By Maddie Nichols, student reporter

The Cedar Springs Red Hawks took a hard loss last Friday night, September 30, losing 27-8 to the Lowell Red Arrows.

Both teams started the first half strong, leaving the end of the second quarter with only one touchdown on each side. Runs by juniors John Todd and Nick Campione, as well as seniors Jaron Spencer and Jacob Hooker, brought some momentum to the game. Despite the remarkable defensive efforts, the Arrows ran in a touchdown from the one yard line with a little over 2 minutes left in the first quarter, making the score 7-0 Red Arrows.

Going into the second quarter, the Hawks stepped up both offensively and defensively, leading to a touchdown from junior quarterback Nick Campione to Todd with 8 and a half minutes left of the first half. The two-point conversion from Campione to sophomore Ryan Ringler was good, leaving Cedar up 8-7. Tackles by junior Nate Patin, Todd, and Ringler shut down the Arrows the rest of the quarter.

The Red Arrows came back to finish out the game with a win. Although Cedar’s defense stepped up, the offense wasn’t there. Tackles by seniors Jordan Ringler, Thomas Hill, Dustin Shaw and Austin Basso held the Arrows off until two minutes left of the third quarter, making the score 13-8.

The Hawks continued to push, but couldn’t get any more points. Basso, Todd, Ryan Ringler and sophomore Lucas Pienton continued to make long runs, but the defense couldn’t hold back the Arrows from scoring two more times in the fourth quarter. After a long, rainy fight, the final score ended up 27-8, a tough loss for the Red Hawks.

The team is now 2-1 in conference, and 3-3 overall.

This Friday Cedar Springs hosts Forest Hills Northern (also 2-1, 3-3) at 7 p.m. at Red Hawk Stadium.