A handful of things added up to big problems for Crawfordsville’s football team in a 56-24 loss to Western Boone.
Like three turnovers by the Athenians, which became 21 points for the Stars.
Like six drives for WeBo starting in C’ville territory, with five of them ending in touchdowns.
Like a relentless Stars blitz package that led to six sacks.
“WeBo is a very good team,” Crawfordsville coach Brad Clark said. “The took advantage of our mistakes. You can’t give a team like them all those short-field situations. We didn’t come out of the gate well, and not being prepared well enough falls on me.”
There were good moments for the Athenians, who fall to 1-2 on the season, and lose their Monon Conference opener, as the Stars move to 1-2 overall and 1-0 in the league.
Braeden Schlote threw for 195 yards and a score. The junior was 12-of-21 for the night and also had a pick.
Johnovan Smith had another big receiving night, as the junior grabbed six throws for 150 yards and a score. He has four TDs on the season.
Landon Gerold had a 47-yard pick six late in the second quarter.
Ledger Lyons scooped up a blocked field goal attempt in the fourth quarter and ran 80 yards under hot pursuit for a score.
Dario Huesca drilled a 38-yard field goal in the first quarter to open the Cville scoring.
But there were all those other things.
“We haven’t see a pass rush like that all season, and it’s very hard to simulate that in practice,” Clark said of Schlote being sacked six times under constant duress. “We really needed to make WeBo have to drive long distances, and shorten the game. They jumped out fast and the whole game plan just evaporates.”
The Stars ran the ball well, like they always do. A dozen different runners had a total of 38 carries for 261 yards. Jack Mallory was high man with 123 yards and a pair of TDs.
Three different quarterbacks were 7-of-10 passing for 75 yards and two scores.
The Athenians rush totals withered because of all the sacks, as they finished with -46 rushing yards.
Sophomore Adyn Sempsrott, after two plsu-100 rush yard games, was targeted from the start, and finished with 11 carries and a net of 2 yards.
“We played well in spurts,” Clark said. “Now it’s up to us to be more consistent, to be better in all places at more times. We are disappointed but not down. We have to use this as an opportunity to get better, and I have every confidence in the world that these guys will learn from this adversity and get better for next week.”
The Athenians take the show on the Monon road next Friday with a trip to play North Putnam. The Cougars are 1-2 overall after losing their conference opener 52-14 at Cascade.
