Rockford and Caledonia ride high in OK-Red

Through the first 4 weeks of the season, Rockford and Caledonia are undefeated and sit atop the OK-Red, though Grand Haven and Hudsonville aren’t far behind. We’ve already seen major overtime games, upsets, and close calls in this conference. Let’s take a look at where the OK-Red is now, and the players who have led the charge. <span style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>Standings</strong></span> <strong>(4-0) Rockford - </strong>The Rams have been excellent, and most publications have them very highly ranked. They have a great win against Sterling Heights Stevenson under their belt, and most recently a 2OT win against rival Grandville. <a href="https://www.hudl.com/profile/11362829/Kade-Kostus">[player_tooltip player_id="80476" first="Kade" last="Kostus"]</a> and the Rams have a more challenging second half, where they’ll face Hudsonville, Caledonia, and Grand Haven. The Rams would be favored in all of those games as of right now, though we’ll see how things shape out. <strong>(4-0) Caledonia - </strong>The Fighting Scots have looked similarly great, but lack the strength of schedule for me to really know what they’re capable of. Their 4 wins are all against teams .500 or under, and they have quite the test against Grand Haven tomorrow Sep 24. Caledonia owns the trenches with their big 6’4 G <a href="https://www.hudl.com/profile/11230858/Andrew-DeVries">[player_tooltip player_id="30184" first="Andrew" last="DeVries"]</a> and 6’2 OT/DT <a href="https://www.hudl.com/profile/12235692/Caleb-Paarlberg">Caleb Paarlberg</a>. <strong>(3-1) Grand Haven - </strong>Grand Haven is looking to be quite dangerous this year, with MSU commit <a href="https://www.hudl.com/profile/13313606/Ashton-Lepo">[player_tooltip player_id="80486" first="Ashton" last="Lepo"]</a>, and MAC Prospect G/DE <a href="https://www.hudl.com/profile/11658060/Dayne-Arnett">[player_tooltip player_id="80494" first="Dayne" last="Arnett"]</a>. Grand Haven still has Caledonia, Rockford, and Hudsonville on the schedule. It’s going to be interesting to see what Grand Haven does against the rest in the OK-Red. <strong>(2-2) Hudsonville - </strong>Winning two straight, Hudsonville is a hot team heading into their matchup with Rockford. They’ve got likely the best kicker in the league with <a href="https://www.hudl.com/profile/12289983/Emanuel-Dieppa">Emanuel Dieppa</a>, and a great defense led by <a href="https://www.hudl.com/profile/12852559/Dylan-Ham">[player_tooltip player_id="103481" first="Dylan" last="Ham"]</a> and <a href="https://www.hudl.com/profile/11517627/Matt-Hoekstra">Matt Hoekstra</a>. This next week is going to be very telling for Hudsonville. <strong>(1-3) Jenison - </strong>Very narrowly losing to Hudsonville last week, losing narrowly to Grand Haven the week prior, and having already faced a grueling schedule, Jenison finds themselves in a tough spot. They could easily be 3-1 right now, but they aren’t. ’24<a href="https://www.hudl.com/profile/11731283/Gage-Chatfield"> Gage Chatfield</a> has been great, along with <a href="https://www.hudl.com/profile/8385062/Caleb-Dean">Caleb Dean</a>, but they’re all going to have to find a way to win some close games. <strong>(1-3) Grandville - </strong>After a 2OT loss to Rockford, Grandville needs to keep its head high. <a href="https://www.hudl.com/profile/11450574/Luke-DeHaan">Luke DeHaan</a> and <a href="https://www.hudl.com/profile/11450566/Carlos-Alvarado">Carlos Alvarado</a> really impressed me, and they have a great opportunity to win out. <strong>(0-4) East Kentwood - </strong>I don’t know what to feel about East Kentwood. I mean, yes they’re 0-4 and every game has been a blowout, though check out who they’ve faced. Muskegon, Brother Rice, Rockford, Caledonia. Yikes, that’s one of the toughest 4 game stretches I’ve seen this year. A bright side is their ’24 QB, <a href="https://www.hudl.com/profile/15160243/Casey-Joppie">Casey Joppie</a>, who looks to have a very bright HS Football future ahead of him. <strong>(0-4) West Ottawa - </strong>Now I can’t find many silver linings with this team. They’ve lost all of their games against decent but not great schools, and they have a small number of seniors. The youth of this team could be a sleeping giant as they have ’25 <a href="https://www.hudl.com/profile/16528814/Kayden-Forbes">Kayden Forbes</a>, a great up and coming RB, among other underclassmen.