The tale of Jon Wassink’s high school dominance continued a bit more on Friday night before a solid crowd at Fifth Third Ball Park against the feisty Cougars of Catholic Central.  Catholic Central was able to hang tough for the first half, but some costly turnovers allowed the Sailors of South Christian to extend their winning streak to 3 games.

After a Catholic Central punt 4 minutes into the game the Sailors put together a drive a touch over 4 minutes to take a 7-0 lead after Wassink scampered in for a 2 yard TD run.  Catholic Central had a short possession giving the ball back to the Sailors, and stood tough defensively backing South Christian into a 4^th and 17 with just under 2 minutes left in the first quarter, but a costly muffed punt allowed South Christian to keep possession.  Shortly after the miscue Sailor running back Geff Plasman ran into the end zone for a 19-yard TD with 1:27 to go in the first quarter.

The second quarter started with the Cougars responding in nearly a must score situation against the high scoring Sailors.  Grant Tennihil went beast mode into the end zone on a 1-yard TD rush to make it 14-7 at the 9:35 mark in the second quarter.  After Wassink gave the Sailors some more breathing room with a 59-yard strike to Evan Beukema for a touchdown to make the score 21-7 in favor of South Christian.  Just 13 seconds later Wassink made an incredible interception to give the Sailors possession back, only to have them give the ball back after a dropped pitch gave the Cougars an opportunity to claw back before half.  It looked like points were coming for Catholic Central until Wassink snagged another interception at the goal line to keep the Cougars out of the end zone with 51 seconds left in the half and the game stood at 21-7 at the half.

The second half the Sailors were ready to go led by Wassink who found Ryan Veenstra and Mr. Reliable, Jake Wierenga for a couple of touchdowns that increased the Sailors lead to 35-7 over the Cougars.  Wierenga made 6 catches on the day to lead all receivers and took some hits while hanging onto the ball.  Wassink showed why he is the top quarterback in the area by completing 21 of 23 attempts and tossing 3 TDs.  Grant Tennihill found the end zone again for the Cougars with 4 seconds left in the third quarter after a 31-yard TD rush, putting the score at 35-14 heading into the 4^th quarter.

After Geff Plasman ran it in from 5-yards away with 9:37 to go for South Christian the game stood at a stalemate and ended with the Sailors winning 41-14.  The Cougars will take their 2-3 record to Hastings next week in a must-win type game.  The gauntlet seems to be over for Catholic Central, but you never know in conference games!  The Sailors of South Christian look to extend their winning streak when they take on Ottawa Hills and finally look like the South Christian team we expected at the beginning of the season.