The Jenison football team dropped their OK Red conference opener on Friday night at Grand Haven by a score of 28-26. The Wildcats fall to 1-2 overall, while Grand Haven improves to 2-1.
Trailing 28-20 with 3:45 remaining in the contest, Jenison used a big kick return from Zaiden Chirco to start their drive on the Grand Haven 32-yard line. Two minutes later, the Wildcats executed the statue of liberty play with Carter VanManen handing the ball behind his back to Chirco for a 10-yard touchdown. Jenison's two point conversation attempt failed and Grand Haven recovered the ensuing onside kick with 1:05 left in the game.
Jenison scored on the first drive of the game with just over a minute taken off the game clock. VanManen connected with Caleb Dean for a 13-yard touchdown pass to give the Wildcats a 7-0 lead. Grand Haven answered late in the first quarter to tie the score at 7-7.
A wild second quarter saw multiple lead changes, beginning with Jenison taking a 13-7 lead on a 21-yard touchdown pass from VanManen to Nate Arbaugh. The Bucs would answer late in the quarter, scoring with just 34 seconds remaining in the half to secure a 14-13 lead. Jenison then completed a pair of passes on the following drive to advance to the Grand Haven 40 yard-line with five seconds left in the half. On the next play, VanManen dropped back to pass and heaved the ball to the end zone where Chirco hauled in the catch for the 40-yard touchdown as time expired to give Jenison a 20-14 advantage heading into the break.
The Bucs retook the lead with 45 seconds left in the third quarter and added another score with 3:45 remaining in the fourth quarter to hold a 28-20 lead.
VanManen finished the evening 8-13 passing for 140 yards and three touchdowns, while adding 67 yards rushing on 11 carries. Chirco totaled 61 yards of offense including a pair of touchdowns and Ethan Mate had a team-high nine tackles on defense.
Jenison will be back in action next week (Sep. 17) at home against Hudsonville.
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