Reeths-Puffer coach Cody Kater said Thursday's game, a 17-14 defeat
to Grand Haven, was a good battle in which his team went the distance.
The Rockets just didn't win enough moments to win the game.
"We
marched all the way down in the third quarter (with the game tied at
7), took a bunch of time off the clock, and we ended up fumbling," Kater
said. "(Then) they marched all the way down, and we got a
goal line stand and marched all the way down and had a snap go over our
head. It was those kinds of things that kept on biting us."
The
Rockets (1-1) played very well defensively, Kater said. The miscues on
the offensive end kept them from being rewarded for it. One of the
biggest came in the fourth quarter, when a Grand Haven interception deep
in its own territory denied the Rockets a chance to get from down 17-7
to back within one score.
R-P did, though, get the ball back
with about four minutes to play and turned that into a touchdown. The
Rockets nearly got the inside kick, but after it glanced off a Grand
Haven player's helmet, the Bucs were able to recover.
Kater is
optimistic his players will respond in the right way. After the high of
the team's opening-week rout of Greenville, they know the taste of
victory and want it back. The coach said he'd learn a lot about his team
based on what he sees Friday when they're scheduled to meet again.
The Rockets return to action next Friday with a trip to Northview.
"Our
biggest thing is we have to ground ourselves and stick to the facts,"
Kater said. "We've got a program that wants to come in, watch film and
have a real
conversation with the coaches. We're all in this together and our arrows
are
pointed in the same direction. We want to find ways to be successful
together. That was the (postgame) conversation. This thing has been a
process, even going
back to the summer."
