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"We had to deal with a little bit of adversity before we even had our first kick-off of the season," commented Reinhart, whose team made the 140-mile zigzag round trip to Croswell and back on Friday for nothing. "It was pretty late by the time they called the game off and we finally arrived back home on Friday night. Then we had to turn right around and come back for the rescheduled game at 3:00 PM the next day."

A road detour made the back-country trek even longer than usual on both days. The game had to be postponed on Friday due to thunder, lightning and tornado warnings. But the two teams played the game on Saturday under near-perfect weather conditions. And the Rams played a near-perfect game.

"Cody Groulx says it was worth the trip over here, at least the second time," Reinhart remarked shortly after the contest. "I have to agree with him. I think we played a good, solid game today."

Groulx was instrumental in the win, rushing for 125 yards and two touchdowns. Meanwhile, Montrose did not commit a turnover while avenging last year's 28-20 loss to the Pioneers.

Groulx staked his team to an early lead when he took a screen pass 73 yards for a score on the third play from scrimmage. Zach VanCleeve booted the PAT to give Montrose a quick 7-0 advantage. Cros-Lex threatened to score on its first possession, but Mike Foster came up with an interception at his own seven yard line to halt the Pioneer drive.

Cros-Lex's defense held, however, and forced a punt to set up shop at the Ram 41-yard line. Five plays later, the home team punched its way in to even the score at 7-7 with 2:56 left in the opening quarter.

The game remained deadlocked until Seth Hursh broke free on an 81-yard quarterback keeper to score early in the second quarter. VanCleve added the extra point. After a three-and-out possession by C-L, the Rams took over at their own 31. Eight plays later, James Person darted 31 yards to paydirt to give his team a 20-7 lead. Groulx powered in for the two point conversion to put the Rams up, 22-7. Cros-Lex drove the ball to the Ram 29 on its final drive of the half, but Person pounced on a fumble to end the threat with just one minute to go before intermission.

Cros-Lex, which gained 296 yards of total offense, dominated the third quarter, putting together three long drives during the stanza while limiting the Rams to just six plays from scrimmage. The Pioneers scored on their second drive, narrowing the deficit to 22-14 at 5:07 of the third quarter before putting together another scary march late in the period. With the ball near midfield, however, Zach Kuzniar sacked the quarterback for an 11-yard loss on third-and-three to force a punt.

Montrose opened the fourth quarter at its own 33 and, for all intents and purposes, tucked the victory away with a 10-play, 67 yard scoring drive that was capped by Groulx's 23-yard scamper to paydirt. Hursh ran in the two-pointer to give the visitors a 30-14 lead, and Brandon Rose scored on a nine yard run with less than two minutes to go to give the Rams their final margin of victory.

"They came out at us hard after intermission and had us on our heels for awhile," assessed Reinhart. "Holding them late in the third quarter and then putting together that long drive to start the fourth was key for us and gave us back the momentum."

The Rams amassed 454 yards of total offense, led by Groulx's 125 yards on the ground and his 73 yard TD reception. Hursh gained 92 yards rushing and Persons added 91 on 12 carries. The Rams were led on defense by Derek Elston who had 14 tackles and Mitch Schneider, who came up with 11 stops.