Zeeland East High School

Chix Varsity Football Varsity vs Unity Christian High School (22 - 50) Loss The Chix Varsity football team hosted the Unity Christian Crusaders on Friday night in front of a packed house in the 2nd game of the Hometown Heroes Double-Header at Zeeland Stadium on a beautiful evening for football. On the 25th anniversary of September 11, the game honored our Hometown heroes, those who have served or currently serving in the Military, as First Responders, or as Zeeland Public school staff. Following the game, there was a fireworks show. There were a lot of fireworks during the game as well, as both teams made many big and exciting plays throughout the contest. The Chix took the opening kickoff and converted a couple of 3rd down plays for first downs, but ultimately had to punt the ball to the Crusaders. On the first play of the Unity drive, the Crusader running back darted through the Chix defense for a 76 yard touchdown run and the Crusaders led 8-0. The Chix came right back to tie the score on 13 play drive. The Chix converted on two 3rd downs and one 4th down, setting up a 24 yard pass from Senior QB Will Drnek to Senior WR Coby Miller and after the 2-Pt conversion catch by Senior Isaiah Boonstra, the game was tied at 8-8 heading into the 2nd Qtr. But in the 2nd Quarter, the Crusaders quick strike offense and stingy defense took control of the game. The offense scored 3 touchdowns and their defense kept the Chix off the scoreboard, and Unity led 29-8 at halftime. The 2nd half proved to be similar to the first half. The Crusaders used their powerful running attack to find the endzone 3 more times in the half to maintain a lead against the Chix. But the Chix had a couple of big scoring plays of their own in the half to bring the fans to their feet. In the 3rd Quarter, Isaiah Boonstra returned a kickoff 92 yards for a touchdown for the Chix. Early in the 4th Quarter, Drnek found Miller for the second long touchdown pass of the game, this one from 51 yards out, to trim the Crusader's lead. But in the end, the Unity came away with a 50-22 victory over the Chix. The loss drops the Chix record to 2-1 overall, and 0-1 in OK Gold Conference play. The Chix are back in action Friday, September 18 as they travel to Grand Rapids to take on the Forest Hills Central Rangers in another OK Gold match up. Gametime is 7 pm. Statistical Leaders for the Chix: Sen QB Will Drnek was 7 - 11 passing for 109 yards, 2 TD, & 0 Int. & rushed for 23 yards on 4 carries Sen WR Coby Miller had 5 catches for 102 yards and 2 TD Sen WR Isaiah Boonstra 172 all purpose yards of rushing, receiving and kickoff returns, highlighted by the 92 yards kickoff return for TD. Sen RB Payton Sackett ran for 26 yards to lead the Chix Senior Zeek Ramadhani & Senior Kaleb Willis each had 7 tackles for the Chix on Defense.