By Jason Wesseldyk
Sports Editor
BUCHANAN—Junior Will Doucette had an impressive opening game for the Saugatuck football team.
Carrying the ball 13 times, Doucette racked up 181 rushing yards—an average of 13.9 yards per carry—and three touchdowns against host Buchanan on Thursday, Aug. 25.
That was the good news for the Trailblazers. The bad news was Buchanan jumped out to a 16-0 lead after one quarter and never trailed in handing Saugatuck the 46-20 loss.
“There’s much room for improvement as we made a lot of mistakes, but they are correctable mistakes,” longtime Saugatuck coach Bill Dunn said. “We played well at times and did a lot of good things, but we also lapsed into some not good football at times that proved costly because Buchanan took advantage it.”
The “not good” football Dunn referenced revolved largely around six fumbles committed by the Trailblazers. Three of those fumbles resulted in turnovers, while the other three led to stalled drives.
“Good teams make plays and don’t turn the ball over,” Dunn said. “There was lots of anxiety and excitement with an opening game and that led to some first-game jitters. But we have the potential and I’m confident the team will respond in the right direction.”
Doucette did his part to try to keep Saugatuck in the game, with all three of his touchdown runs covering at least 35 yards. The first two of those came in the second quarter (52 yards and 35 yards, respectively), with the third coming in the third stanza (44 yards).
“Will is a hard worker and a great team player,” Dunn said. “He made some nice cuts and took care of the ball.”
Quarterback Matthew Hartgerink added 42 rushing yards on 23 carries to go with 33 aerial yards on 4-of-11 passing.
After scoring its 16 points in the first quarter, Buchanan added 24 points in the second quarter to take a 40-14 lead to halftime.
“We need to improve our pass defense, recognizing reads and trusting our teammates to do their jobs,” Dunn said. “We are a young team, and those kinds of mistakes are going to happen, but hopefully will improve over time with experience and confidence.”
Cass Stanberry led Saugatuck with 11 tackles, followed by Nathan Schaefer with 10.
“After the game I just told the kids to stay positive and keep improving,” Dunn said. “These kids are workers and have a strong desire to be better.
“We’re a small squad in numbers and playing a full 48 minutes of football is a priority. So, conditioning is a must and will improve as the season progresses.”
