In Friday night's playoff win over visiting Spring Lake, the GR Christian football team followed a script it has written a couple times already this season: come out slow, make mistakes, dig a hole, create a small spark, never quit, make adjustments, build momentum, and come storming back. The strength of fortitude and character displayed by the Eagles this season has been tremendous as they continue to battle and compete - no matter the situation.

Spring Lake came out hungry and physical, and the Lakers used a couple Eagle miscues to quickly build a 24-0 lead late in the second quarter in what looked like would be a blowout to end the GR Christian season. As they have before, the Boys in Blue and Black dug in their heels and refused to go away as quarterback Alek Wickstrom engineered yet another end-of-half drive to produce the first points of the game on a pass to senior Ace Thomas. Eagles down 24-7 at half.

Receiving the opening kickoff, GRC used a balanced attack finished by a Buddy Hogan touchdown run to narrow the gap. Tyree Gamble ended the next Spring Lake possession early with an interception and the Block C Boys capitalized almost right away with an Ace Thomas fly sweep touchdown. After another defensive stop, Thomas would help the Eagles take the lead for good early in the 4th quarter on a beautiful 67-yard touchdown run. GR Christian would not look back and went on to score 27 points in the final quarter to pull away and extend their season into the next round of the playoffs. To score 48 unanswered points and to win by 24 after trailing by 24 are both incredible accomplishments and a testament to the grit and resilience of this team!

Behind very strong play from the offensive line, the Eagle offense was paced yet again by senior running back Buddy Hogan who ran the ball 20 times for 204 yards with two touchdowns. Ace Thomas added 82 yards rushing and 58 yards receiving with 3 total touchdowns while Wickstrom went 13 of 19 for 129 yards and 2 touchdowns passing. CJ Jones also added a rushing touchdown from the Wildcat formation.

The defense was led by the tenacious play of linebacker Alec Koval, who tallied 13.5 tackles, 5 of them for a loss. Linebacker TeQuan Culbreath also played well and registered a sack while defensive back Amir Nixon returned an interception for a touchdown.

The Eagles advance to the second round of the state playoffs this coming Friday, where they will face talented opponent Unity Christian for the second time this season. The game will be played at Jenison HS, 7:00 PM on Friday, November 5. Go Eagles!