A county rivalry usually brings out the best in both teams. On Friday Southmont made the trip to take on Crawfordsville needing a victory to stay unbeaten and also clinch the county title. After a quarter of play the Athenians held their own and trailed just 6-0. Then the Mounties clicked in the second quarter scoring 20 points to take a commanding 26-0 lead into halftime. Then the script completely flipped as the Athenians forced a fumble on the opening kickoff and immediately scored on a 28 yd pass to Ethan McLemore. Penalties and a few Mountie turnovers kept CHS in the game till the very end, but the offense was just unable to complete the comeback as South ended up with a 26-13 victory and claimed the county title.
“Fortunately we were able to get the win and accomplish the three things we wanted to of being 5-0 on the season, 3-0 in conference and winning county,” Southmont coach Desson Hannum said. “18 penalties overall, when you’re doing that you’re going to put yourself in a very difficult situation and that’s what happened. We did have a good second quarter and thought we’d be able to put them away in the second half but that wasn’t the case. It was very un-characteristic game for us tonight.”
Wyatt Woodall carried the ball for 117 yards and scored two touchdowns in the Southmont win. The Mounties as a team tallied 284 yards, 197 of that coming on the ground.
Crawfordsville forced two interception by Scott, both fell into the hands of Anthony Lee after they were tipped into the air. Cville signal caller AJ Hall ended the game 12-20 for 111 yards and two touchdowns. Senior receiver Kaiden Underwood hauled in the other score late in the third quarter to make the score 26-13.
Crawfordsville coach Brad Clark thought his team battled the storm very well when they were faced with adversity but just weren’t able to put four good quarters together in the loss.
“We looked at this game as a great opportunity to play a really great team after having a rough last two week,” he said. “Our message all week to our guys was how were they going to respond to adversity and what they do when things get tough tells us who we really are. Our guys took that to heart and played a great second half. We just have to find a way to play that way for four quarters.”
Hannum credited the Athenians for their second half performance, but also knows the challenging schedule that awaits his team. He mentions how if they play the way they did tonight, they’ll be in trouble very quickly.
“Crawfordsville’s weapons on the outside worried me a little coming into the game and they made some nice plays for them,” he said. “Thats a testament to their kids and the way coach Clark has them playing. I think tonight we were able to just enough in order to win. Moving forward we have to be much more disciplined because we’re getting ready to start the gauntlet of our schedule.”
Crawfordsville (2-3, 0-3 SAC) and Clark set out one of their goals for the season to be more competitive in these big time county and conference games. While it was a loss for his team, the Athenians showed grit and determination when they could’ve backed down after getting dominated in the first half.
“No one likes to lose, but we competed hard against a very good Southmont team,” Clark said. “That was one of the goals that we set out in the pre-season for this group was to compete in these games and to start competing for county championships. In that aspect we did take step in that direction tonight.”
The Athenians have a quick turnaround for next week as they travel to take their other county rival in North Montgomery (2-3, 0-3 SAC). It will be another test and challenge for the Athenians to prove how they’ve grown as a program as they take on the always physical Chargers.
“North always poises a challenge because of how physical they are,” Clark said of North Montgomery. “If you can’t get excited for that game then I don’t know what gets your blood pumping. Tonight was a great game for the fans and our community and I expect our guys to have a great week of practice and come out and have a great game next week.”
Southmont (5-0, 3-0 SAC) will begin their challenging gauntlet as they will host Danville (2-3 1-2 SAC).
“18 penalties against Danville will get you beat pretty bad,” Hannum said. “I think we have to understand especially moving forward that our margin for error isn’t as wide as we think it is sometimes. Going forward we’re going to have be locked in and control both our attitude and effort.”
