HUDSONVILLE - As the quarterback in a Wing-T offense, Trey Sloothaak doesn’t attempt many passes.
But when the Zeeland West senior does, he makes them count.
Sloothaak connected with Brandon Holman on a dynamic 65-yard pass play for a touchdown in the second quarter as the Dux went on to beat South Christian 34-21 on Friday at Hudsonville’s football field.
“It’s a great play by him,” Sloothaak said of Holman, a sophomore. “He made it easy for me. I got it to him, and he finished it off. It was a cool play.”
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Zeeland West (7-1) got two rushing touchdowns from Isaac VanderZwaag and one each by Keaton Hendricks and Jonah Leslie.
“I thought we played really well,” Dux coach John Shillito said. “Trey made a big play and Brandon ran a great route and Brandon’s really fast.”
But the running game is the Dux specialty.
Hendricks had a career-high 210 yards rushing on just 10 carries.
“It’s so fun. He’s been doing that all season,” Sloothaak said. “He’s taken it to another level. I’m used to seeing him run down the field like that.”
Hendricks scored on a 58-yard run in the first quarter and VanderZwaag ran the ball in from 16-yards for a 14-0 lead. Holman’s score made it 20-0 with 6:41 to go in the second quarter. South Christian got a 4-yard touchdown run from Isaac Osterhaven to make it 20-7 at halftime.
South Christian quarterback Carson Vis scored on a 1-yard run with 3:10 left in the third to make it 20-14. But Zeeland West responded with a 1-yard run by Leslie three seconds into the fourth quarter. South Christian made things interesting when Vis connected with Charlie DeHaan on a 6-yard touchdown pass to cut the lead to just 26-21 with 7:43 left.
But VanderZwaag scored his second TD on a 2-yard run with 2:01 left.
On South Christian’s final drive, Vis had a pass tipped by Zeeland West senior Brody Smeyers and it was picked off by Hendricks to end the game.
“They’re a great team,” Sloothaak said. “They fought all game. We kept responding on offense. In the end, we made enough plays to put the game away.”
South Christian quarterback is a tough matchup
Vis, a 6-foot-4 senior, is one of the top quarterbacks in the state. And he was a tough matchup for the Dux.
“Vis is pretty special,” Shillito said. “The amount of toughness that he showed with how much we hit him in the first half, he just kept comin’ and comin’. But after a while, you can’t keep him there.”
Vis finished with 231 yards passing on 24-of-36 attempts.
Football isn’t his main sport, however. Vis is one of the top basketball players in the state, too. He has committed to play at Western Michigan University.
Huge season for Hendricks
Keaton Hendricks isn’t a big kid. But the slight 5-foot-11, 165-pounder makes up for it with his blazing speed.
The senior, who is one of the top running backs in West Michigan, surpassed the 1,000 yard mark for the season on Friday.
“He’s been a great player for us all year,” Shillito said. “Keaton is a great defender, too.”
How does a little guy like Hendricks take such a beating while carrying the ball in the Wing-T?
“He’s a special guy,” Shillito said. “He’s lean but he’s gotten a lot stronger. He hit his stride in the weight room and got stronger. He plays with so much confidence.”
Defense played big early on
Zeeland West’s defense was tough on South Christian in the first half.
And a lot of that had to do with the play of Tyler Baumann, a senior linebacker.
“Tyler has played really, really well for us at our short-side linebacker and really well in spots on offense,” Shillito said. “Tyler’s had a great year for us.”
Baumann had a few nice tackles to slow the South Christian passing game. He finished with 10 tackles, which was second on the team. VanderZwaag had 13.
This article originally appeared on The Holland Sentinel: Zeeland West football takes to rare air to beat South Christian
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