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CASSOPOLIS — Mistakes are inevitable when you’re a young football team. 

Visiting Allegan forced Cassopolis into six turnovers and capitalized on most of those miscues in a 54-18 non-conference win Friday in the season opener “for both teams at William F. Scott Field. 

Allegan’s defense came up with five fumble recoveries and one interception against an inexperienced Cassopolis ballclub. 

With just four seniors on its roster, Cassopolis struggled at times, but also showed glimpses of big-play potential on both sides of the football. 

“I told the kids afterwards that you can’t have five fumbles and one interception. With that many mistakes we got down on ourselves. It’s hard with such a young team to overcome those,” said Cassopolis head coach Jeremiah Lee.

A majority of the Rangers’ 29-man varsity roster, which includes just four seniors, is comprised of freshmen and sophomores. 

Bradyn Kosiorowski raced around left end to score Allegan’s first touchdown at the 6:37 mark. Kosiorowski scored on fourth down and 16 yards from the Cassopolis’ 29-yard line. Myles Jackson added the first of his seven PATs on the night for a 7-0 Tigers’ lead after one quarter. 

Jeremiah Edwards-Tate’s fumble recovery for Allegan at the Ranger’ 10 set up another Tigers’ score. Edwards-Tate took a handoff two plays later and bounced into the end zone but fumbled the ball. However, Tigers’ teammate Cade Fulton alertly fell on the pigskin for the Allegan TD and a 14-0 lead at 11:52 mark of the second period. 

Cassopolis answered on its next drive with sophomore receiver Turner Westrate hauling in a 17-yard TD strike from classmate and starting quarterback Lucas Williams. Williams’ two-point conversion run failed, but the Rangers were within eight, 14-6 with 8:39 left in the half. 

Allegan’s Nathan Martinez took the ensuing kickoff back 75 yards for a Tigers’ TD at 8:26 expanding his team’s cushion to 21-6. 

Another fumble recovery by Allegan’s Sylar Bush helped set up a 12-yard scoring sprint by Brysten Eicher-McColl with 2:38 left in the half and a 34-6 lead. 

Williams hooked up with junior receiver Jaylen Pratt on an 80-yard scoring pass on the Rangers’ next series to make it 34-12. 

But Allegan increased its lead to 41-12 entering halftime after Quentin Edwards Jr. dove over the Rangers’ goal line from one yard out as time expired in the half. 

Edwards-Tate capped off a 53-yard drive to start the third quarter with a 20-yard scoring burst, boosting his team’s lead to 47-12 at 9:11. 

Williams’ five-yard QB sneak with 8:30 left in the fourth quarter made it 47-18.

Allegan tacked on its final TD with 2:52 left after Eicher-McColl crashed over the Rangers’ goal-line from four yards out. 

Williams completed 7-of-17 passes for 159 yards and two TDs with one interception. The 6-foot-1, 145-pound signal caller also led the Rangers in rushing with 14 carries for 58 yards and one TD.

“This was Lucas’ first real varsity game. He didn’t play much last season He scrambled alot and made some plays for us tonight,” Lee said. 

Cassopolis picked up a total of 249 yards of total offense. Allegan, however, gained 387 yards of offense on the night. 

Sophomore Lane Leach led the Cassopolis defensively with 13 solo tackles and forced an Allegan fumble. Senior Anthony Higgins piled up 10 tackles and Brayden Gould and freshman Braxton Schoetzow (6-0, 215) both recovered fumbles for the Rangers. 

“As a program we’re headed in the right direction. There were plenty of positives to take away from this game. Our kids know its not going to happen overnight. We have to build on this and keep working hard every day,” Lee added. 

Lee was real pleased with the blocking of freshman offensive lineman Mason Boyer (6-foot-3, 270-pounds) against Allegan’s Division I prospect Sullivan Garvin (6-5, 300). 

“Mason did a great job of neutralizing him and that’s what we were looking for out of him tonight,” Lee said.