It’s never fun to get blown out, especially when it’s against one of your county rivals. However that’s what happened to Crawfordsville a week ago as they fell to North Montgomery 44-7. This week CHS (2-4, 0-4 SAC) is back at home and will play host to the Lebanon Tigers (4-2, 3-1 SAC) who are riding high after a 21-14 victory over Tri-West a week ago.
Despite the lop-sided loss a week ago, first-year Athenian coach Brad Clark has liked what he’s seen from his team this week in practice as they look to get back on the right track.
“Anytime you have a tough loss like that, you always wonder how your team is going to respond,” Clark said. “They’ve responded to it very well this week and this is a group that’s been resilient all season and even over the course of their careers. They love the game of football and this week they’ve came out with a lot of energy and it’s been exciting to see them respond in such a positive way.”
Lebanon boasts one of the fastest receivers in the Sagamore Conference in sophomore Kaden Lark. Lark has 23 catches for 387 yards (16.8 per catch) and four touchdowns this season for the Tigers. He also handles the kick and punt return duties for the Tigers. Clark has seen how deadly he can be and knows his team will have to look to stop Lark if they want to be successful.
“He had a big game last year too so we know how deadly he can be,” Clark said. “If you focus too much on him and trying to stop the pass, their running game can beat you as well. Their offensive line is very physical so Friday just is just another challenger for our guys. Every week in this conference you’re going to see a good team and this week is no different.”
Crawfordsville a week ago against the Chargers struggles to get much going on offense. Quarterback AJ Hall was constantly under diress from the Charger pass rush while the running game, besides an Anthony Lee 30+ yard score, couldn’t do much on the ground either. Despite the showing last week Clark sees his offense as being very close to making some big plays.
“When you watch the film, you realize that those plays are close to really being there for us,” he said. “It comes down to just being really consistent on every play, and create those successful habit that will ultimately build a successful culture here. I think we have the right guys who want to do that, it’s just a learning process of constantly doing it right now.”
Crawfordsville and Lebanon will get things going at 7 p.m. at CHS.
You can stay up-to-date with live scoring updates on the Journal Review Sports Twitter page @JR_Sports.
