Reeths-Puffer battled with Caledonia in a defensive battle for much of the first half and were in it with the Fighting Scots much of the way Friday night before the Scots tacked on a couple of late touchdowns to dispatch R-P by a deceptively large 35-7 margin.
The Rockets (0-2, 0-1 O-K Green Conference) struggled with penalties on the offensive end - nine of them for a total of 95 yards. That hampered an offense that struggled to move the ball, with 166 total yards.
"That hurt our execution and it hurts us moving the chains," Kater said. "We gave up a couple touchdowns late because we kept having to go for it on fourth down. They made great adjustments at halftime and we fell victim to not making the correct ones."
Caledonia quarterback Brody Betser didn't put up shiny numbers against R-P - 187 yards passing - but many of them came on explosive plays that turned into Scots' scores.
Kater said he was very pleased with the play of the defense and that the whole team played hard - they just need to improve in technical aspects. He added that the Rockets can take a lot from their opening two defeats.
"We know our kids are doing a great job," Kater said. "Our kids played really hard and that showed on the tape. They played hard for four quarters...We're going to lean into these two losses. We know we lost to two outstanding programs."
Lukas Johnson scored the Rockets' lone touchdown on a kickoff return. Cal Millis paced the R-P defense with nine tackles. Mason Darke had 97 yards passing, and Bryce Muskovin ran for 65.
