FRANKFORT -- Muskegon Catholic's 35-0 win over host Frankfort Friday was nothing new for the Crusaders.
In their recent run of two state titles in three years, Friday's victory for the defending Division 8 champs was their 10th shutout and the 12th time they've won by at least 30 points. Because of that, Muskegon Catholic has trouble scheduling opponents -- currently sitting on an eight-game season after Melvindale dropped its football program.
Frankfort, however, has no regrets about scheduling the perennial powerhouse.
"I know our kids are going to learn a lot from this," Panthers coach Matt Stapleton said. "If we had a chance to play them tomorrow, we would play them tomorrow."
The Panthers (1-1) made a stand early on, holding Muskegon Catholic (1-1) scoreless in the first quarter. It came after the Crusaders missed a long field goal attempt on a fourth-and-19 and Frankfort didn't budge on a fourth-and-one to get the turnover.
But then in the second quarter, the Crusaders broke free on a couple of big plays. Major Metcalf hauled in a 67-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Thomas Pallas and then scurried for a 57-yard touchdown run. Damon Armstrong added a nine-yard score and Muskegon Catholic led 21-0 at the half.
"We know that this is a team that has a lot of weapons, and we knew to play with them we were going to have to contain their speed," Stapleton said. "It seemed like early on we did a decent job of that, but all of a sudden they break one or two and wow. What a show."
"We do have the capability to break big plays, and that definitely helped us in the second quarter," Crusaders coach Mike Holmes said. "But we have to be more consistent on offense. We made some mistakes we are going to have to polish up."
The score stood until the fourth quarter when William Perri and Armstrong each added short scores to finalize the scoring.
"Those are the kind of teams we need to play if we're going to compete at a high level," Stapleton said. "So when we have a chance to schedule a team like that, we're going to do it. Do I think we can play with a team like that? Absolutely. If we play 10 times is the score always going to look like this? No way."
Frankfort struggled offensively and only reached Crusaders territory twice on the night. Quarterback Dan Nugent finished 5-for-14 for 32 yards with an interception. He also ran 19 times for 36 yards.
"They had great pressure on our quarterback all night," Stapleton said. "He took a lot of hits, but kept getting back up. Dan's a great player. He had a big week last week, tonight was humbling for him a little bit, but he'll be hungry for a big game next week with Glen Lake."
Muskegon Catholic ran for 207 yards, including 12 carries for 99 yards from Metcalf.
"I don't know if we're going to see speed like this, but there are talented players in our conference," Stapleton said. "Talk about a great way to get us ready. This was a very humbling experience, but at the same time I think our kids can learn from it.
"You play a team like that, you make mistakes, and it's week two. It's better to make them now and correct them. This game isn't going to lose the conference for us and it's not going to keep us out of the playoffs -- as long as we take care of business. If anything, this will be the kind of game that will springboard us to play better down the road."
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