LIZTON — Crawfordsville football suited up for the 1,000th time in school history Friday night. The game played at Tri-West though was dominated by the Sagamore Conference leading Bruins in a 41-0 senior night win.
Tri-West jumped to an early lead behind a 58-yard touchdown run from Malachi Walden, before Walden found Thad Brown on a 4-yard score to put the Bruins up 14-0 after a quarter.
The Athenians (0-8, 0-6 SAC) found a pass rush in the first half, but Tri-West’s backs found running lanes. The Bruins rushed the ball 13 times for 176 yards in the first half. Brady Hamstra led Tri-West with 92 yards on nine carries for the game, as the Bruins totaled 235 rushing yards on 25 carries. Nolan Cooper had four carries for 43 yards and two scores.
“I thought our defense played for the most part, pretty well,” Crawfordsville coach Brad Clark said. “We knew their offensive and defensive lines were good. We tried to blitz and bring pressure a little bit.”
On the other side of the ball, the Athenians were able to move the ball in the first half with quick passes. Kaden Patton coupled with a trick play completion from Sam Minnette completed 12-of-17 passes in the first half for 108 yards.
“That front four is as good as we are going to see and our plan was to try and get the ball out quick, and I thought for the most part we did well, just taking what they were giving us,” Clark added.
Max Robertson returned the opening kick-off of the second half back for the touchdown, while a pair of Kellan Dakin interceptions, including one for a score, pushed the Tri-West lead to 41-0 in the third quarter.
For the game, Tri-West (7-1, 6-0 SAC), outgained Crawfordsville 321-236. The biggest difference came on the ground. The Athenians managed just 48 yards on 22 carries.
“It’s hard to do if you’re not consistent running the football,” Clark said. “Once you get down there, if you can run the ball, it makes it a little easier. It’s just something we have to work on, running the ball in the critical situations and short-yardage situations, and we have to be better there.”
Ethan McLemore led the Athenian offense with 157 yards on 10 catches.
After the loss, Clark spoke to the long history of Crawfordsville football.
“Crawfordsville athletics has been around a long time, and for the football program to have played 1,000 games is pretty cool,” he said. “It’s just fun to be a part of that, and a lot of people have poured into this program for a long time, and hopefully the next thousand can be successful and we can be a big part of that.”
Tri-West will look to secure the outright league title with a trip to Southmont next week, while Crawfordsville welcomes Frankfort.
