ROCKFORD ATHLETICS I HOME OF THE RAMS

The Varsity Water Polo team ended their season on Saturday, November 15 at the Grand Blanc Aquatics facility where they completed in the State tournament. The rams came into the tournament seeded 2nd from the West and faced the Maples of Birmingham Seaholm. In the first game of the tournament for the rams it was a slow and sluggish start. At the end of the first quarter the score was knotted at 0-0. The rams had to regroup and make a push to change the mindset of the game. Once the second quarter began the rams were on a rampage and never looked back. The rams took a 5-0 lead going into the half. While the rams were out in front of the Maples the defense for the rams never missed a beat shutting them out for 3 straight quarters. The Maples got a lone goal late in the 4th quarter on a inadvertent penalty. The Rams finished the Quarter-finals match winning 9-1 over the Maples which pushed them into the semifinals against the Eagles of Hudsonville. Evan Pierce in this game was a monster and stopped everything that was thrown at him and tallying an impressive 18 Saves while the rams had 7 different scorers. In the second match of the tournament for the Rams, they were up against the 4 seed Eagles of Hudsonville. The eagles earlier had defeated the 1 seed Ann Arbor Pioneer in an earlier match. The rams knew exactly what they needed to do as this was the 5th time the two teams had played each other this season. After 1 quarter the score was knotted at 1 goal apiece. Once the second quarter started the rams fell behind and struggled to regain the lead for the entire match. At halftime the rams trailed 3-5 but knew that this game wasn't over yet. Going into the second half the rams tried to make some defensive adjustments but struggled to stop Aidan Bayle from Hudsonville who had a remarkable game. At the end of 3 quarters the rams trained 5-7. Going into the 4th the rams knew they had a shot at taking the lead. The rams got 3 goals in this quarter but still couldn't break the lead. The final buzzer sounded and the rams fell to the eagles 8-9 which placed them in the 3rd place game of the State tournament. Liam Harkema was the top performer for the Rams as he tallied 3 goals, 2 assists, 2 steals and 3 Kick outs Drawn. In the final game for the Rams that were up against a familiar district foe (East Grand Rapids). The 2 teams had only played 2 other times this season which made this game an interesting one to say the least. From the Start of the game this was a defensive matchup as both teams had remarkable defense in the other 2 games. The rams struck first in this game which boosted the momentum. The rams jumped out to a 2-0 lead but the Pioneers of EGR were not flustered. Right before the end of the 1st quarter the score was knotted up at 2 goals apiece. Beginning the second quarter the rams went cold and couldn't find the back of the net. EGR scored 2 more which pushed them to a 4-2 lead while the rams were trying to figure out a plan of action to make sure the game didn't get out of hand. As the teams switched ends the rams still struggled and EGR had gone on a 6-0 scoring onslaught which flustered the rams, some adjustments had to be made. Goalie Evan Pierce came out of the cage for a few moments to reset and during this time the rams quickly jumped right back into the game. Ending the 3rd quarter EGR held the lead of 7-5. The 4th quarter was going to be an extremely tight one as EGR wads trying to maintain the lead but the rams kept on coming back to keep the game close. Rockford scored to make it a 1 goal game and continued to battle and show great defense. The 2 teams exchanged timeouts to devise plans on how to capitalize on offense. As the game was going on the rams got the ball back with 22 Seconds left in the game trailing by 1. Coach Peterman used his final timeout to regroup the rams and make a plan on what they would do. The play the rams executed was great which got the rams a final look at a scoring opportunity but the EGR goalie held strong and made the Save. The final buzzer sounded and the end score was 7-8 in favor of the Pioneers. The rams finished the State tournament in 4th place. The rams finished the season with a record of 33-13 while finishing 2nd in the conference, 1st in the district, 2nd in the region and 4th in the State. Final placements 1. Hudsonville 2. Jenison 3. EGR 4. Rockford 5. Ann Arbor Pioneer 6. Ann Arbor Huron 7. Birmingham Seaholm 8. Saline/ Skyline It was a remarkable season and the rams will be hungry going into next year.