Field position played a major role in Tri-West’s 55-20 win over Crawfordsville on Friday night. The Bruins first three drives started inside the Athenians 35 and the score quickly became 21-0 in favor of the Bruins. A 35-0 lead at the end of the first quarter all but sealed a Tri-West victory.
The Athenians (0-8, 0-6 SAC) coming into the game struggled to get a ground game going all season, however a 57-yard touchdown by Ezekiel Cardenas provided a spark for Crawfordsville who ran for 141 on the night.
“We put some time into that part of our game this week,” Crawfordsville coach Kurt Schlicher said. “Tri-West is the most explosive team we’ve faced all year their and when you give up that many points it gets hard to match them.”
Numerous false start penalties hurt the Athenian offense’s chance to build much momentum. They tallied 11 penalties for 65 yards and Schlicher knows that is Ian area where his team will have to clean up in practice.
“It was a mess tonight,” Schlicher said. “We’ve done pretty well with it for the most part and I complimented the guys after last weeks game about that. It’s a part of our offense that our kids are just going to have to learn to not flinch. We’re going to continue to work on it because it’s an important part of what we do here.”
Crawfordsville will hit the road for its final regular season game of the season as they travel to take on Frankfort (4-4 2-3 SAC) who is coming off a 16-14 win over North Montgomery.
“They’re a much-improved team whose playing with a ton of confidence,” Schlicher said of the Hotdogs. “We’re a little low on confidence right now without a win and we have to go in there believing we can come out with a victory.”
TRI-WEST 55, CRAWFORDSVILLE 20
TRI WEST 35 20 0 0 – 55
CRAWFORDSVILLE 0 12 8 0 – 20
Team Stats CHS TW
Passing 110 82
Rushing 141 213
Total yards 251 295
Turnovers 4 1
Penalties 11-65 8-69
Individual Stats
Rushing
Tri-West: Hendershot 3-103 2TD, Cora 3-83 2TD, Depinet 2-22, Pugliese 1-2, Johnson 7-3, L. Ross, 3-0 Totals 19-213
Crawfordsville: Cardenas 8-71, Fields 9-45, Dowell 6-12, Underwood 1-5; Totals 24-141
Passing
Tri-West: K. Ross 6-8 64 3TD, L. Ross 3-6 18; Totals 9-14 82 3TD
Crawfordsville: Underwood 10-21 110 TD, 3 INT
Receiving
Tri-West: Pugliese 2-26 TD, Joiner 2-22, Hendershot 2-21 TD, Mohr 2-12, Marlowe 1-9 TD, Griffith 1- (-4) Totals 9-82 3TD
Crawfordsville: Hernandez 3-46, Martin 2-41 TD, Fields 4-22, Willis 1-1; Totals 10-110 TD
Scoring Summary
1st Quarter
TW Ross 9 yd pass to Marlowe (XP Good)
TW Ross 9 yd pass to Hendershot (XP Good)
TW Cora 14 yd run (XP Good)
TW Ross 11 yd pass to Pugliese (XP good)
TW Cora 32 yd run (XP Good)
2nd Quarter
TW Interception return for TD (XP Good)
TW Hendershot 14 yd TD run (XP No Good)
CHS Cardenas 57 yd run (2 pt attempt no good)
CHS Underwood 23 pass to Martin (2pt attempt no good)
3rd Quarter
CHS Fields 1 yd run (2pt attempt good)
