The Athenians found themselves in a 6-0 hole at halftime at Parke Heritage on Friday. But a solid second half enabled Crawfordsville to beat the Wolves 14-6.
The score was knotted at 0-0 until a late second quarter touchdown by Parke Heritage gave the Wolves a 6-0 advantage at the break.
Crawfordsville Coach Brad Clark said his team played well in the first half, but penalties and miscues kept them out of the end zone.
Seeing his team’s first half performance, Clark said it was little things they needed to correct in the second half.
“We did not play poorly in the first half,” Clark said. “We used halftime to talk about eliminating little mistakes and the players understood. There was no panic that we were behind, they had confidence they could come back and win the game.”
Crawfordsville’s defense stepped up and shut down the Wolves offense and the Athenian offense got on track thanks to speedster Mason McCarty.
McCarty scored twice including an 88-yard sweep to ice the game.
“Mason gives us speed and especially around the edge,” Clark said. “He showed his speed on the sweep. He gives us a weapon in the backfield.”
Clark was pleased his squad was able to fight back to earn the victory.
“Our kids responded with a much better performance in the second half to win a great game,” Clark said.
The Athenians will host Fountain Central on Friday.
