CALEDONIA, Mich. — It was a highly anticipated matchup to kickoff OK Red play on Friday night as (2-0) Caledonia hosted (1-1) Grandville.
The game would be a defensive battle early on until 5:47 to go in the first half when Mason McKenzie scored from 28 yards out.
The Fighting Scots junior quarterback would score again from just four yards out to extend the lead to 14-0 just before the half.
In the third quarter, Grandville would respond as Cade Pilzuk scored to cut the deficit to just seven, part of his 104 yard performance on 20 carries.
However, the night belonged to McKenzie and the Fighting Scots as he ran 51 yards to pay dirt to put Cal back in front by 14 en route to a 24-14 win.
McKenzie would finish the game with 173 yards and three touchdowns.
"The offensive line really just sets the tone every single play," McKenzie said after the win, "It is awesome to have those guys in front of you that can maul the guys and open up those big holes and you can't ask for much better than 14 points against that offense for the defense so the defense played great the last two weeks so you can't ask for much better than that."
The Scots improve to 3-0 in Derek Pennington's first season at the helm.
"It's Friday night in Caledonia, it's a packed crowd, students section taking the field, this is what football should be about and I love it here and I love what our kids are doing," Pennington added, "We dressed over 60 kids tonight and we are moving forward, we will get ready to play Kentwood on Monday."
Benjamin Norris added eight tackles and three sacks in the win.
"I think we were really good, our plan was to go out there and play with energy and that is what we did. We rallied to every ball," Norris said, "I think we played with high intensity, it was a goo game. Our coach tells do your job. Everybody on the defense does their job and we'll win the game."
Cal held Grandville to 222 yards of total offense to improve to 3-0 on the season and 1-0 in the OK Red at East Kentwood.
Grandville falls to 1-2 and will host Rockford.
