Brad Clark has been tasked with leading Crawfordsville football this upcoming season. Clark takes over for Kurt Schlicher and will look to guide the Athenian program that has just three wins since 2016 and hasn’t had a winning season since 2007.
Despite that, Clark and the team are taking it one day at a time as they look to build a stable foundation for CHS football.
“Our message all summer was just focusing on the individual day,” Clark said. “There was a lot of things that we needed to work on from a fundamental level and our message was if we keep stacking good days together, then we believe good things are going to happen this season. We believe there are a lot of things to be excited about for Crawfordsville football, not just for this season but for years to come. ”
Move in AJ Hall and junior Kaden Patton are currently battling for the starting quarterback spot for CHS. Hall was under center last year for the Fountain Central while Patton made a handful of starts near the end of last year. CHS also returns senior tail back Ezekiel Cardenas along with junior wide-receiver Ethan McLemore to help on the offensive side of the ball. Defensively senior Zach Bowman will help anchor the defensive line along with fellow senior Calvin Dittmar.
“We have a lot of guys coming back who have varsity experience and who have seen Friday night’s,” Clark said. “We have five guys who will be three-year starters so we’re going to lean heavily on those guys, but also bring some of younger guys along to help us with our depth. We have a lot of talent on this team no question.”
While most teams would love to have success right out of the gate, Clark understands that it will take his team beginning to be competitive in conference and county matchups. That alone stands as the main goal this season for Clark in his first year.
“Overall we just want to be more competitive and if we do that, then that’s a big step forward,” he said. “If we do that then our wins will come. I think some of those wins will come this year, I really do.”
The schedule for the Athenians will much different to open the season than in years past. CHS has replaced games with West Vigo and Greencastle and will now take on Attica in week one followed by Fountain Central in week 2. Attica will be on the road while the Mustangs will come to Crawfordsville in week two. The two county matchups against Southmont and North Montgomery, like they typically do, will fall on weeks four and five (Sep. 16 & 23). CHS will host the Mounties on the 16th before traveling to take on the Chargers the following week.
