Rockford football downs Caledonia to clinch fourth straight OK Red title

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CALEDONIA, Mich. -- Rockford won its fourth consecutive OK Red title Friday night, defeating Caledonia 38-15.

For the first time all season, Caledonia looked mortal — in fact, both teams did in the first half. as they combined for three turnovers. But Rockford was able to overcome those mistakes, and Caledonia wasn't. 

Here are four takeaways from tonight's regular season finale.

Rockford is a force to be reckoned with

Caledonia was averaging about 46 points per game coming into this game. It didn't score until the fourth quarter.

Rockford's defense was suffocating all night as its defensive line dominated the line of scrimmage. 

"(Caledonia) makes a lot of big plays," head coach Brent Cummings said. "We wanted to work really hard to avoid those, and we did that."

Rockford has a chance to have homefield advantage in MHSAA playoffs, at least through districts. Cummings said his team doesn't really care where it plays as long as it's in the postseason.

"Homefield advantage is great," Cummings said. "Obviously, having the comforts of home gives you an advantage, but with these kids, it's playoff time and I think they're just excited to stay on the field."

Rockford should be recognized as a premiere program in the state of Michigan

Rockford has now won four straight OK Red titles — three in a row since Cummings took over as head coach in 2020. 

And it's not for lack of good competition. Caledonia, Grandville, East Kentwood, Jenison — these are all good teams, or at least have been good in the past.

"It just takes a ton of work," Cummings said. "It's a heck of a team effort. Our team, coaches and players all did a great job with the preparation. Every day this week we thought their effort was right where it needed to be to win a championship, and they came out a did a great job."

Execution was the name of the game for Caledonia

Caledonia was having trouble executing offensively all night. Quarterback Mason McKenzie was having accuracy issues most of the night, overthrowing his receivers on multiple occasions.

"We didn't throw it or catch it great all night," head coach Derek Pennington said. "When the throws were open, we didn't catch it, and when the guys were open, we didn't get him in time."

Pennington had a lot of praise for Rockford's defense.

"We hadn't been tackled like that all year," he said. "They did a nice job tackling Brock (Townsend) and Mason (McKenzie). So hat's off to them."

Pennington called all of Caledonia's mistakes "a perfect storm for how to lose a game."

"Two costly fumbles, gave up a punt return touchdown. ... And we just didn't get into a rhythm on offense," Pennington said. "Dropped balls, missing guys, fumble on third down. ... just disappointed."

This loss shouldn't define Caledonia

Caledonia may have missed its chance for its first conference title since 2009, when it was in the OK Gold, but it still had a great season. Going 8-1 is nothing to scoff at.

Looking around after the game, several Caledonia players were emotional.

"It's the seniors' last game in the regular season," Pennington said. "They played their butts off all year and wanted to win the league and came up short."

Pennington said the disappointment will probably linger for a couple more days until the team finds out who it will play in the first round of the playoffs.

"We'll find out who we're playing Sunday night, and then we'll get back to work on Monday," Pennington said. "That's all you can really do."