On a beautiful fall evening that was tailor-made for high school football, the GR Christian Eagles traveled to OK White heavy weight opponent Byron Center for a clash with the Bulldogs. Down a few key players to injury and illness, the Eagles came out hot by opening the game with an 11 play drive that culminated in a Jordan Rodgers field goal to give the visiting Eagles a 3-0 lead. Up to the challenge, the Bulldogs responded with 27 unanswered points to take a comfortable lead into halftime. As you have come to expect, there was no quit in the Block C Boys - they battled tough throughout the game but simply did not have the answers or firepower to come out on top.

The offense was led by resilient senior QB Zay Caviness, who led the Columbia Blue and Black in both passing and rushing yards. To this point in the season, as GR Christian has navigated a brutal stretch of its schedule, Caviness has completed 66% of his passes, thrown 7 TDs and run for another 4... not bad for a converted running back! 

The offensive fireworks on Friday were provided by junior receiver Aaron Gholston who caught 3 passes for 73 yards, including an explosive 61 yard touchdown pass. Zeke Heerema, Ben Toly, Ben Geers, and Tony Phillips all also joined the party by adding multiple catches for the Eagles.

Defensively, GR Christian was paced by junior linebackers Will Owens and Tony Phillips who both played with great effort and physicality for all 4 quarters - Phillips registered 8 tackles, 2 of them for loss while Owens contributed 9 tackles, 1 for loss. Caviness and senior Zach Clark were also dynamic on defense while Davis Hutt and Henry Jackson played strong at the line of scrimmage.

Nearing the halfway point of the season, the Eagles travel to Forest Hills Northern High School on Friday for another important OK White match up. Go Eagles!