FRANKFORT — Entering Friday’s matchup against Frankfort, the Crawfordsville football team had lost six straight games, including two back-to-back shutouts. But against the Hot Dogs, the Athenians controlled the game from start to finish. 25-7 read the final score as Crawfordsville picked up its first Sagamore Conference win in the last game of the regular season.
Neither team generated much offensive production in the first quarter, but after a slow start for both teams, Crawfordsville seized the momentum. The Athenians recovered a fumble at the Frankfort 38-yard line to start the second quarter. CHS took advantage of the field position, and moments later scored the first touchdown of the game on a Zeke Cardenas six-yard rush. Ryan Miller’s extra point was no good, leading to a 6-0 score. The Athenians did not trail for the remainder of the game.
“It feels awesome,” Head Coach Brad Clark said of the team’s first conference win. “But mainly I think it feels great for the kids. All the hard work they put in. For them to get rewarded with a big win to end the season, I feel great for them.”
The ensuing Frankfort drive was cut short by an interception from Sam Minnette, setting up Crawfordsville with great field position once more. And again, the Athenians took advantage. AJ Hall dumped the ball off to Zach Bowman, who displayed a series of shifty moves past defenders and into the end zone. Another missed extra point gave Crawfordsville a 12-0 lead with 6:35 left in the first half.
While the Frankfort offense struggled throughout the game, they did make things interesting to close the half. On a drive that started at their own 38-yard line, the Hot Dogs needed just one play to score. Halfback Nelson Honore Ramirez broke free and took it to the house, giving Frankfort its first points of the contest. Crawfordsville entered halftime with a 12-7 lead.
Both teams saw no success on offense to start the second half. But on Crawfordsville’s second possession of the third quarter, the Athenians took control. Zach Bowman found the end zone again on a nine-yard rush after Frankfort failed a fourth-down conversion on its own side of the field. A failed two-point conversion led to an 18-7 score in favor of Crawfordsville.
The Athenians found the end zone one last time before the final. Kaden Patton, who replaced Hall at quarterback after an injury, lofted a pass to Ethan McLemore for a 29-yard touchdown. Miller’s kick was good, and Crawfordsville took a 25-7 lead that held to the end of the fourth quarter.
There were a multitude of positives for Crawfordsville. The defense bottled up Frankfort all night long, forcing multiple turnovers and negative plays. Offensively, the Athenian run game was efficient and wore down Frankfort. This came primarily behind Cardenas, who had 25 carries for 132 yards and a touchdown.
“Our mindset coming in was that we needed to run the ball,” Clark said. “We really wanted to keep the ball in our hands and keep their offense on the sideline. We wanted to control the clock and the ground game, and I think we did that.”
There isn’t much time for celebration, though, for the Athenians. Crawfordsville faces a tough task in co-conference champion Western Boone for first round sectional matchup next Friday. The Stars shutout the Athenians earlier this season 49-0.
“Western Boone is one of the best programs in the state,” Clark said. “They’re well-coached. Our defense will certainly be up to the challenge in trying to slow them down. Our defense does a great job of staying sound and making teams try and churn out long drives. They played tremendous tonight, and we’re going to need that effort next week against Western Boone.”
Crawfordsville (3-6, 1-6 SAC) travels to Western Boone (8-1, 6-1 SAC) next Friday for the sectional matchup at 7:00 p.m.
