Jaron Bradford led a high-powered North Montgomery offense with four touchdowns through the air on 187 passing yards.
North defense of Logan Kelly and Kai Warren forces a loose ball.
North Montgomery's Zach Waldon tries to get to the edge and around Crawfordsville's Carson Scott.
North Montgomery's Kai Warren pushes past Crawfordsville's Carson Scott.
North Montgomery overcame a slow start and blew past Crawfordsville 42-6 on Friday night.
Jaron Bradford found Jacob Braun on 4th and goal early in the second quarter to break a scoreless tie, and the flood gates opened from there.
Bradford later found Kai Warren, and Kade Kobel added a rushing touchdown to put the Chargers (3-3, 2-2) ahead 20-0 at the half.
“I thought the kids played well tonight,” North Montgomery coach Josh Thompson said. “We got off to a slow start, but then I thought we picked it up and our seniors stepped up. It’s a good solid win for us tonight.”
Crawfordsville (0-6, 0-4) got the stop they needed defensively to start the second half, but the Chargers forced a safety on the Athenian’s first play of the third quarter, and added another pair of touchdowns to blow the game open.
“We just haven’t been able to make many big plays on offense,” Crawfordsville coach Kurt Schlicher said. “And North Montgomery is a very strong team physically.”
Bradford Steps Up
Bradford, the North Montgomery senior quarterback, continued his strong senior season with a four touchdown night on 187 passing yards, and added 45 yards rushing.
“I thought their quarterback did a nice job tonight,” Schlicher said about the opposing QB.
Bradford hooked up with both Braun and Warren for a pair of touchdowns, and found Keifer Carmean for a 2-point conversion.
Charger Balance
Tallying 480 yards of total offense — the Chargers got contributions from several guys.
Zak Searle led the way in the ground game with 81 yards, including a 52 yard touchdown, while Zach Waldon added 58 rushing yards, and Kade Kobel 46 yards rushing and 24 yards on two catches through the air.
“I think it’s always good to spread the ball around to different guys,” Thompson said. “We have a lot of weapons that we can use, and it’s nice to get those guys some touches, and I think it makes us a little harder to scout because we have so many guys we can get the ball to.”
Warren and Carmean combined for nine catches and 124 yards.
Second half meltdown
For a second straight week Crawfordsville found themselves in a manageable hole at halftime, but were unable to shift the momentum in the third quarter.
On their three third quarter drives, the Athenians were tackled for a safety in the end zone, picked up one first down before punting, and went three and out, while watching the Chargers run up and down the field and to a big lead.
“We just weren’t able to weather the storm tonight once they got the ball rolling,” Schlicher said.
Moving Forward
North Montgomery will host Tri-West next Friday night in a pivotal Sagamore Conference matchup.
“It’s a big game for us,” Thompson said. “Tri-West is a good football team, and I think it’s going to be a very competitive game next week and it’s going to be a fun and exciting game to watch.”
Crawfordsville will travel to Lebanon, and Schlicher says he continues to see improvements.
“I would say our team tonight showed some spirit and showed some fight,” he said. “And I’m very pleased with the preparation of the kids. There is some improvement.”
North Montgomery 42, Crawfordsville 6
NM 0 20 15 7 — 42
CHS 0 0 0 6 — 6
Scoring Summary
Second Quarter
NM: Jacob Braun 4 yard pass from Jaron Bradford (Conversion failed), 8:40
NM: Kai Warren 4 yard pass from Bradford (Conversion failed), 3:55
NM: Kade Kobel 1 yard run (2-Point Conversion), :59
Third Quarter
NM: Noah Allen tackled in end zone for a safety, 9:42
NM: Braun 10 yard pass from Bradford (Kick failed), 7:47
NM: Warren 20 yard pass from Bradford (Bowman kick), 5:16
Fourth Quarter
NM: Zak Searle 52 yard run (Bowman kick), 10:40
CHS: Kaigen Fields 32 yard pass from Cale McCarty (kick failed), 4:33
Team Stats NM CHS
First Downs 23 7
Rushes-yds 34-233 17-19
Comp-Att-Int 15-23-0 14-23-1
Pass yds 187 89
Total yds 420 105
Fumbles-lost 0 2-0
Pen-yds 6-45 5-55
Individual Stats
Passing: NM: Bradford 15-23-187 4TDs; CHS: McCarty 14-23-105 TD
Rushing: NM: Searle 7-81, Zach Waldon 8-58, Kobel 7-47, Bradford 9-45, Warren 1-2, Drew Norman 2-1; CHS: Noah Allen 9-20, McCarty 6-2, Fields 1-(-3)
Receiving: NM: Warren 5-62 2TDs, Carmean 4-62, Braun 3-25 2TDs, Kobel 2-24, Waldon 2-14; CHS: Fields 2-34, Mikale Willis 3-25, Carson Scott 3-25 Alex Hernandez 6-13
