Eagle Football Prepares to Meet Familiar Foe In First round of Playoffs

As the undefeated Grand Rapids Christian Eagles prepare for the first round of the MHSAA football playoffs Friday night, they find themselves studying a familiar opponent.  The 6-3 Kenowa Hills Knights of the OK-Black Conference will come into Eagles Stadium Friday night for a 7 o’clock first round match up with the 9-0 Eagles.  The Eagles, are riding a wave of emotion into the first round playoff game following an inspiring 50-49 victory over cross town rival East Grand Rapids.  The Knights are all too familiar with Eagle Stadium having paid a visit in week 3 leaving battered and bruised after a 45-7 victory for the Eagles.  Grand Rapids Christian jumped out to a 42-0 lead at half time and put it on cruise control the rest of the way for the easy win.  This week’s game, however, has a little more riding on it.  It’s playoff time which means win and move on, lose and go home.  For seniors, this means its all or nothing time, the last chance for one team’s respective group of seniors to lace up their cleats and jog onto the High School Gridiron underneath the Friday Night Lights.  The 9-0 Eagles look to ride the momentum of their record breaking regular season as well as arguably one of the greatest games in not only Grand Rapids Christian history, but also West Michigan football history in their double overtime victory last week over EGR, into this first round match up of high scoring offenses.  The Eagles come in boasting an astounding 113.778 playoff points which also is a school record.  The Knights on the other hand with 69.778 playoff points, will be looking to spoil the party as the Eagles will be hosting their first ever playoff game inside Eagles Stadium.  Kenowa Hills is coming off a 49-22 victory over Reeths-Puffer, a game which propelled them into the playoffs and the daunting task of facing the Eagles.  The Knights boast a powerful offense which has scored over 40 points in 5 of it’s 6 wins, including a 56 point double overtime victory against the Holland Dutch who finished 7-2 on the year and travel to Stevensville-Lakeshore (8-1) Friday night for their first round match up.  These Knight’s from Kenowa Hills may be able to put up points in bunches but they also seem to not fare well against disciplined, hard-nosed defenses like the Eagles.  The Knights 2 other losses this season came to the hands of Lowell and Forest Hills central.  In both these games the Knights offense managed only one touchdown losing 49-7 to Lowell and 20-7 against Forest Hills Central. Eagles Coach Don Fellows knows that these Knights are no slouch and that the 45-7 drubbing that his team put on them earlier this season means nothing once they step onto the field at Eagles Stadium Friday night.