Neither a win over Rockford, the heat nor next week’s Pink Arrow game could keep Lowell from focusing in on the task at hand.
And just maybe the happenings (EGR’s 30-22 loss) in Holland on Thursday night dialed the Red Arrows in a little more.
Either way, anyway, Lowell played through it all and played exceptionally well in its 49-7 lopsided win over Kenowa Hills.
The Knights, coming off a 30-15 opening week win against Traverse City West, could not slow down Lowell’s ability to run, throw and catch the ball.
“If you can do all of those things, what else do you need?” Kenowa Hills coach Scott Van Essen asked. “Lowell has it all. That’s a great program Noel has.”
Lowell found the end zone on its five first-half possessions in building a 35-7 half-time lead.
“Coming in here, we knew we were playing a good Kenowa Hills football team,” Noel Dean said. “But I was pleased with how the kids responded and played.””I thought our kids played very well,” Dean said.
The Red Arrows turned a Kenowa Hills shanked punt in the first quarter into a touchdown. It took a half dozen plays and a three-yard burst from senior quarterback Gabe Dean to put Lowell on the board first.
The Red Arrows followed that up with a Joshua Addington one-yard run right before the end of the first quarter, building a 14-0 advantage.
Minutes into the second quarter, Dean found Luke Bigham on a 10-yard touchdown pass, extending Lowell’s lead to 21-0.
“It was going to take a perfect game to beat Lowell,” Kenowa Hills coach Scott Van Essen said. “We come out and give them a short field, and it went (downhill) from there. We wanted to slow it down and work the field position game, and we couldn’t do that. We had to get off to a good start, and we didn’t.”
The Knights did manage to put a crooked number on the scoreboard in the second quarter when its star running back, Kitwana Clark scored on a one-yard touchdown run. Clark amassed 119 of Kenowa’s 147 yards on the ground.
Lowell answered with two more scores of its own before half-time.
Dean fund Bigham on a 48-yard pass and catch for the Red Arrows fourth touchdown of the night.
Then, with 18 seconds remaining on the first half clock, Ren Osborne scored his first of two touchdowns on a 14-yard pass from Dean.
The Red Arrow back added a 65-yard touchdown scamper on the Red Arrows first possession of the third quarter.
Lowell’s final touchdown of the night was handed in by its defense. Shannon Massey returned a fourth-quarter interception 75 yards for a Red Arrow touchdown.
Lowell rushed for 151 yards with Osborne leading the way with 65. Dean was held to 33 yards on 10 carries.
The Lowell QB, however, was 11-for-12 for 215 yards and three touchdowns through the air.
“We gave a lot of kids a chance to play, especially in the second half, because of the heat.” Dean explained.
