...this was my senior year of high school at Grand Rapids Christian High (GRCH Eagles '85).. I had returned from California to complete my senior year of highschool.. after receiving a welcoming call from Coach Jeff Pettinga saying "We still have a spot for you on the team." That was after I had practiced for a month with Valley Christian in Cerritos, California (school founded by my grandfather in 1936). My dad had moved to California (a return for him) to be a pastor at the Crystal Cathedral. I had Grand Rapids in my heart..and decided I would be happier back in GR for my senior year.. lived with a friend's family for one semester (the Byles) and with my uncle for the 2nd semester (Gary Kok & family: Shirley, Brian, & Audra)... football was my passion.. ironically, I am NOT even in the team picture's yearbook, not listed as "absent" because I returned too late for the team pic & they apparently forgot to change the "absence" list after I came back.. doesn't matter..what does matter is I loved football and was glad to be back playing strong safety.. I had played football from rockets on up..starting out with my friend Mike Waalkes.. and now varsity year.. we had a good team, but as you can see we did only average..but also as you can see most of the losses were VERY CLOSE.. (7-12, 7-12, 7-14, 8-14) with only ONE convincing loss to Catholic Central (14-30). All of our wins, except one, came with little more of a margin than our losses (14-0, 20-9, 13-0) . Our BEST WIN was over West Catholic, who is always a strong football school. As you can see, we beat them 12-9, which helped make our season more bearable, but I really wanted to beat Ottawa & my old friend, Mike Waalkes, who was playing quarterback. We came close, gave them a good game..and I even intercepted Mike, but we couldn't get the offense rolling. You notice that we HELD all the teams but one (Catholic Central) to LESS than FIFTEEN POINTS...that's pretty solid defense, thank u very much, but we just couldn't get the offense going. Maybe they should have put me in at tailback ! Nonetheless, we had good comraderie as a team. I'm thankful for the experience and our great coaches.. one of whom, Bill "The Moose" Holwerda who has since passed onward to a better place. Bill was a great guy..very warm and also had a spiritual side to him. He was also the owner of a local sporting good store, Holwerda & Snoap. Pettinga & Kamp were great too. I knew Kamp all the way from the elementary days (he taught Phys Ed at Seymour when I was there..so he knew us when we arrived in high school). .
Original Title
GRCH '85: OUR VARSITY FOOTBALL SCHEDULE & FINAL SCORES
...this was my senior year of high school at Grand Rapids Christian High (GRCH Eagles '85).. I had returned from California to complete my senior year of highschool.. after receiving a welcoming call from Coach Jeff Pettinga saying "We still have a spot for you on the team." That was after I had practiced for a month with Valley Christian in Cerritos, California (school founded by my grandfather in 1936). My dad had moved to California (a return for him) to be a pastor at the Crystal Cathedral. I had Grand Rapids in my heart..and decided I would be happier back in GR for my senior year.. lived with a friend's family for one semester (the Byles) and with my uncle for the 2nd semester (Gary Kok & family: Shirley, Brian, & Audra)... football was my passion.. ironically, I am NOT even in the team picture's yearbook, not listed as "absent" because I returned too late for the team pic & they apparently forgot to change the "absence" list after I came back.. doesn't matter..what does matter is I loved football and was glad to be back playing strong safety.. I had played football from rockets on up..starting out with my friend Mike Waalkes.. and now varsity year.. we had a good team, but as you can see we did only average..but also as you can see most of the losses were VERY CLOSE.. (7-12, 7-12, 7-14, 8-14) with only ONE convincing loss to Catholic Central (14-30). All of our wins, except one, came with little more of a margin than our losses (14-0, 20-9, 13-0) . Our BEST WIN was over West Catholic, who is always a strong football school. As you can see, we beat them 12-9, which helped make our season more bearable, but I really wanted to beat Ottawa & my old friend, Mike Waalkes, who was playing quarterback. We came close, gave them a good game..and I even intercepted Mike, but we couldn't get the offense rolling. You notice that we HELD all the teams but one (Catholic Central) to LESS than FIFTEEN POINTS...that's pretty solid defense, thank u very much, but we just couldn't get the offense going. Maybe they should have put me in at tailback ! Nonetheless, we had good comraderie as a team. I'm thankful for the experience and our great coaches.. one of whom, Bill "The Moose" Holwerda who has since passed onward to a better place. Bill was a great guy..very warm and also had a spiritual side to him. He was also the owner of a local sporting good store, Holwerda & Snoap. Pettinga & Kamp were great too. I knew Kamp all the way from the elementary days (he taught Phys Ed at Seymour when I was there..so he knew us when we arrived in high school). .
...this was my senior year of high school at Grand Rapids Christian High (GRCH Eagles '85).. I had returned from California to complete my senior year of highschool.. after receiving a welcoming call from Coach Jeff Pettinga saying "We still have a spot for you on the team." That was after I had practiced for a month with Valley Christian in Cerritos, California (school founded by my grandfather in 1936). My dad had moved to California (a return for him) to be a pastor at the Crystal Cathedral. I had Grand Rapids in my heart..and decided I would be happier back in GR for my senior year.. lived with a friend's family for one semester (the Byles) and with my uncle for the 2nd semester (Gary Kok & family: Shirley, Brian, & Audra)... football was my passion.. ironically, I am NOT even in the team picture's yearbook, not listed as "absent" because I returned too late for the team pic & they apparently forgot to change the "absence" list after I came back.. doesn't matter..what does matter is I loved football and was glad to be back playing strong safety.. I had played football from rockets on up..starting out with my friend Mike Waalkes.. and now varsity year.. we had a good team, but as you can see we did only average..but also as you can see most of the losses were VERY CLOSE.. (7-12, 7-12, 7-14, 8-14) with only ONE convincing loss to Catholic Central (14-30). All of our wins, except one, came with little more of a margin than our losses (14-0, 20-9, 13-0) . Our BEST WIN was over West Catholic, who is always a strong football school. As you can see, we beat them 12-9, which helped make our season more bearable, but I really wanted to beat Ottawa & my old friend, Mike Waalkes, who was playing quarterback. We came close, gave them a good game..and I even intercepted Mike, but we couldn't get the offense rolling. You notice that we HELD all the teams but one (Catholic Central) to LESS than FIFTEEN POINTS...that's pretty solid defense, thank u very much, but we just couldn't get the offense going. Maybe they should have put me in at tailback ! Nonetheless, we had good comraderie as a team. I'm thankful for the experience and our great coaches.. one of whom, Bill "The Moose" Holwerda who has since passed onward to a better place. Bill was a great guy..very warm and also had a spiritual side to him. He was also the owner of a local sporting good store, Holwerda & Snoap. Pettinga & Kamp were great too. I knew Kamp all the way from the elementary days (he taught Phys Ed at Seymour when I was there..so he knew us when we arrived in high school). .