High School Sports

FOOTBALL: Vikings overpower Athenians

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Crawfordsville honored their football seniors for the home opener, and several of those seniors helped get the Athenians to a halftime tie, but a second-half drought turned into a 35-14 loss to West Vigo.

One senior packed the stat sheet, as Andrew Martin had a game-best six catches, one for a TD. He had both of the Athenians interceptions, returning one 42 yards..

He completed one pass for 21 yards and broke up a pass or two. He also returned a couple kickoffs.

“Andrew is a team leader,” Crawfordsville coach Kurt Schlicher said. “We rely and lean on all our seniors. We got Nathan Schroeter back from a basketball hand injury and Jack Pendleton also. Having those guys back will certainly help. These seniors are a very enjoyable group to work with.”

The Athenians, who drop to 0-2, took the opening possession 79 yards in 12 plays, finishing with a Kaiden Underwood 20-yard pass to Mikale Willis.

They took a 14-7 lead in the second quarter when Underwood found Martin open for an 18-yard strike.

But 14-14 was as good as it got, as the Vikings, who move to 2-0. found the end zone three times in the second half while keeping the home team out.

“We just couldn’t finish,” Schlicher said. “We were in position to make some more plays but didn’t finish. It’s disappointing. Little things in games like this make a huge difference. They made some winning plays in the second half.”

The Vikings also had the fortune of a couple bounces, as the 50-50 balls that basketball coaches talk about all went the visitors way.

They fumbled the ball four times, but recovered all four. One fumble bounced into a trailing runner’s hands and he went 46 yards for a score.

A defensive back tipped away a pass, and a teammate was there to finish the interception.

“We saw some real positives,”Schlicher noted. “We continue to learn and grow. We were better tonight that last week, and we all have to do our jobs a little better. We have some pieces that we are trying to put together. The plus on some guys missing the first two games due to injuries means some younger guys got some good varsity game experience.”

The sophomore quarterback, Underwood was 16-of-31 for 141 yards and the two TDs.

“There is lots to learn for him as well,” Schlicher said, “but he had some good throws. We have to get a running game to support the passing game. We can’t have him throwing 31 times every game. I thought we would run the ball better.”

The Athenians ran for 46 yards net. Kaigen Fields had 47 yards on 11 carries.

Crawfordsville finished with 209 yards total, compared to West Vigo’s 381. The Vikings ran for 190 and passed for 191. Two quarterbacks,  Nick Lindsey and Kaleb Marrs, combined to go 14-of-25. They each had a TD and Lindsey threw both picks.

Willis finished with four catches for 47 yards and one score. Fields caught four passes for 44 yards.

The Athenians converted only three third downs and had seven penalties to the Vikings nine.

“We forced four fumbles, but we have to finish that play,” Schlicher noted.”We are putting the time and work in, just like everyone, so now we just have to find a way to finish.”

The Athenians head into Sagamore Conference play next week when they play host to Western  Boone.

WEST VIGO 35, CRAWFORDSVILLE 14

West Vigo       7 7 14 7 - 35

Crawfordsville 6 8 0 0 - 14

Team Stats        WV CHS

First Downs          14 11

Rush Yards         190 46

Pass Yards        191 163

Total Yards      381 209

Turnovers           2    2

Penalties       9/85 7/47

Individual Stats

Rushing

West Vigo: Sholar9-62, Lowe 6-67, Shaffer 1-4, Marrs 8-12, McCalister 6-24, Lidsey 3-25, Team 1- (-14); Totals 34-190

Crawfordsville: Fields 11-47, Underwood 4 - (-1); Totals 15 - 46

Passing

West Vigo: Lindsey 5-9-82 1TD 2 Int, Marrs 9-16-109 1TD; Total14-25-191

Crawfordsville: Underwood 16-31-142 2TD 2 Int, Martin 1-1 21

Receiving

West Vigo: Wilbur 3-31, Sholar 4-56, Cinotto 1-40, Clerk 2-28 Barnes 2-23, Lowe 2-13; Totals 14-191

Crawfordsville: Martin 6-38, Willis 4-47, Powell 1-21, McLemore 1-1, Fields 4-44, Hernandez 1-6; Totals 17-163.

Scoring Summary

1st Quarter

CHS Underwood 20 yd pass to Willis (fail) 6:28

WV Lindsey 21 yard ru (Shaffer kick) 4:22

2nd Quarter

CHS Underwood 18 yard pass to Martin (Underwood pass to Martin) 10:18

WV McCalister 1 yard run (Shaffer kick) :06.2

3rd Quarter

WV Lowe 46 yard fumble return (Shaffer kick) 6:25

WV Lindsey 25 yard pass to Clerk (Shaffer kick) 3:05

4th Quarter

WV Marrs 14 yard pass to Wilbur (Shaffer kick) 3:14


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