LIZTON — Crawfordsville saw its football season come to an end in a 3A sectional loss to Tri-West. The Athenians lost 42-21 to the 3A No. 6 Bruins but the visitors did not go down without a fight.
Crawfordsville came out of the gate strongly in the opening quarter. The visitors led 7-6 going into the second period.
Any hopes of an upset ended in the second period when Tri-West exploded for 36 points to take a 43-7 lead at halftime.
“We got off to the start we needed and we all felt pretty good after the first quarter,” Crawfordsville coach Brad Clark said. “We then had a few mistakes and Tri-West took advantage.”
With a running clock the entire second half, the Athenians held Tri-West scoreless in the final two quarters. The Bruins substituted freely and played non-starters for the most of the second half.
Crawfordsville scored twice in the second half. Wideout Johnovan Smith caught a scoring pass from quarterback Braeden Schlote. Schlote also ran for a touchdown.
The final Athenian score came from Konnor Ellsbury who had not been used as a running back this season. Clark said it was decided to let the senior defensive player have a chance to play offense.
“Konnor has had a great season for us and he is such a good kid,” Clark said. “We decided to put him in at running back at the end of the game and he scored. Everyone on the sideline was happy for him.”
Tri-West held Crawfordsville to just 14 yards rushing. But Schlote found some success passing. He completed 15 of 22 passes for 201 yards. Smith caught nine passes for 115 yards to lead the Athenian receivers.
The loss ended the high school football career for six seniors — Victor Leyva, Logan Lough, Landon Gerold, Jacob Lee, Ryder Cummings and Ellsbury.
“This group of seniors were eighth graders when I started as head coach,” Clark said. “They have made great contributions toward helping build our football program. They have bought into what we are trying to do and were good leaders for our young guys.”
Crawfordsville finishes the season with a 3-7 record.
