Crawfordsville football wasn’t going to let its 12 seniors down. Friday Cville concluded the regular season in convincing fashion when they hosted the Frankfort Hot Dogs in what could only be described as a very soggy evening with rain pouring down most of the game. The Athenians dominated the game and by halftime led 44-0 on their way to what ended up being a 44-12 senior night victory. Not only was it a senior night win for CHS, but it was also their first win of the season as the Athenians finish the regular season at 1-8 (1-6 SAC).
To showcase how dominating the game was for CHS, they led 34-0 after the opening quarter. A large part in that was the Hot Dogs turning the football over and not being able to handle the wet football. There were countless muffs and mis-handled snaps which allowed the Athenians to hold Frankfort to -16 total yards in the first half.
“It feels extra special to do this on senior night,” Crawfordsville coach Brad Clark said after the win. “This group of seniors have been super committed to this program for the last four years. Our guys wanted to get this one for all 12 of those guys and to do it in these conditions makes it even more sweeter. You could feel the energy this week in the locker room and at practice. I’m not surprised with how our kids came out and competed tonight and am just super proud of all of them.”
Crawfordsville got on the board at the 8:35 mark of the opening quarter when Braeden Hites scored on a 17-yard run. Just one minute and 24 seconds later Cville scored again thanks to senior Ethan McLemore’s pick six. At the 5:01 mark Hites got his second rushing TD of the night on a 15 yard score. Antony Lee made it 27-0 on a five-yard run. Just 25 second later after another Cville interception, Hites burst down the right sideline all the way for a 48-yard score to cap off a three touchdown night.
Sam Minnette caught a 10-yard pass from Kaden Patton to make the score 41-0 and the in the final minute of the first half Dylan Wolcott drilled a 36 yard field goal to make the score 44-0.
Crawfordsville ended the night with 137 rushing yards which is a season-high for the team. Hites led the way with 92 yards on just nine carries and the three TD’s. Lee added 24 yards on four carries. The ground game had been a struggle for CHS all season long, but in the rainy conditions, Clark knew that his ground attack would have to help carry the load.
“We really challenged our offensive line this week and told them that is going to be up to them if we wanted to win this game,” Clark said. “We knew when the weather got nasty we were going to have to run the football. They responded very well to that challenge. Our backs did a nice job following them tonight and our o-line is a big reason why we came out on top.”
Crawfordsville now has the momentum they’ve been seeking all season long as they now turn their focus to the Class 3A Sectional 29 tournament. Cville will travel to Speedway to take on the Sparkplugs a team that is one of the two non SAC teams in the sectional.
“There’s plenty of things to be excited about after tonight,” Clark said. “I’ve got to tip our cap to our JV and told them go out and their season on a high note tomorrow too. It’d be three straight wins for them. We’ve built a lot of momentum and excitement with how we played tonight. It’s going to be an exciting week of practice as we’re prepping for Speedway who is a new opponent and someone we haven’t seen before. We’ll be playing for our season at that point and I think our guys will be up to the challenge.”
