“There’s no easy team in the Sagamore Conference”. Crawfordsville coach Brad Clark is spot on with that statement. Crawfordsville enters week fours still in search of its first win of the season and Friday won’t be an easy task. After falling 42-14 last to Western Boone, the Athenians are back at home this week as they’ll face another stiff test in the Danville Warriors (2-1, 1-0 SAC).
Danville edged out Lebanon 28-26 a week ago in its SAC opener a week ago.
While the Athenians and Clark are wanting to snag their first win of the season, they’re focused on something a little more important than what the scoreboard might say.
“We’re focused right now on getting better internally,” Clark said. “That’s where it has to start with us. There’s some things that we have to work on and get better at if we want to compete with anyone in our conference. We know the type of challenge that Danville represents. This week we’ve really went back and focused on some fundamental things and trying to simplify some things. I truly think that’s paid off for us because we had our best practice of the season on Wednesday.”
Danville is led out on offense by junior QB Connor Soper. Thru three games Soper is 40-63 (63.5%) while throwing for 580 yards and seven touchdowns. On the ground the Warriors rely on two-pronged attack with sophomore Ethan Wooten who has 45 carried for 200 yards and senior Sean Robinson who has 194 yards on 34 carries. The Warriors have three receivers over 100 yards starting with the senior duo of Caden Collins (6 receptions for 144 yards) and Teke Tanksley (11-124). 6’5 junior Jace Scrafton has also hauled in 11 catches for 129 yards and 3TD’s.
What has plagued Crawfordsville in their first three games has been their inability to get off to good starts. They typically find themselves down multiple scores at the end of the first quarter. However in the early to mid stages of the second is when the Athenians have shown signs of life and are able to get stops and put some points on the board.
“Getting off to those better starts I think comes with our guys just playing with a little more freedom out there,” Clark said. “I think our guys want to do so well that they let the nerved and early game jitters get the best of them at times. Once that works itself out we’ve seen success. It’s been a simple message of go out and have fun and play with that freedom. These guys love to play the sport and they know it’s a privilege to go out and do it every single Friday.”
Kickoff between the Warriors and Athenians is scheduled for a 7 p.m. start. Crawfordsville Athletics YouTube channel will have a live broadcast of the game.
