A thrilling game all the way down to the final play. That’s the synopsis of the week two game between Crawfordsville and Fountain Central as CHS hosted the Mustangs for their home opener. FC and Crawfordsville battled for the full 48 minutes and with the Athenians clinging to a 27-20 lead with time ticking down and the Mustangs marching deep into CHS territory, the Athenians needed a single stop. With just eight seconds left Mustang quarterback flung the ball into the end zone, but Crawfordsville Ethan McLemore stepped in front of the pass to seal the 27-20 win for the Athenians as they moved to 2-0 on the season.
“Fountain Central really tested our defense and did a great job of keeping the ball out of our offenses hands,” Crawfordsville coach Brad Clark said. “Our guys did a great job of responding to a back and forth style of game and multiple lead changes. It was good for them to experience and I couldn’t be more proud of them.”
Arguably the key play of the game came with just a little over a minute left in the first half as the Mustangs had the ball, inside the CHS 10 yard line and were poised to potentially take the lead. A Mustang fumble would bounce off the turf straight into the hands of senior Kaiden Underwood who would return the fumble 90 yards for an Athenian scoop and score to extend the CHS lead to 20-12.
Underwood would also haul in what would be the game-winning 17-yard touchdown as he reached over his defender to snag the football. In the game Underwood would tally three total touchdowns.
“Turnovers are a huge part of the game,” Clark said. “Especially when they result in scores for us. That was a huge play in the game and for Kaiden, who is a two-year starter at quarterback for us to be willing to make a position change this season says a lot about that kid and he obviously came up big when we needed him tonight.”
The overall stats favored the Mustangs who out-gained CHS 339-223. 247 of those yards came on the ground as Acton carried the ball 31 times for 156 yards. Dawson Blue added 83 yards on 22 carries for FC.
“I’m very proud of our kids continued to battle and overcame adversity all night long,” Mustang coach Herb King said. “We felt disappointed that we were trailing at halftime despite the fact we were out-gaining them and were moving the football better. Those two turnovers proved to be the difference though. Our kids are upset, but not at the way they played on the field. We competed from the start to the finish.”
FC falls to 0-2 on the season, but the improvement from week one to week two was more than noticeable and King noted how he sees that same improvement on the field.
“We’re getting better in every step of the way,” he said. “Our kids love to be around each other and if we improve like we have we’re going to win some football games and have a successful season.”
Crawfordsville is now 2-0 for the first time since the 2014 season. Clark has noted multiple times the excitement that has surrounded the Athenian football program. The Athenian faithful showed out in a big way for the team’s home opener and in return the team gave the fans and the Crawfordsville community a very entertaining product to watch.
“I’ll keep saying that there’s a ton of excitement around our program,” Clark said. “I’m just super happy for these kids because they’ve worked their tails off all summer and now they’re seeing the results pay off for them on Friday nights.”
The Athenians will begin Sagamore Conference play next Friday when they return home and welcome Western Boone (2-0).
FC will also open up WRC play next week when they hit the road for a battle with Riverton Parke.
