Saugatuck football falls on Pink Out night
SAUGATUCK - The Saugatuck varsity football roster is riddled with injuries, as the Trailblazers played Friday night's game against Delton down five starters. To make matters worse, Saugatuck lost two more starters during the second half.
Those were a couple of the factors that helped Delton cruise to a 35-10 win, but that paled in comparison to the bigger meaning behind the "Pink Out Night" that was displayed throughout the stadium.
"There are bigger things in the world than a game on a Friday night and Cancer Awareness, Pink Out is a bigger life story than a Friday night football game," said Saugatuck coach Bill Dunn. "We've been doing this for the past few years to heighten awareness of cancer, specifically breast cancer, and we've had some activities throughout the week in school and the community really came out to support it. There's awareness and everyone kind of has their own unique story."
Delton (4-2, 1-1 SAC) converted three third downs on the initial drive of the game, with Philip Halcomb going in from 28 yards out to give them a 7-0 lead. Cass Stanberry returned the ensuing kickoff 33 yards to give Saugatuck (2-4, 0-1) prime field position at its 45-yard line. The Trailblazers moved the ball efficiently on the ground, getting all the way to the Delton 9-yard line during the course of a 16-play drive. The drive stalled out, though, as Cam Lewis drilled a 26-yard field goal with 11:10 left in the second quarter to pull Saugatuck within 7-3.
Delton would score on its next two possessions to pull away to a 21-3 halftime lead.
Two fourth quarter touchdowns extended Delton's lead out even more with 4:40 to go in the game, but Saugatuck responded with a drive that included runs of 25 yards by William Doucette, 12 yards by Stanberry, 10 by Doucette, 11 by Stanberry, and eventually a 1-yard plow into the end zone from Stanberry with 1:15 left to play to provide the final score.
Stanberry, a sophomore, has been forced into the starting quarterback role after junior Matthew Hartgerink went down with an injury two weeks ago.
"The process hasn't been too bad and (Hartgerink) has been a great help throughout the season in helping to get me ready to go," said Stanberry. "We're neighbors, so we grew up together and we've got a tight bond.
We've just gotta keep coaching everybody up. Our motto this season has been 'Next man up.' Seniors keep getting hurt, so the juniors gotta step up or the sophomores gotta step up or the freshmen gotta step up. It's like every single game now, someone different is getting hurt. We're a young team right now and it's tough, but there's not much you can do about it."
Regarding the significance of seeing everyone in the stands wearing pink, Stansberry acknowledged it meant something to him and his teammates.
"It's a good cause to support," Stansberry said. "There's people in my family that have had (cancer), there's friends who have had (loved ones) go through it. We had a close family friend go through it and that was something that was tough to see them go through."
Dunn knows it will be a challenge for his team to finish the season strong, but was hopeful in the effort and attitude of his players.
"We've never been down this road before, so I don't understand it (the amount of injuries the team has dealt with)," he said. "We had to cancel the JV season after three weeks, so we're playing a lot of freshmen and sophomores right now on varsity football. We've been right there in three of our losses, but as the game goes along, we wear down and get physically exhausted. We just don't have any depth. It's a learning process right now, but hopefully we can hold it together so that we can play week in and week out."
Doucette finished the night with 97 yards rushing on 17 carries for Saugatuck. Bradley Moorer ran for 37 yards and caught three passes for 26 yards.
Landon Miller, Jefferson McCluskey, and Chris Foley all recorded sacks for the Trailblazers.
This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: Saugatuck football falls on Pink Out night
