Kyler Shurlow pulls down a sensational seven-yard touchdown pass in the corner of the end zone to extend Lowell’s lead to 14-6.

With his club’s 14-12 fourth quarter lead was  in intimate danger,  Lowell foorball coach Noel Dean was just hoping his Red Arrows could flip the switch.

And then it happened, the flip got switched. Kyler Shurlow, having been picked on all night by the Buccaneer passing game, intercepted a second down pass in the corner of the end zone.

Some 16 seconds later Lowell quarterback Titan Anderson raced 80 yards for a touchdown;  90 seconds later Zach Huver picked up a Grand Haven fumble and raced 25 yards for a touchdown; 40 seconds later Shrlow intercepted another pass.

The flip of the switch changed a  precarious 14-12 lead into a 29-12 non-conference win over its O-K Red foe.

“The boys stepped up and played their hearts out,” Dean said. “I was hoping they could flip the switch in that fourth quarter. When Shurlow intercepted the pass in the end zone I let out a WooHoo. It was a tough night and there was a lot of pressure playing against a team in the O-K Red and trying to compete.”

For Grand Haven coach Mike Farley there was pride for the way his club competed and the realization his club was a play away from possibly defeating one of the state’s tp notch football programs.

“In that situation if we punch it in it’s a different game,” Farley explained.

In actuality, this game – the Fifth Annual Pink Arrow Pride game is different. A game where Lowell players are asked to play the game for someone else, for people journeying through their battle with cancer; for those in the community whose lives have been taken by cancer.

The game, the community event has raised over $1 million since its inception in 2008.

Lowell jumped out to an early lead Friday night when Anderson raced 25 yards on the Red Arrows second possession for a 7-0 lead.

Grand Haven answered two minutes later when Abe Westerman found the end zone from 11 yards out. The PAT was missed and Lowell’s lead was one (7-6).

The Red Arrows authored their longest drive of the evening in the second quarter, a 12-play, 80-yard march with Anderson connecting with Shurlow on a seven-yard touchdown pass, extending Lowell’s lead to eight at 14-6.

The Buccaneers cut the deficit to two in the third quarter on a 20-yard pass play from Michael Penland to Jake Lovett. The PAT was again missed and the Red Arrow lead was two at 14-12.

Lowell finished with 292 yards rushing and 32 yards through the air. Anderson led the way with 160 on the ground and two touchdowns.

Grand Haven was held to a minus 39 yards rushing  while throwing for 287 yards.

Neither team threatened to score until the Buc 62-yard drive to the Lowell eight in the fourth quarter which ended on a Shurlow interception?

“I felt like they were picking on me on me all night,” Shurlow said afterwards. “The coaches kept telling me that I was doing well and that they were making good plays.”

Shurlow was rewarded. The guy being picked on, on second and eight, picked the football up off the turf of the endzone, held it up for the officials to see and was granted a game-saving interception.

“The ball hit the ground. The officials didn’t see it. It wasn’t an interception. A couple of my teammates said ‘hey dude you didn’t catch that’,” Shurlow explained.

But after the challenging night he had, Shurlow was happy to take it.

With it and the Lowell win, the Red Arrows are now 3-0 with a trip to Muskegon on Friday. Lowell is now  2-0 against O-K Red opponents.

“Muskegon is a very good football team a better football team than we are right now,” Dean concluded.

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