Crawfordsville senior quarterback Cale McCarty runs the ball late in the game in the Athenian's 20-6 win over Frankfort. McCarty also threw a pair of touchdowns.
Crawfordsville's Mikale Willis comes down with one of six Athenian interceptions in the 20-6 win over Frankfort.
Big plays, and big stops propelled Crawfordsville to a 20-6 win over Frankfort on Friday night. Their first victory of the season.
On their second drive of the game, the Athenians covered 78 yards in four plays, capped by a 20-yard touchdown strike from Cale McCarty to Carson Scott to give them their first lead of the entire season at 8-0 with 2:21 left in the first quarter. Just two plays later — senior Noah Heggemeier intercepted a Sam Michael pass and returned it 62 yards to the house to boost the lead to 14-0, and the Athenians never looked back.
“I would say that tonight was the night we were finally able to capitalize on a couple big plays,” first-year Crawfordsville coach Kurt Schlicher said. “I thought that Carson Scott had an outstanding game, but he wasn’t alone. Cale McCarty did a great job, and I thought our O-line gave us a chance to make those plays down the field.”
McCarty connected on 13-of-19 passes for 186 yards and two touchdowns, while Scott caught four passes for 88 yards, a score, and had two interceptions on defense. The Athenians had seven plays that went for 10 yards or more.
Andrew Martin took a screen pass 21 yards for a score in the second half to put the Athenians (1-8, 1-6) up by three scores and sealed the fate of the Hot Dogs (0-9, 0-7), who finish the regular season without a win for the second straight season.
Big Plays Offensively
Setting up Scott’s early touchdown, McCarty found Alex Hernandez for a 49-yard pickup on third and long, and Scott later caught a 42-yard pass on third and long that flipped the field for the Athenians.
“We watched them on film, and we felt like we had a couple match-ups that would be favorable for us,” Schlicher said. “We felt like all year that those kids were capable of making big plays, and tonight we were able to get them the ball in space, and they certainly made those plays for us.”
Key Defensive Stops
If it wasn’t one of the half-dozen Frankfort punts the Athenians forced, the Crawfordsville defense found several ways to get off the field defensively. The Hot Dogs out-gained Crawfordsville 253-226 for the game, but the Athenians forced Frankfort was forced to go to the air often and Crawfordsville took advantage of it by intercepting Michael six times.
“We said before the game we thought we could slow them down and get them in third and long and have an advantage, and I thought that happened for us tonight,” Schlicher said.
Frankfort finally got on the board with a fourth quarter touchdown when Joe Diaz got behind the Crawfordsville defenders, and Michael found him for a 41-yard touchdown pass and catch.
Jack Wilkins led the Frankfort offense with 75 rushing yards on 18 carries.
Senior Win
For a second straight season Crawfordsville was able to salvage an 0-8 start with a victory over Frankfort to end the regular season. And for 15 seniors it was a big one, including Brayden Mitchell, who made his season debut after suffering an injury during the first two weeks of practice. The tailback ran the ball six times for 18 yards.
“The seniors, it’s been a struggle for these kids the last three or four years, and they’ve hung with it,” Schlicher said. “And I told them tonight ‘thank you for all your hard-work,’ since I got here in June.”
Crawfordsville hosts North Montgomery next Friday night in the first round of the sectional.
Box Score
Crawfordsville 20, Frankfort 6
CHS 14 0 6 0 — 20
FF 0 0 0 6 — 6
Scoring Summary
First Quarter
CHS: Carson Scott 20 yard pass from Cale McCarty (Fields run), 2:21
CHS: Noah Heggermeier 62 yard Interception return (Conversion failed), 1:55
Third Quarter
CHS: Andrew Martin 21 yard pass from McCarty (Conversion failed), 2:07
Fourth Quarter
FF: Diaz 41 yard pass from Michael (Conversion failed), 3:00
Team Stats CHS FF
Comp/Att/INT 13-19-0 8-24-6
Rushes-Yards 19-40 41-128
Passing Yards 186 125
Total Yards 226 253
Fumbles/Lost 4-3 0-0
Penalties 13-92 11-90
Individual Statistics
Rushing
CHS: Jack Pendleton 3-25, Brayden Mitchell 6-18, Noah Allen 4-4, Manson Simmons 2-3, McCarty 6-(-18); FF: Jack Wilkins 18-75, Franzel Pozos 8-22, Michael 10-15, Christian Matias 4-13, Joe Diaz 1-3
Passing
CHS: McCarty 13-19-186 yards and 2 TDs; FF: Michael 8-24-125 yards and 1TD
Receiving
CHS: Scott 4-88 TD, Alex Hernandez 2-61, Andrew Martin 2-28 TD, Kaigen Fields 2-5, Mitchel 2-2, Jesse Hortin 1-2; FF: Diaz 2-47 TD, Jade Ayers 2-39, Wilkins 3-27, Swinford 1-12
