Muskegon has enjoyed a four-game homestand but will soon have to dust off their road jerseys. They will square off against the De La Salle Collegiate Pilots at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday. Both squads will be entering this one on the heels of a big victory.
Muskegon had already proven themselves in the regular season, and didn't miss a beat now that it's playoff time. They simply couldn't be stopped on Saturday as they easily beat East Lansing 42-7 at home. 42 seems to be a good number for Muskegon as the team scooped up a win with the same number of points in their previous game.
Meanwhile, De La Salle Collegiate had already won eight in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 34.8 points), and they went ahead and made it nine on Saturday. They put the hurt on Mott with a sharp 45-19 win. Given De La Salle Collegiate's advantage in MaxPreps' Michigan football rankings (they are ranked tenth, while Mott is ranked 51st), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
De La Salle Collegiate's win was a true team effort, with many players turning in solid performances. Perhaps the best among them was Sante Gasperoni, who threw for 227 yards and three touchdowns while completing 75% of his passes, and also punched in a touchdown on the ground. The team also got some help courtesy of Damion King IV, who picked up 131 receiving yards and two touchdowns.
Muskegon's win was their seventh straight at home, which pushed their record up to 11-2. Those good results were due in large part to their offensive dominance across that stretch, as they averaged 49.0 points per game. As for De La Salle Collegiate, their win bumped their record up to 11-2.
Muskegon came up short against De La Salle Collegiate in their previous meeting back in September, falling 40-28. A big factor in that loss was the dominant performance of De La Salle Collegiate's Gasperoni, who rushed for 99 yards and three touchdowns, and also threw for 103 yards and three touchdowns. Now that Muskegon knows the damage he can cause, will they be able to stop him this time? There's only one way to find out.
