MONTAGUE — Friday night’s contest between West Michigan Conference rivals Montague and Ravenna looked like it could make up an old fashioned recipe.

Start off with some offense on the top, put in some defense to fill up the middle, add in a tad of bad weather and a dash of theatrics, and what you’ll end up with is a heck of a football soufflé.

And in the end, it was Montague saying ‘Let them eat cake,’ as the Wildcats overcame a host of obstacles, including bad weather and Homecoming Week distractions, to pull out the exciting 41-27 victory.

At 6-0, Montague not only sits in the driver’s seat for the West Michigan Conference crown but is now playoff eligible.

“Now that we’ve made it in (the playoffs), we have one more goal left,” said a somewhat wet but relieved Pat Collins, Montague head coach. “If we can win the West Michigan Conference, which is a huge achievement all by itself, I think we can then start to think about making a long run into the playoffs. It’s a nice spot to be in to be undefeated in the conference and 6-0 (overall)”

Both teams got off to a blazing start, as Montague drew first blood, needing just five plays to travel 80 yards, the vast majority of that coming on a 65 TD toss from CMU-bound Cody Kater to wideout Matt DeJong to put the Wildcats up 7-0. Ravenna answered less than two minutes later on a 24-yard TD pass from Bulldog QB Ryan Hogan to slot receiver Matt VanderWal to cap a four-play drive.

A minute-twenty later, Kater connected with junior receiver Anthony Root from 56-yards away to make the score 14-7, and less than a minute later Ravenna answered, as the much-heralded running back Jamohn Martin capped a two-play drive from six yards away following an impressive kick off return by teammate Josh VanderWagen down to the Wildcats’ 11.

Of course Montague answered in kind 58-seconds later, as Kater connected again with Root, this time from 67 yards away to make the score 20-14, following a blocked point-after-touchdown attempt.

Montague went up by 12 when, with 11 seconds left in the first, Kater and DeJong torched the Bulldog secondary once again, this time from 79-yards away to make it, following a failed two-point conversion, 26-14.

Ravenna tacked on a touchdown nine seconds before the half, when Hogan connected with tight end Devin Aue from 3-yards out to make the score 26-21 at the break.

The Bulldogs had previously converted a fake punt attempt to keep the drive alive.

Ravenna took the 27-26 lead midway through the third quarter, when Martin capped a nine-play, 44-yard drive — that started following a Montague drive — with a three-yard TD plunge. The extra-point was no good.

During this period, the rain picked up and the Montague offense, heretofore literally unstoppable, looked mired in the mud. Following a punt and a missed field goal attempt in the middle of the fourth quarter, things looked grim for the Wildcats. That is until Kater, who had been feeling the Bulldog pressure all evening, broke contain and scrambled 45 yards down to the Ravenna 30. Three plays later, Kater raced around left end on a keeper to score from six yards away. Kater then converted the subsequent two-point try, and the Wildcats led 34-27.

On Ravenna’s final drive, Hogan lofted a pass toward the middle of the defense, which Kater read correctly right from the start and raced the remaining 24 yards for a pick-six.

DeJong’s successful extra-point kick provided the final result.

“I think we got off to such a great start when they decided to stop our running game,” said Collins. “That left our passing game wide open and we took advantage of that.”

As for his team’s poor performance as the weather turned bad for much of the third quarter, Collins said Kater, who was sacked four times in that period, was taking the sacks to prevent an ill-timed turnover. “A lot of those times, I think he could have made those throws. But I told him to protect the ball.”

Both teams rang up gaudy offensive numbers, with Montague finishing with 435 total yards, 138 on the ground, and Ravenna finishing with 273 total yards, 204 coming from the ground game.

Kater finished 10-for-11 passing for 297 yards and four scores, while also leading the rushing attack with 90 yards on 11 carries and a score. DeJong and Root were Kater’s main targets, finishing with 145 and 144 yards, respectively, and each with a pair of scores.

Defensively, Drew Pineda led the attack with 12 tackles, while Jesus Aguilar and Chen Martinez each had eight stops apiece.

WHITEHALL

Vikes can’t finish drives

NORTH MUSKEGON - Whitehall’s offense moved the ball up and down the field, but had trouble finishing off the drives in a 14-7 loss to North Muskegon Friday night.

On a rainy night, the Vikings drove the ball down to the Norse 25 and 10 yard line in the first half, but gave the ball up on downs each time.

Meanwhile, the solid Whitehall defense got a pass interception from Tyler VanBergen and a fumble recovery from Sam Pladies.

The Norse got on the scoreboard with 8:38 left in the opening half on a 28-yard pass from Drake Cook and Aaron Jones. Whitehall stopped North Muskegon’s opening drive of the second half on a fumble recovery, and drove down to the hosts’ 18 yard line before a fourth and 14 pass fell incomplete,.

Finally, the Vikings completed a drive with 30.9 left in the third quarter when quarterback Christian Subdon completed a 19-yard pass to VanBergen for a touchdown and the 7-6 lead.

That lead was short lived as the Norse took the ensuing kickoff and dove down to give North Muskegon a 12-7 lead.

VanBergen led Whitehall in rushing with 81 yards. Pladies added 34. Subdon completed 4-8 passes for 56 yards, a TD and an interception.

Whitehall’s leading tacklers were Pladies with 11, and Subdon and DeMario Lewis with 7 each. Jesse Tromp had 10 tackles to lead the Norse.

REETHS-PUFFER

Knights run past R-P

GRAND RAPIDS - Host Kenowa Hills showed why they lead the O-K Black Division Friday night, dominating the line play and taking advantage of six Reeths-Puffer turnovers to claim a 48-0 victory.

“Their physical play and our turnovers were the story of the game,” Reeths-Puffer Coach Tim Odette said. “They wore us down.”

The Knights controlled the ball by running for 291 yards on 42 plays, and scoring 6 TDs on the ground. The hosts’ defense added another score on a 25 yard interception return. Kenowa Hills was up 21-0 after one quarter and 41-0 at the half. The Knights’ final TD came in the third quarter.

Kitwana Clark opened the scoring on a 2-yard touchdown run., while Tito Wingfield ran for two TDs

The Rockets’ offense gained 71 yards on the ground and 30 in the air. Quarterback John McCleve completed 2-10 passes, but had four intercepted. R-P lost two fumbles, the same at Kenowa Hills.Clayton Turner was R-P’s leading runner with 50 yards on 12 tries. Caden Beals caught one pass for 18 yards, and Lucas Dooley grabbed one for 12 yards.

The Rockets’ defense was led by Rickey Keller with nine stops.