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08/31/2007
Bulldogs put a big bite on TC WestTitans can't find way to overcome turnovers, flags
Grandville’s Chase Sherrod breaks a tackle by Traverse City West defensive back Seth Chargo. TRAVERSE CITY — OK, that's about enough of that. Traverse City West lost its second straight game against an OK Red Conference foe, falling 21-14 to Grandville on Thursday night in a mistake-riddled contest at Thirlby Field. The Titans opened the season with a 10-point road loss to Hudsonville and followed it up with a three-turnover, 13-penalty affair against the Bulldogs. "In my opinion, I think we outplayed him,” West senior safety/wide receiver Will Conklin said. "We just can't afford that many mistakes. You can't go out and spot a team 14 points and nine points (last week) at halftime.” "It was like if things could go wrong, they did,” TC West coach Matt Prisk said. "We squandered some opportunities and put our defense in some bad spots. How many turnovers did we create? And we never really capitalized on anything until the second half.” By that time the Titans were down 14-0 to Grandville (2-0) and never caught up. All this despite the Bulldogs turning the ball over five times and being called for nine penalties. "We can't live with five turnovers ... and the penalites.” Grandville coach Scot Shaw said. One thing West can't live with is another 0-3 start to the season. That's what the Titans did in 2006 before reeling off six straight victories. But West has two big road trips looming, Sept. 7 at Kingsford and Sept. 29 against Indianapolis Roncalli at Jenison. "It's huge,” Prisk said of next week's contest against the Flivvers. "We are in a must-win situation. They're probably one of the top two teams in the U.P.” "We can't go 0-3 this year,” Conklin said. "We have to come out with a win next game.” As badly as things went for the Titans on Thursday, they nearly delivered a victory. Late in the third quarter, John Purdy ripped the football away from Grandville halfback Chase Sherrod and returned it 33 yards to the Grandville 20-yard line. Four plays and a pass interference later, West quarterback J.T. Hogan hit Conklin in the left corner of the end zone and the Titans trailed 14-7 after Conklin's extra-point kick. Four minutes into the final period, Purdy again stripped the ball away from Sherrod, knocking it out from behind and Conklin recovered. But on the next play from scrimmage, Grandville's A.J. Sabin intercepted his second pass of the game and brought it back 40 yards to the West 1. Two plays later, Zach Johnson scored on a QB sneak and the Bulldogs were up by 14. West answered right back with a four-play drive where Hogan hit on 3 of 4 passes, the final 17 of which were on a touchdown pass to Conklin with just over six minutes remaining. West elected to kick deep, but by the time the Titans got the ball back they had no timeouts and just 1:18 on the clock. West turned the ball over on downs near midfield. "It's not any one kid,” Prisk said. "Collectively we just had too many things go wrong. You can't fault the kids for not playing hard. They could have folded it up and they didn't. It's not in their blood. "It's a game of momentum. It's a rollercoaster ride and we just didn't stay on the highs enough. We couldn't stay on the peaks. "But we'll find it. We'll work real hard this week.” One thing Prisk and the Titans will work on is finding their running game. Despite its mammoth offensive line, the Titans ran the ball for just 42 yards on 18 carries. Grandville scored its first-half touchdowns on its final two drives before halftime. The first was a 27-yard pass from Johnson to Seth Hanenburg, who also booted the first of three extra points. After a three and out by West, Grandville capped a 10-play, 82-yard drive with a 19-yard scramble for a score by Johnson.
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