Another week into the school year means another week of football here in Ranger Country, and this week the boys varsity football team wasted no time when it came to getting its second victory of the season. The Rangers traveled south to Portage Central last night, September 1, to take on the Mustangs in what would have been a game to write home about.

At the beginning of the game,  no one really knew who would end up taking the win due to talented rosters on both sides of the field.

Senior Dom Schipani started, “I thought both sides of the ball came out with a lot of energy and once we had a lead we never looked back.”

This was far from the case though after not even six minutes of gameplay. Once the Mustangs punted the ball into the hands of junior Ty Hudkins, the crowd would soon learn that the Rangers would take the lead and run with it. Just seven minutes into the first quarter, sophomore Max Richardson took the team from scoring position to touchdown in the span of a single play. Senior Andrew Novay, who is the team’s new kicker, got right to work and secured the extra point to shoot the Rangers into a 7-0 lead. Although the boys tried hard to put more points on the board before time ran out, they went into the second quarter with a score of 7-0.

The second quarter wouldn’t be different from the first; picking up right where they left off, Ty Hudkins made his presence known and positioned the Rangers right back into first and goal with only four yards to go. However, following this play, the Mustangs were penalized for having too many players on the field as the Rangers sat at just first and one yard in between them and another touchdown. FHC wasted no time waiting for what they wanted as the Ranger’s quarterback, senior Justin Osterhouse, ran the ball straight into the endzone.

Ranger fans were slowly realizing that this game would end in their favor, and one play after Hudkins received the next punt return, Osterhouse threw a rocket of a ball right into his hands for yet another FHC touchdown. At this point in the game, the score now sat at 21-0, but this was far from the end with still seven minutes remaining in the first half.

The quarter continued with the Mustangs and Rangers going back and forth with the ball until the three-minute mark when senior Crandall Quinn stopped a Mustang dead in his tracks mid-play which allowed Max Richardson to get the ball off of the fumble giving FHC the first down. On the following play, junior JT Hartman secured the pass and slid the Rangers right back into scoring position from the three-yard line. With six seconds left in the half, Justin plowed his way into the endzone for the second time of the night increasing the Rangers’ lead to 28-0 going into halftime.

FHC players and coaches alike knew that if the team kept up its momentum, it would be able to hold onto its lead, and players like senior Michael Campbell were confident that his team would keep working to extend the gap.

“The whole team played awesome,” Michael said. “We came out fast and didn’t give them a chance to get back in the game.”

The third quarter started off with a bang when less than two minutes in, Hartman made his way to touchdown territory to get the Rangers to 35-0. After this, the Mustangs were hungry to get some points on the board, but that would not be happen. One of the Portage Central players fumbled the ball off of the kick return and put the ball right back into Ranger hands. Following the fumble, the Rangers would add another six points, thanks to Hartman’s ability to successfully get them there. The score now sat at 42-0 where it would stay for the remainder of the contest.

This huge win for the Rangers not only was a strong showing of talent but also was the win they needed to get them to a 2-0 overall record for the season going into their first official week of conference play. The Rangers will now compete on the road next week against Byron Center on Friday, September 9, at 7 p.m.

“The game went well,” senior Raymond Cargill emphasized. “I think we were able to stop the run early and make them throw the ball which helped us get the ball on offense more. Our offense played very well and kept running the score up which led to us getting all of our guys in the game. Now, all we have to do is keep this momentum going into week three.”