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The Paper photo by Lori Poteet
Crawfordsville
junior running back Craig Fairley rushed for a school-record 308 yards Friday
night. |
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| Football
Friday
At Crawfordsville
Crawfordsville 35, Tri-West
33
Tri-West 7 7 7 12 – 33
Crawfordsville 14 14 7 0 –
35
Scoring
First quarter: C – Craig Fairley 69 run (Matt Mummert
kick), 11:00; C – Craig Fairley 14 run (Matt Mummert kick), 4:36; TW – Jake
Allen 9 run (Drake Gadberry kick), 1:40
Second quarter: C – Craig Fairley
19 run (Matt Mummert kick), 8:43; TW – Jake Allen 15 pass to Micah Bruce (Drake
Gadberry kick), 5:51; C – Craig Fairley 3 run (Matt Mummert kick),
:57.5
Third quarter: TW – Caleb Ross 11 run (Drake Gadberry kick), 4:33;
C – Craig Fairley 34 run (Matt Mummert kick), 1:57
Fourth quarter: TW –
Caleb Ross 4 run (kick missed), 4:38; TW – Jake Allen 7 run (pass failed),
1:28
Team statistics TW C
First downs 15 16
Rushes (yds.)
29-134 35-310
Passing 19-27-216-1-1 7-16-95-0-1
Total yards 350
405
Fumbles (lost) 1-0 1-1
Penalties (yds.) 6-70
3-35
Records: Crawfordsville 4-2 (4-0 SAC), Tri-West 4-2 (2-2
SAC)
Individual statistics
Rushing: Tri-West – Caleb Ross 14-115,
Jake Allen 13-22, Jake Wright 1-2, Team 1-(-5). Crawfordsville – Craig Fairley
30-284, Jordan Boykin 3-25, Jordan Standefer 2-3.
Passing: Tri-West –
Jake Allen 19-27-216-1-1. Crawfordsville – Jordan Standefer
7-16-95-0-1.
Receiving: Tri-West – Joe Pierle 6-64, Jake Wright 5-56,
Brock Sellers 2-30, Caleb Ross 3-23, John Frederick 1-22, Micah Bruce 2-21.
Crawfordsville – Brett McKinney 5-88, Brett Linn 2-7.
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Reprinted Courtesy of:
The Paper of Montgomery County
thepaper24-7.com
By John
Groth
Sports
Editor
Junior
Craig Fairley may get all the limelight after Crawfordsville’s latest
win.
For the second straight year, the junior running back managed to set
the Athenians’ school rushing yards record under a patchwork offensive line.
Frustrated after being held to under 100 yards and his lowest rushing
total of the season in last week’s stunning loss to Beech Grove, Fairley and the
Athenians’ offensive line recommitted themselves to power run game Friday night.
So he’s not taking the credit. Nor should he.
Fairley rushed for
a school-record 308 yards and scored five touchdowns but the Athenians needed
John Rogers’ pressure to force a Tri-West senior quarterback Jake Allen into a
missed two-point conversion with under a minute remaining for a 35-33 win.
“I was just unhappy. I wanted to prove I could do a lot better than what
I should,” said Fairley, who broke his rushing record by two yards after having
305 in last year’s Homecoming game against Beech Grove. “The line controlled
everything up front. They always do. They did a great job tonight and got great
blocking. With Jordan (Standefer) back (at quarterback) and him throwing the
deep ball, it helps the run game. Our wide receivers blocked really great, too.”
Crawfordsville (4-2, 4-0 SAC) survived a late-game defensive collapse
and still shares the top spot in the conference standings with county-rival
North Montgomery (6-0, 4-0 SAC).
North Montgomery blew out conference
foe Lebanon 52-12 Friday night to stay right with its county foe.
But
this week, when the Athenians needed their defense to hold on, they responded –
in game-saving fashion.
Fairley rushed for 200 yards and scored four of
his five touchdowns in the first half – including his longest – a 69-yard score
– on the second play of the game.
He also had touchdown runs of 14, 19,
3 and 34 yards – with his final one coming near the end of the third quarter.
Crawfordsville coach Rex Ryker planned on getting the Athenians back to
their old style of football and dominating with the run game.
“We
brought back a couple of power run plays,” Ryker said. “We take great pride in
being able to run the ball and to run in a physical fashion. We did that
tonight. It was more enjoyable to watch than big run after big
run.”
Crawfordsville led 28-14 at half, then 35-21 at the end of the
third quarter and it looked like the Athenians would rush the game
away.
But just like last year, when Crawfordsville rallied from a
14-point second-half deficit and won on Matt Mummert’s field goal with 1.5
seconds left, this game came down to the final minutes.
This time, it was
Tri-West (4-2, 2-2 SAC) who made the rally.
Trailing by 14 and deep into
the fourth quarter, the Bruins scored twice in the final five minutes.
Senior running back Caleb Ross (14 carries, 115 yards) scored on a
four-yard run with 4:38 left to cut the lead to 35-27 after the extra point
clanged off the front right upright. It proved to be a costly miss.
Tri-West recovered the ensuing onside kick after the ball bounced in and
out of a Crawfordsville player’s hands and Allen (20-of-28, 216 yards) led the
Bruins downfield
He completed a seven-play, 56-yard drive with a
seven-yard rushing touchdown to pull the Bruins within 35-33 with 1:28
remaining.
They had to go for two.
After calling timeout, the
Bruins set up the play. As they line up, Rogers remembered what Ryker had been
drilling the Athenians’ defense on all week – their checklist of
responsibility.
Rogers noticed no one was on him and he had a free path
to the quarterback.
After the snap, he chased after Allen on the right
side forcing him to scramble to his left and throw an incomplete pass well short
of the goal line.
“Coach (Ryker) was talking to us all week about our
checklist of responsibility,” Rogers said. “I manned up and didn’t have any
responsibility. I just went after the quarterback.”
Ryker acknowledged
Rogers plays with that kind of intensity and energy every play.
“John
Rogers plays with nothing but heart,” Ryker said. “He has earned his position
and plays with everything he has. He’s the kind of kid that coaches wish they
could more of.
“He made a couple plays out there just out of pure
effort.”
Crawfordsville next plays conference rival Lebanon at 7 p.m.
next Friday in its Homecoming game.
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