VEEDERSBURG — Crawfordsville football simply had no answer for Fountain Central duo of Owen Acton and Dawson Blue during Friday night’s 28-12 loss. From the opening snap, the Mustangs marched down the field with their two-headed monster in the backfield and immediately put up seven points on a four-yard score by Blue. For the game the Mustangs ran for 287 yards on 41 carries. Blue ran for 144 yards and three scores while Acton added 125 yards.
Mustang coach Herb King made sure another unit got their much deserved credit in the win.
“Our offensive line dominated the football game,” King said. “We blocked well up front for the most part. Every drive tonight for was consistent and those guys up front were opening up running lanes left and right. We passed the ball when we needed to and I thought Eli (Foxworthy) was composed and threw it well. He gives us that dimension that we’re going to need going forward.”
Fountain Central (1-1) had 17 first downs in the ball game as they kept control of the football and dominated the time of possession.
Crawfordsville (0-2) was able to move the ball fairly well on the night tallying 302 total yards but could never seem to build momentum. Trailing 22-6 late in the second quarter, Cville recovered a fumble but was unable to capitalize. After the Athenians made it 22-12 late in the third quarter on a three yard score from Anthony Lee which was set up by a big 64 yard run from Braeden Hites, FC answered right back as Blue dashed up the middle and ran 55 yards un-touched for the final score of the ball game.
Athenian coach Brad Clark fell on the sword and took the blame after his team dropped its second straight to begin the season.
“All the credit goes to FC and that offensive line and those backs,” Clark said. “I did a poor job of getting us prepared this week. We knew all week that’s what we were going to see and this is the second week in a row that we got off to a slow start and came not ready to play. We just dug ourselves a hole we couldn’t get out of.”
Cville signal caller Kaden Patton ended the night just 12-30 through the air for 163 yards. He found his favorite target Ethan McLemore seven times for 80 yards. On the ground Hites carried the ball six times for 85 yards while both Patton and Lee had 21 yards on seven carries each.
“Braeden played well and showed us what he’s capable of and that came as no surprise to us,” Clark said of his junior running back. “He’s shown that type of motor in practice for us. Anytime you get downhill runs like the one he had tonight, that’s fun to watch.”
With having two dynamic backs like the Mustangs do, it allows them to keep defenses on their toes. Acton usually does the heavy lifting with his 6’3 210 frame. Blue isn’t no slouch either as he sits at 6’2 180.
“Dawson is really a dual threat for us because we like to play his as more of a receiver,” King said. “He chose his spots really well tonight and his long TD run was blazing fast. Own is just that big physical kid who we know can go in the trenches and get the tough yards when we need them and he converted a lot of third and shorts for us when we needed to keep drives alive.”
Both teams begin conference play next week with the Athenians opening up Sagamore Conference play on the road against Western Boone (2-0) while the Mustangs will begin Wabash River Conference play back at home against Riverton Parke (1-1).
“We got several games early on that we didn’t get last season that we want back,” King said of the schedule the next few weeks. “We want to continue to roll the ball forward and keep progressing. We’re playing better than we were last year and the kids know that.”
