In the final game of the 2023 season, GR Christian football took to the field at Lowell High School on a quintessential fall football night. Crisp air, orange and red leaves, and the classic aura of the "Friday Night Lights" set the perfect stage for the end of a difficult but valuable season for the boys in Columbia Blue and Black.

As has become a bit of a trend this season, the Eagle offense came out firing early as senior QB Zay Caviness connected with senior WR Jude Klunder on a beautiful 42-yard strike on the very first play from scrimmage. The early drive was capped off by a 17 yard screen pass to junior RB Tony Phillips and the Eagles jumped ahead 7-0. Not to be outdone, the Red Arrows responded in kind with a one-play drive of their own. In a first half that would continue to go back and forth, the Block C boys found additional touchdowns from Caviness (1 yard run) and senior DeWayne Goree (93 yard screen pass). Critical ball-handling mistakes proved fatal for the Eagles as a few turnovers led to the host's 33-21 lead at halftime. Despite a pair of tremendous Caviness to Klunder TD passes in the second half, Lowell started to run away with the game in the 3rd quarter as the under-manned Eagle squad started to run out of gas.

Offensively, GRC was led by Caviness and Klunder as they were all year. Caviness ended Friday night with 335 yards passing and 4 passing TDs to go along with 1 rushing TD. Klunder reeled in 4 dynamic catches for 2 scores. Goree was strong running the ball and provided the aforementioned electric TD catch. Zeke Heerema and Ben Geers were also phenomenal as passing game threats - brining in 3 and 4 catches respectively and each drawing at least one pass interference call as well. 

The sustained effort all night from the defense was admirable as several players were all over the field. Senior Zach Clark led the Eagles with 9.5 tackles while Geers and Phillips also chipped in 8.5 tackles each. Junior Will Owens and sophomore Davis Hutt were both also tenacious in racking up over 5 tackles. A duo of sophomore DBs held it down on the edge as Ty Damstra and De'Aires Kuiper continued to gain valuable experience in big-time situations.

This year we had only 3 senior players who were in the football program for all four years of high school. Though we picked up some great additions along the way, the following 3 guys were critical to the team in many ways this year:

-Senior Zay Caviness was a starter at RB and LB last year who spent the offseason learning how to play QB at the request of the coaching staff because we had a need. All he did was learn the most difficult position in a few months and then pass for 1,760 yards and 20 TDs, rush for 473 yards and 8 more TDs, and play a lot of defense throughout the year as well. We are very proud of Zay for his team-first attitude and for shouldering the heavy burden of QB so well this year!

-Senior Jude Klunder caught 41 passes for 631 yards and 12 TDs, EVEN THOUGH he missed two games due to injury! Jude was a true "go-to" WR this year and put together an amazing performance week in and week out!

-Senior Henry Jackson was our only returning starter (and only senior) on the O and D line; he brought his steady personality and tenacious work ethic to the line of scrimmage every day. Henry was a great player at left tackle all year and greatly expanded his role from last year by playing a lot of defense as well. Henry's greatest contribution, however, came every week after the game was over when he would always be the last man out of the locker room on a Friday night because he would spend so much time cleaning, sweeping, and tidying up any messes in the locker room. Thanks Henry for being a true servant leader!

Though this was a difficult season, we are incredibly proud of our players for how they worked, competed, developed their character, represented our school and program, and most importantly how they grew to know, trust, and love Jesus Christ. Go Eagles!