There was no overtime this time around between South Christian and Hudsonville-Unity Christian, but that didn’t stop the excitement in a high scoring game Friday night in front of crowd of 5,000 plus.  By the games end, Jon Wassink and the Sailors were able to outduel the Unity Christian Crusaders strong running attack led by Jeff Snikkers.

Unity Christian was able to get on the board first after a 7 minute 8 second drive was capped a Christian Bos 6 yard TD rush at the 4:52 mark in the first quarter.  The Sailors wasted little time to answer the bell when Wassink found the end zone with an 11-yard TD scamper at the 2:47 mark in the first quarter.  After one quarter we were deadlocked at 7-7. 

Just 18 seconds into the second quarter, it was Jon Wassink on the ground again for a 78-yard TD run to give the Sailors a 14-7 lead, a lead they would not relinquish.  Continuing the theme of Wassink rushing touchdowns, just over 3 minutes later at the 8:36 mark in the second quarter, Wassink found the end zone once again with a 21-yard TD rush giving South a 21-7 lead.  The Crusaders marched right down the field and surprised the Sailors when quarterback David Bos tossed the ball to Ike VanKempen for 18 yards and a touchdown to cut the lead down to seven, 21-14.  The Sailors struck back quickly to extend the lead to 14 again after a 33-yard TD pass from Wassink to Ryan Veenstra just 49 seconds later.  The Crusaders were able to grind out another great drive, which ended in 6 points when Jeff Snikkers ran into the end zone from 14-yards out.  The score stood at 28-20 after a missed PAT. 

With just 43 seconds left most teams would just kneel the ball and head into halftime with the lead knowing they also receive the kick-off in the second half, but most teams don’t have a quarterback like Jon Wassink.  Brandon VanSolkema had a couple of receptions to help the Sailors get down into field goal range for John Masselink who connected on a 34-yard field try as time expired in the first half and give the Sailors a 31-20 lead at the break.

About 3 minutes into the second half Wassink hit Jake Wierenga for a 30-yard TD pass to extend the lead to 18 after a good PAT.  Unity would make it very interesting the next 5 minutes.  After a Casey Byker 4-yard TD rush and wild 2-point conversion run cut the lead to 38-28, the Crusader were able to force a fumble on the ensuing kick-off.  Just a couple minutes later Casey Byker was celebrating in the end zone again with a 1-yard TD rush.  The Sailor lead was cut to 38-34 and stayed there after the missed PAT.  The third quarter scoring continued when Wassink took off for a 63-yard TD rush and pushed the lead to double digits again at 45-34.

The fourth quarter was all Sailors, as Wassink would find the end zone a 5th time on the ground and the game ended with a 58-34 score.  Wassink would lead all rushers with 295 yards on the ground to go with his 5 rushing touchdowns; he also had 2 touchdown passes in.  Geff Plasman also crossed the century mark with 105 yards.  Jeff Snikkers was leading rusher for the Crusaders with 187 yards on the ground.