The Beal City Aggies opened what they hope is another championship winning season with a bang over in Big Rapids at Ferris State’s Top Taggart Field on Friday night.
The Aggies took on Ravenna, a school placed between Sparta in Muskegon west of US 131, and they looked to have all the makings of a state title contender. Beal City won the contest 33-6 to improve to 1-0 on the year.
The Aggies rolled with two QB’s on Friday, both having huge contributions running Beal City’s unique flexbone/spread offense. Sophomore Grady Gatrell got the start, and while he had some negative moments including a fumbled handoff and a sack, he showed off his well touted athleticism on the night and helped navigate the offense to multiple scores.
Funnily enough, his only touchdown on the night was behind the center, but split out wide as a WR in the fourth quarter. Senior Cuyler Smith rotated in at QB and showed why he was the starter for all of last year for the Aggies. The passing game got a massive boost, with Smith going 5/7 for 239 yards and 2 touchdowns. Smith connected with Gatrell on a 70 yard+ TD on a go route in the fourth quarter for Beal City’s final score. It was Eric Elias though who was the leading receiver and top player of the game.
Elias recorded 50 yards rushing and 139 yards receiving, scoring twice on the night. The first score came off a sweep in the redzone from about 7 yards out. His longest score of the game came off a playaction TE screen that he took 70 yards to the house. Elias also recorded an interception on defense.
Speaking of the ground game, Avery Small looked like a lead tailback, rushing for 91 yards and a score. He appears to be filling the role of the speedy outside the hashes runner the Beal City finds success with. Braxton Butkovich also found the endzone, he will likely be the Aggie’s lead fullback/tailback this year between the tackles.
On the defensive end, the Aggies forced three turnovers on the night, keeping Ravenna in check for much of the night. The only score for the Bulldogs came late in the fourth quarter, saving themselves from a shutout. Drew Gross looks to once again be a defensive force to be reckon with at the defensive lineman spot.
There was one turnover in the second half by the Aggies with a fumbled exchange that Ravenna recovered.
On the Ravenna side, they had some solid plays throughout the night and strung together a couple of solid drives into Beal City territory. Two turnovers inside the 40 and a turnover on downs inside the 10 yard line limited their scoring. There’s a good chance that Ravenna see’s some solid success this season as the have some solid physicality.
Beal City will next travel to Manton for their conference opener. Manton finished fourth in the conference last year and run a T-formation offense that will be a good challenge for the physicality of Beal City’s defense.
Ravenna heads to Muskegon Oakridge.
