Hamilton football falls to Unity Christian - 3 takeaways
HUDSONVILLE - Unity Christian’s offense was a well-oiled machine Friday and Hamilton couldn’t find an answer in a 55-37 loss for the Hawkeyes.
The Crusader offense went up and down the field and didn’t punt until the final minutes of the game. It’s nothing new for the Crusaders and trying to stop them, but Hamilton coach Phil Koops said they just do it so well.
“Unity Christian’s been running the wing-T offense for years and years and years,” Koops said. “We certainly didn’t have any luck stopping them.”
The teams traded touchdowns early on a four-yard run by Unity’s Isaac Stienstra and a 60-yard pass from Brant Goodpaster to Ben Boehm for Hamilton to make it 8-6 Crusaders.
Unity scored the next three touchdowns on an eight-yard run by Stienstra, a four-yard run by Mitch Tibbe and a one-yard run by Nolan Vis to make it 32-6 at the half.
From there, it was a relatively even second half. Stienstra scored on a 24-yard pass from Tibbe and a 23-yard run, and Noland Schuitema closed Unity’s scoring with a 15-yard run. Hamilton answered with a 3-yard touchdown run by Boehm, a 30-yard touchdown pass from Goodpaster to Boehm, a 72-yard touchdown from Goodpaster to Brayden Geurink and a 1-yard run by Goodpaster.
Hamilton falls to 2-3, 0-3 OK Blue, ahead of a matchup with Grand Rapids West Catholic next week.
Execution
It was the same old Unity offense. While Koops said the offense isn’t as explosive as last year’s team that averaged 57.4 points per game with 803 points on the season, that’s an awful high bar to clear.
Stienstra scored four times out of a wealth of options in the backfield. The blocking opened up holes all night.
Three running backs scored touchdowns as well as Tibbe at quarterback, and the options made it tough to keep up with.
“It’s fake here, fake here, and they’re good at it,” Koops said.
Putting the good in Goodpaster
While the offense had to abandon the run a bit down 26 at the half, Goodpaster shined bright with the opportunity.
He had a number of nice throws throughout the game, but the Hawkeyes found success with a fake toss play action play that involved Goodpaster doglegging to the opposite side and a couple options to throw to.
He made the most of it, completing 15 of 21 passes for 338 yards. Boehm had five catches for 130 yards and Geurink had three catches for 104 yards.
“Brant Goodpaster is a smart kid who has some arm talent,” Koops said. “He can spin it a little bit. When we weren’t being very physical running the ball, hey, let’s spin it.”
Pressure’s on
With the Crusader offense firing on all cylinders, it presents an interesting quandary for the opposing coach.
The Hawkeyes found themselves down early but didn’t turn to the pass until the second half heavily. Hamilton went for it on fourth down multiple times in the first half, including on their first possession of the game in its own territory.
Unity’s offense makes trying to keep up with them an equation that involves more than just scoring.
“You go throw, throw, throw, and you don’t get a first down, you take about eight seconds off the clock and you gave the ball right back to them,” Koops said. “That’s the recipe to get 50 plus points hung on you.
”You’re trying to make decisions about playing catch up and you don’t want to make it worse.”
This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: Hamilton football falls to Unity Christian - 3 takeaways
