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The Paper photo by Lori Poteet
Athenians’ senior
wide reciever Brett Linn caught a team-high four passes for 17
yards. |
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| Football
Friday
At
Crawfordsville
Lebanon 14, Crawfordsville 7
Lebanon 0 0 0 14 –
14
Crawfordsville 0 7 0 0 – 7
Scoring
Second quarter: C –
Craig Fairley 58 run (Matt Mummert kick), 6:49
Fourth quarter: L – Andrew
Stevens 1 run (Jesse Boley kick), 10:40; L – Matt Beard 59 run (Jesse Boley
kick), 5:16
Team statistics L C
First downs 11 9
Rushes
(yds.) 51-258 36-159
Passing 1-5-13-0-1 8-18-63-0-1
Total yards
271 222
Fumbles (lost) 2-2 2-1
Penalties (yds.) 5-50
7-50
Records: Crawfordsville 4-3 (4-1 SAC), Lebanon 3-4 (3-2
SAC)
Individual statistics
Rushing: Lebanon – Andrew Stevens
24-125, Matt Beard 9-72, Kameryn Wright 17-60, Jon Sickels 1-1. Crawfordsville –
Craig Fairley 26-124, Brett McKinney 5-26, Jordan Boykin 4-8, Brett Linn
1-1.
Passing: Lebanon – Matt Beard 1-5-13-0-1. Crawfordsville – Brett
McKinney 8-18-63-0-1.
Receiving: Lebanon – Austin Swafford 1-13.
Crawfordsville – Jacob Corbin 2-31, Brett Linn 4-17, Jordan Boykin 1-12, Craig
Fairley 1-3.
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Reprinted Courtesy of:
The Paper of Montgomery County
www.thepaper24-7.com
By John
Groth
Sports
Editor
Brett
McKinney’s head was still spinning.
He’s had a whirlwind of a last two
days.
With junior quarterback Jordan Standefer suspended for the rest of
the season late this week and only a day and a half to get readjusted to
quarterback, the Crawfordsville High School senior never settled into a comfort
level Friday night.
Neither did the Athenians’ offense – especially with
Lebanon defenders ganging up on them all night.
Crawfordsville gained
only 222 yards and scored just one touchdown as Sagamore Athletic Conference
rival Lebanon rallied for a 14-7 road victory.
“I feel like we’re
stronger having a third receiver play the slot,” said McKinney, who moved from
wide receiver back to quarterback late this week. He went 8-of-18 for 63 yards
along with one interception. “It meant more strain on my brain to have to go
back and know where people are. It was really tough.”
Crawfordsville
(4-3. 4-1 SAC) fell out of a tie with county-rival and Class 3A No. 6 North
Montgomery (7-0, 5-0 SAC) for the top spot in the conference
standings.
North Montgomery defeated conference rival Danville 36-6
Friday night, spoiling the Warriors’ homecoming.
Although the Athenians
lost, next week’s county- and conference match-up will still give them a
conference showdown.
With a victory, North Montgomery can win the
conference title outright. But if Crawfordsville wins, then the Athenians and
Chargers could end up sharing the title.
Crawfordsville defeated North
Montgomery 33-14 in last year’s meeting and went on to win the county
championship.
“We’ve upped the ante,” Crawfordsville coach Rex Ryker
said. “We know North and North knows us. It’s awesome playing for more than just
county bragging rights.”
Crawfordsville’s defense played better against
Lebanon (3-4, 3-2 SAC) – especially after it survived a 38-35 victory over
conference foe Tri-West last week.
The Athenians forced the Tigers into
three turnovers, including two first-half fumbles, and limited them to 271 total
yards.
But Crawfordsville couldn’t convert those turnovers to points,
scoring only one touchdown off of them.
“It’s especially disappointing
when the defense is playing so hard,” McKinney said. “We worked so hard for
standing those guys up and getting those fumbles.
“When you can’t get
first down yardage on your bread-and-butter plays up the middle, it’s
(frustrating). Our defense played extremely well.”
Crawfordsville took a
7-0 lead on junior running back Craig Fairley’s 58-yard second-quarter touchdown
run and clung to it until the fourth quarter. Fairley was held in check most of
the night, gaining 124 yards on 26 carries.
“We had no movement
whatsoever on the (offensive line),” McKinney said. “I’d hand the ball off and
four to five white shirts would be around (Craig). We weren’t getting any push
with the line.”
With just under 11 minutes to go, the Tigers moved the
ball inside the Crawfordsville five-yard line and it looked like they’d easily
score.
But the Athenians’ defense nearly held for a goal-line stand,
before senior running back Andrew Stevens scored from a yard out to tie the game
at 7-7.
After Crawfordsville drove downfield and was stopped on a
fourth-and-four at the Lebanon 17-yard line, the Tigers broke a big offensive
play.
Sophomore quarterback Matt Beard rushed for a 59-yard touchdown
with 5:16 remaining and Lebanon went up 14-7.
Crawfordsville drove the
ball again inside Lebanon territory to the Tigers’ 35-yard line, but Lebanon
junior Nick Doyle intercepted McKinney with just over two minutes left to seal
the game.
“We did not control the line of scrimmage, therefore we did
not win,” Ryker said. “
Now Crawfordsville awaits its key county- and
conference rivalry game – the first of two in the final two weeks.
“This
is a big game coming up (against North Montgomery),” McKinney said. “I expect us
to fix what we did tonight. We’ll fix that, that’s for sure.”
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