Forest Hills Central’s freshman football team lost decisively to Portage Central, 30-0, at home on September 5th.
The Rangers struggled to gain momentum early in the game, which impacted their performance throughout. Portage Central scored a rushing touchdown with 4:30 left in the first quarter. Although FHC held strong on the two-point conversion attempt, they were still down 6-0 after the first 10 minutes.
Portage Central began the second quarter with the ball on the Rangers’ 10-yard line, and the Portage Central running back scored his second touchdown on the first play. The Rangers couldn’t stop the Mustangs on the conversion attempt, as Portage Central took a 14-0 lead.
On the Rangers’ next drive, they failed to gain any traction before being forced to punt from their own 15-yard line. A bad snap caused the ball to roll into the end zone, and punter Josh Thornton kicked it out of the back line to prevent Portage Central from recovering it for a touchdown. Although it was a smart play, it resulted in a safety, giving the Mustangs a 16-0 lead. FHC managed back-to-back first downs on their subsequent drive but were forced to punt again. This led to another rushing touchdown for the Mustangs, making the score 22-0 at halftime.
The Rangers received the ball to start the second half but struggled offensively. However, their defense began to contain the Mustangs’ run game. That improvement lasted until the end of the third quarter, when Portage Central scored their fourth rushing touchdown of the day and successfully completed the two-point conversion, making the score 30-0.
Early in the fourth quarter, the FHC offense suffered a setback when quarterback Lucas Casten was knocked out of the game with a concussion. This forced the Rangers to substitute running back Judah Slendebroek as the new quarterback. Despite the change, the Rangers managed to drive down the field with two minutes left in the game. They called their last timeout on a third down at Portage Central’s 10-yard line. With the Rangers having their best drive of the game, Judah scrambled out of the pocket and attempted a throw to Connor Leestma, but it was intercepted by a Mustangs cornerback, sealing the game.
When asked about the approach for the next week, QB Lucas Casten said, “We need to come back to practice and work harder. We just have to put this loss behind us.” Left Guard Jack Valentino added, “We’ll have to recover from all the injuries and take practice more seriously next week.”
The Rangers’ record is 0-1 going into Week 2, where they will play at home against Forest Hills Northern on September 12th.
