Every year, the “Battle of the Bayou” brings Fruitport Spring Lake Varsity Football teams together for a chance for “the paddle.” The paddle not only declares you the winner of one game, but gives the winning school bragging rights for the rest of the year.
In the season and home opener on August 29, Lakers crushed Fruitport,
keeping the paddle for another year. Breaking the score floodgates was senior Alex Batka with an early first quarter 36-yard rush, which opened up the path for a 40-7 Laker win.
When asked about his early game victory, Batka said, “On the scoring play I had, everything went as it was supposed to. The wideout and the playside A-back laid out good, clear blocks for me. My quarterback made a good read and a good pitch. All I had to do was catch the ball and follow the path that was laid out for me.”
Batka said there’s no better way to start his senior season on varsity.
“I know we have a good team here with players that want to win, so I have expectations as far as how well we should do this season,” he said.
In his third season at Spring Lake, Head Coach Cody Mallory shares a similar view on the standards for the season. He said the team “stayed focused throughout the week and held each other to a high standard and it showed during the game.”
The Lakers rushed for 390 yards, with senior Darrel Lawrence accounting for 113 of them and two touchdowns.
Spring Lake fell at Belding 47-22 in their first away game on Sept. 6. The team visits Reeths-Puffer this Friday.
