being the difference.
Grant scored first
making it 6-0. Then Newaygo went on an 18 play drive to take the
lead at 7-6. Grant responded on the next play to make it 14-7.
Newaygo tied it up 14-14. At half the score was 21-20
Newaygo's lead...as Grant had missed another extra point. Then
after a couple TD's by both teams Grant finally reclaimed the lead
again 32-28. Unfortunately it didnt last long as Newaygo
broke a long td run to give them the lead 35-32. Grant wasnt
quite ready to give up though as they converted on two more 1st
downs and drove the ball to midfield. But with 1:45 remaining
on the clock, Hudsons pass to Ryan Toohey was intercepted sealing
the victory for Newaygo.
It was a great game and
all of the players on both teams played very hard. There is no
time to sulk though as it dont get any easier this week as Grant
heads into Whitehall's stadium to take on the 7-1 Vikings. See
you Friday at 7 PM for the season finale.
Go Tigers!
Newaygo Tonight
Its No Secret, this is
the game both schools have waited for the entire year. Newaygo
comes in at 4-3 and Grant at 3-4. There is no question that
both teams will play their hearts out and give it everything they
got tonight. Its cold and wet, but we hope that
all the Tiger Faithful will be out cheering our team on in their
orange and black. We also hope for a safe game with a Tiger
Victory. Go Tigers!
The Freshman's season
came to end last night with a loss to Allendale. The freshman
ended up with a 3-5 record, but made significant improvement the
entire year. This is a group that hasnt had much success over
the last couple years but has shown a great work ethic and desire to
compete. We look forward to working with these young men over the
next few years.
The JV team dropped
another game last night as they had way too many mistakes against a
good Newaygo JV team. The final score was 40-21. The JV
is now 4-3-1 and end the season next week at home vs Whitehall.
GRANT WINS IN TRIPLE
OVERTIME VS TRI-COUNTY: Final Score 55-54
Our Tiger "SPECIAL
FORCES" came up huge in this hard fought football game. It
started on the first play of the game as Eric Evans took a kick
return of around 80 yards back for a score... and then, with about 3
minutes to go in the game, he did it again. Then in the
overtimes, it was Hudson (QB) and the passing game that took over.
Followed by a game winning 2 point conversion run. It was an
unbelievable football game to be a part of and something these kids
will be able to talk about for a long, long time. And although
the Muskegon Chronicle wrote a BAD article which somehow included
quotes from myself without ever contacting me, the game was 100%
about the kids.. about their effort.. about their constant fight...
about their confidence to get the job done when the game was on the
line. I couldnt be more proud of our players in this football
game!
Next Up is our Rival the
Newaygo Lions. We have several things to work on and correct
before this game. But both teams have very similar
seasons thus far as Grant is 3-4 and Newaygo is 4-3...the only real
difference being that Newaygo beat Spring Lake and we lost to them.
It should be a very good football game! See you next Friday, 7
PM in Grant!
Go Tigers
HOMECOMING WEEK!
An exciting week for the
Grant Students. Kids get to be part of so many different
things with Assemblies, Parades, Games, Dances etc... that its a
very busy week. But I believe our players are excited and focused
about the game so hopefully it will be a great game to watch!
Gametime is at 7 PM - see you there!
Our 9th and 10th Grade
continue to get better as both teams won last night. The 9th
grade won a close game 13-12 and the JV won in blowout fashion 47-6.
This was a great feeling all the way around and Im really excited
for our JV kids to pull through after we asked two of their players
to join our varsity team this week. Prentis Williams (#21) and
Cody Brooks ( #81) will be playing with us tonight! Great Job
9th and 10th graders!
TIGERS FOUGHT HARD ALL NIGHT
BUT FRUITPORT IS TOO GOOD
Our Guys came out with a
strong effort and had the lead early in the 2nd quarter. It was 14-7
after a long Eric Evans Kick Return for a TD. But, a blocked punt
and then a punt return for a TD by Fruitport was too much to
overcome as the Trojans went onto a 35-14 victory. They have a
GREAT defense and an offense thats been averaging almost 35 points a
game so we couldnt afford to make some of those mistakes on special
teams. We knew going into the game that we would need to play
near perfect to have a chance and unfortunately, that didnt happen.
The Fruitport players and Coaching Staff had nothing but positive
things to say about the Tigers. Although it was a loss for our
team, we improved in several areas and that will help us heading
into the final 3 weeks.
Our Fans were great, loud
and supportive.... and the tunnel coming out of halftime was great
for our players. Thank you to everyone who continues to come out
every week (in Bad Weather) and support these players.
We look forward to coming
back home this week for our Homecoming against Tri-County. Gametime
is 7 PM Friday Night....and the weather is supposed to be nice!
Freshman Team gets 2nd Win
and JV game ends in a tie
The Tiger freshman came from
behind last night to defeat Fruitport 19-14. They improved
their record to 2-4.
The JV game went back and
forth all night. The Tigers took the lead 42-36 with about 35
seconds left in the game. But Fruitport completed a long pass
with 2 seconds remaining in the game to make it end in a tie: 42-42.
The JV's record is now 3-2-1.
The Varsity team is on the
road again for the third straight week. We travel to Fruitport
tonight to take on the 4th ranked team in the state. Fruitport
has been impressive all year and their 35-7 whoopin on OV last week
showed that they are the real deal this year. Our Tigers had a
good week of practice and should make this an exciting game to
attend. Hopefully the bad weather stays away tonight and
everyone can enjoy a great game! Start Time 7 PM.
Tigers Lose to Spring Lake
17-6
Our team came out on Friday
and played very hard right until the final whistle, but it wasnt
enough as we left with a very dissappointing loss (17-6).
After being ahead 6-3 most of the game, Spring Lakes QB went on a
long run of 62 yards to give the Lakers a 10-6 lead at the end of
the 3rd quarter. The Tigers were responding with a nice drive
until a fumble at Spring Lakes 40 yard line stalled their drive.
Then, after getting the ball back again, our Tigers took the ball
all the way to Spring Lakes 6 yard line with just over 4 minutes
remaining in the game, but once again were stopped by the
Lakers defense. Finally, after a missed field goal attempt by
the Lakers, Grant had one final shot at it but an interception which
was returned for a TD, sealed the victory for the Lakers. This
was a good game and our players played with great intensity.
Our Parents and other Fans were very supportive and could be heard
throughout the game. Its just tough to be on the losing end this
time. We need to get back to work on the practice field this
week as we have no time to dwell on this game. It doesnt get any
easier as we get ready to play one of the top teams in the state
next week - FRUITPORT. Fruitport is now 5-0 after taking it to
Muskegon Orchard View last Friday night. We need to play our best
football game of the year next Friday night. We hope to see everyone
there and show why we are becoming a great program!
Freshman and JV will play at
Home against Fruitport this Thursday.
Freshman and JV both suffer
losses last night. JV led at halftime 7-0 but couldnt keep it
going in the 2nd half. Freshman are now 1-4, while the JV are
3-2.
Varsity plays tonight, so
get yourself dressed up warm and we will see you there.
Tigers are on the road this
week vs a Good Spring Lake Team
Our Grant Tigers head out on
the road for the 2nd straight week as they take on the Spring Lake
Lakers, Friday at 7 PM. The Lakers are coming off back to back
tough losses to Fruitport and OV in the last couple weeks. Our
Team is coming of a win against Ludington and is hoping to put a
string of 2 in a row together for the first time this season.
We have had a very good week of practice thus far and if we play
this way on Friday, it will be a fun night. We hope to see all
our supportive and LOUD FANS there on Friday night!!
JV and Freshman are also
looking for back to back wins and they are at Home Tonight.
TIGERS DEFEAT LUDINGTON 17-8
Grant improves to 2-2 ( 2-1
in the conference) with a victory over Ludington last Friday night.
The Tigers had a great start to the game with a quick stop on
Defense followed by a long TD run by John Wells on their first
offensive series. The offense tacked on another score in the
2nd quarter as Eric Evans plowed his way into the endzone making it
14-0 at halftime. Then the Tigers added a field goal with the
opening possession of the 2nd half to make it 17-0. The game
appeared well in hand before Ludington's special teams started
making big plays. First, they blocked a punt that ended up
being a safety. Then on the ensuing kickoff, they had a kick return
that took them all the way down to Grants 12 yard line. Two
Plays later they were in the endzone and it had become a close
ballgame again. But, Grant was able to get the ball back on
the next series and convert a couple big first downs to end the
game.
This was a victory for our Tigers, but there is still a lot of work
to be done if were going to win next week.
We are back on the road
again next Friday night at Spring Lake. Spring Lake is 1-3
with losses to OV, FRUITPORT AND WHITEHALL... all of which are still
undefeated. This should be a great game to watch. Starttime is 7PM -
See you there!
GO TIGERS!
Freshman And JV both won
their games last night
The Tiger Freshman have been
improving every week and last night was their reward as they hung on
to defeat Ludington 15-12. The JV squad rebounded after last
weeks game and came out on top with a 40-2 Victory. Great Job
Tigers!
BE SURE TO CATCH THE VARSITY
TEAM TONIGHT IN LUDINGTON AT 7 PM
Tough, Hard Fought Football
game ends in a loss
The Final Score ended up
30-10 in favor of OV, but it wasnt without a hard fought battle from
our Grant Players. The guys hung in there and battled all
night, but the 4th quarter mistakes ended up being too costly to get
the victory.
With the score at 21-10 and
Grant on the move at midfield, Josh Hudson completed a pass to Ryan
Toohey all the way down to the OV 8 yard line... BUT it was called
back for holding. On the next play, Grant Fumbled, OV picked
it up and ran it in for a touchdown. That ended most of
the hopes of the Tiger Faithful.
The Tigers will be hard at
work this week as they prepare for the next contest, on the road vs.
Ludington.
The Orchard View Cardinals
will be in town tonight
Our 1-1 Grant Tigers take on
the undefeated Orchard View Cardinals tonight. Orchard View
started out the season by defeating Montague and Newaygo. As
most know, they are usually the team to beat each week, as they have
now won something like 27 of their last 28 games. Having said
that, our guys are looking forward to the challenge and we we
believe it will be another exciting Friday Night. We will see
all of our Fans tonight as we play our last Home Game this month.
GameTime is 7 PM!
The Freshman continue to
improve and did lead at halftime last night.... But OV was too
tough in the second half and defeated them. The JV team did
not play like they have the other two games this year and they ended
up losing badly. JV Team is now 2-1.
GO TIGERS!
TIGERS WIN IN DRAMATIC
FASHION
The Grant Tigers and Fremont
Packers went back and forth all night, but in the end it was our
Tigers who held onto the victory. Final Score: Grant 28
Fremont 25. This was a great football game and our guys played
their hearts out. They never put their heads down and kept
fighting all night. Great Job Tigers!
TIGERS WELCOME FREMONT
PACKERS TONIGHT
The 1-0 Fremont Packers come
to town tonight as both teams start with their conference game
schedule. Game time is 7 PM and will be broadcast on the
radio. We look forward to seeing all of our rowdy and crazy
fans tonight!
JV team improved to 2-0 with
a big win last night. Freshman team dropped another one after
being tied at halftime...they are now 0-2
GO TIGERS!
Birch Run Proves Why They
are a Great Team
This wasnt the start that we
had in mind, but you have to give credit to a great Birch Run
Football Team. Their Offensive and Defensive Line Controlled
the entire game and their Running backs ran extremely well.
They are a very good football team who is going to win a lot of
football games this year. As for our team, we have to get back on
the practice field and get to work again. We had way too many
mental breakdowns and the energy level dropped right away with the
early turnover and then the two Birch Runs TD passes. We have a good
group of players who Im confident will respond next week against one
of our neighborhood rivals- Fremont. Fremont is 1-0 after
defeating Lakeview 19-6 yesterday.
The JV did defeat Birch Run
32-18, but the freshman lost to Morley 31-8
See you Next Week, AT HOME
VS FREOMONT - 7 PM
9 Days Remaining Until
Opener
We officially began practice on August 7th @ Midnight. It was
a fun start to a very good first week of practice. The guys
came out with a lot of energy the 1st practice and with great Focus.
On Tuesday, the soreness kicked in a little and there was a let down
but once we were finally in pads on Thursday things picked up again.
Overall, we had a good first week and made very good progress.
We need to keep things going as we head toward our scrimmage vs.
Oakridge, Comstock Park and Big Rapids this coming Friday @ 10 AM.
We hope to see everyone in Muskegon on that Friday morning.
We did get some good news for our program on Monday the 14th, as we
have enough players to play both Freshman and JV football this year.
We needed to get a minimum of 22 players on each team as of that
date and it happened. This will help our program down the road
tremendously.
As a reminder, our
Freshman will play their 1st game at Morley Stanwood on Wednesday
the 23rd because Birch Run didnt have enough players to field a
freshman team. The JV will be travelling to Birch Run on
Thursday the 24th.
Less than 1 month to go
This was an exciting week
for the Tiger Football Program. The HS Players were able to go
out all week and coach the younger rocket players and they did a
great job. We had nearly 17 of our players show up every night
and teach these little kids about our program and this great game.
The
July
Newsletter
is now available and there
are now more 7 on 7 pictures available by clicking Here:
7 on 7 pics
36 Days Until our First
Game
We've been counting down
the days since last November until our first game and its quickly
approaching. The month of July has been really busy, with our
parents dinner, 7 on 7's all through the month and weight lifting.
Despite the busy schedule our players have really stepped up their
efforts and made an effort to be at everything. Our
average attendance at workouts from our varsity players (in the last
two weeks) has been around 25. At this point, we are only expecting
to have about 30 on the varsity team this year, which would mean
were getting close to 83% attendance lately. Our JV numbers
have gone up too recently as we have had 13 different players attend
at least 1 event in the past two weeks. The only group were
struggling with and questioning right now is our freshman. We had
good attendance at meetings and workouts during last school year,
but the summer committment has been poor thus far. There is
just over two weeks left to get yourself in top shape for
two-a-days.
We wrap up the last of
our 7 on 7's tonight @ home against Holton. Our focus at these
events is simply to enjoy the friendly competition and get better
each time we step on the field. We feel that our players have
done that for the most part. There is still much to learn and
this is only the beginning.
Our Ironman of the week
last week, was our Kicker: Mitch Murray. Mitch has
already surpassed the minimum summer hours we were asking for from
the players. He has been at nearly every workout and most
recently attended the Michigan State Kicking Camp. Despite
Mitch being a full-time soccer player for Grant, He alwasy does what
he can to show his committment to the Tiger Football Program.
Thanks for your efforts Mitch!
Thanks To Everyone who
Came Out to The Parents/Players Dinner
We held our varsity
parents dinner on July 7th, Friday night at the middle school.
It was a great summer night, beautiful weather and near the 4th of
July | 
TIGER
FOOTBALL
