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for hard-fighting Dogs
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| LOOKING FOR RUNNING ROOM- Jorden Lowe (8) looks for running room as he turns up field last Friday in Crawford. The Dogs lost 12-33 to the powerful Pirates. Lowe had 52 yards rushing, but also added 69 yards on three kickoff returns. Also identifiable for the Dogs in the above picture is fullback Jackson Besheaers (1). Staff Photo |
The Crawford Pirates damaged the Hamilton Bulldogs’ playoff hopes with a 33-12 drubbing of the Dogs in front of a large crowd in Crawford Friday night.
The loss drops the Bulldogs to 1-2 in District 21-AA play and makes victories in the Dogs’ final two regular season games imperative. After three weeks of play upstart Clifton is ruling the roost with a 3-0 ledger, but still must face Hamilton and McGregor. Crawford and McGregor are each 2-1. Three teams will advance to the playoffs.
Although the 33-12 score in Friday night’s contest looks a little lopsided, this was a spirited, hard-played game that really wasn’t decided until the fourth quarter. In the final analysis, however, it was a strong Pirate running game against a banged-up Bulldog defense that spelled the differ-ence. Hamilton played most of the second half without the services of two of its starting linebackers, Truman Baize and Mason Burke, who both sustained injuries in the contest.
With those two watching from the sidelines, the Pirates were able to break a number of long gains right up the middle of the Hamilton defense. Crawford finished the game with 399 yards rushing, in-cluding a 218-yard output by 6’3, 210-pound senior Brock Duncan, and a 142-yard, five- touchdown performance by senior running back Jordan Farmer.
The Hamilton offense started slowly, but put in a stellar performance in the second half to finish the game with 236 rushing yards and 46 yards through the air. The Bulldogs were playing under the stewardship of sophomore Keaton Muxworthy who took over at quarterback from John Galindo after Galindo was suspended at mid-week for violation of team rules. Mux-worthy turned in an admirable job under the circumstances, including a perfectly thrown touchdown pass in the third quarter.
In the loss, the Bulldogs displayed an intensity level that might have been the highest of the season and a couple of plays may well have spelled the difference. Hamilton had one touchdown called back due to a holding penalty and lost another golden opportunity on a fumble at the Crawford one-yard line.
The first quarter saw a defensive struggle with neither team able to sustain a drive. In fact, there were a total of six punts in the first half, three by each team. But Crawford finally got rolling in the second period. The first promising Pirate drive racked up a couple of first downs and moved to the Hamilton 18-yard line before the Dogs forced a fumble on an option play which Jorden Lowe pounced on for the visiting Bulldogs.
A few minutes later, how-ever, the Pirates regained possession at their own 45-yard line and set sail on the first scoring drive of the evening. The big play in this march came on a sweep around right end by Farmer that carried for 33 yards and the touchdown. Casey Bennett tacked on the extra point to give Crawford a 7-0 lead with just less than three minutes to go before intermission.
Things quickly got worse for Hamilton when punter Keith Gardner was unable to handle a low snap and was thrown for a 13-yard loss, giving Crawford great field position at the Hamilton 19-yard line.
The Pirates needed only two plays to score and again Farmer did the honors with another sweep, this time a 16-yarder around left end with 44 seconds left in the half. Bennett’s extra point kick sent the Pirates to the lockers with a 14-0 lead.
The Bulldogs opened the third quarter with their first real offensive success of the contest. Lowe got the Dogs off to a good start by returning the kickoff 26 yards to the 43-yard line, and then the senior halfback found an opening for a 17-yard gain on the first play of the drive. Burke, who moved back to a fullback spot from tight end in the absence of Ethan Brown who missed the game due to illness, busted a run up the middle for 15 yards on the next play.
Five plays later, Muxworthy went to the air for the first time in the game, and hit Gardner with a perfectly thrown spiral in the corner of the end zone for an 11-yard touchdown completion. Abby Lozano’s extra point attempt was blocked, leaving the score 14-6.
Crawford responded like a champion, however, as the Pirates retaliated with a 65-yard, four-play scoring drive of their own. Farmer scored his third TD of the night on a 41- yard scamper over right guard.
The Bulldogs looked like they would come right back with another score after Lowe again contributed an out-standing kickoff return from his own 16 to the Crawford 47. A 15-yard facemask infraction set the Dogs up at the Crawford 32-yard line.
After an eight-yard loss, Garet Box sped 23 yards to the Pirate 16-yard line. Jackson Beshears added six more yards up the middle and three plays later Lowe rounded left end for an apparent nine-yard touchdown run. However, a holding penalty cost the Bulldogs the six points and two plays later Lowe lost control of the ball as he battled to reach the end zone, turning it over to Crawford at the one-yard line.
On first down, Duncan broke the Bulldogs’ spirits by sailing 77 yards all the way to the Hamilton 23 before Jordan Ernstes caught him from behind. A 15-yard sideline infraction against the Dogs set Crawford up at the Hamilton eight, and two plays later Duncan got the score on a four-yard dive.
The Bulldogs were not giving up without a fight, however, and mounted a 70- yard, 13-play scoring drive to cut the score 27-12 midway through the final period. Seth LeBlanc provided much of the spark on the march with gains of 13, nine and seven yards and Box added a 10-yard run and another for eight yards and the score. A two-point conversion attempt was stopped short.
Hamilton again moved the ball well on its next possession, including a nice 32-yard pass play from Muxworthy to James Ratliff, who out-battled two defenders for the ball. But after getting as far as the Crawford 32-yard line, the drive faltered when a Muxworthy pass was picked off by Jacob Blancett at the 25-yard line.
Crawford tacked on its final score after Duncan broke free for another long gain, this time for 60 yards. The score came on a two-yard run by Farmer with a minute left on the clock.
LeBlanc paced the rushing game for Hamilton with 61 yards on eight carries, followed by Lowe with 52 yards on 11 rushes and Box with 46 yards in 13 tries.
On defense, the Bulldog tackle chart was topped by three players with eight stops each- Box, LeBlanc and Maycon Stork.