All year long, the boys freshman team had dominated opposing teams with its size. Other teams were stunned by FHC’s size, which led to many victories. But in their matchup with the Pioneers of East Grand Rapids, the Rangers would meet their match down low. East brought out a 6’7″ center to counter FHC’s height. 

The Rangers got out to a fast start like in many games this season. Brendan Cargill led the force with seven first-quarter points. But FHC’s defensive pressure was the key to a fast start. East came back in the second quarter with everything they had to make it closer at the half. Coming into the second half, Malike Thomas had four points. The height that EGR brought was obviously slowing down the bigs for FHC. That dramatically changed when Malik Thomas had 13 third-quarter points in the third quarter. Seder Middaugh added four points as well in the quarter. The Rangers continued their hard-nosed play in the fourth quarter and found themselves up 70-33 at the final buzzer. 

Malik Thomas led all scorers with 19 points, and Brendan Cargill added 11 points in the first half. Braedon Rozema scored nine points along with Tyler Dickinson’s 7 points. 

After another win, the boy’s freshman basketball team improves to 6-1 on the season. In their next game, the Rangers will take on a big-time program in Forest Hills Northern. They face the Huskies in the highly anticipated rivalry match on Friday, January 14.