The Crawfordsville football team saw their season come to an end Friday with a 48-6 loss to Yorktown in the Class 3A Sectional 28 opener. The lone touchdown for the Athenians came from junior running back Kaigen Fields on a 47-yard run late in the first quarter.
“We knew coming they were better than what their record said,” Crawfordsville coach Kurt Schlicher said. “We had some chances tonight with some great individual plays but just overall couldn’t move the ball effectively.”
No team wants to end their season without a win, however battling the COVID-19 pandemic all season long and getting to play each and every week, Schlicher sees that as a victory of its own. He also took time after the game to thank his seniors who have endured a season unlike any other.
“I just want to thank the parents for allowing their sons to come out and participate this year in these unique circumstances,” he said. “Our seniors are a great group of kids and they’ve been through a lot in their football careers. They haven’t a lot of positives and yet they stuck with it. I love those guys and I know that they will be successful moving forward.”
Crawfordsville will not take long to rest on their disappointing 2020 campaign. The work towards 2021 begins next week in the weight room for the Athenians.
“We just need to get stronger collectively,” Schlicher said. “That’s the goal for all of our guys, whether they are moving on to winter sports, or just sticking with our winter workouts. If you want to make a change, you have to control the controllable and one thing we can control is how strong we are for next season. Our goal is to be a much more physical football team next year.”
As his second year at the helm comes to a close for the Athenian football program, Schlicher’s record sits a 1-19. He and the Athenians will continue to learn and grow as a football team and for Schlicher that means to apply what he is learning towards improving his group.
“I’ve learned more this season than I did last year in my first season,” he said. “I need to take the lessons that I’m learning and try to make this program better and hopefully that’s what we can get done between now and next August.”
