The drought’s over.”

Those were the first words from Crawford County football coach Nick Stroud Friday night after his team won their first game since September 10th, 2021, besting the Generals of visiting Clarksville by a 24-16 decision. It was a game where the Wolfpack had done their homework beforehand and it paid in dividends.

“Finally,” said Stroud. “They’ve earned it. They really have. I guarantee you that was the most boring game as a fan but we were locked in and focused the whole game. This is the best energy I’ve ever seen out of these guys so I’m really proud of them.”

It was the Generals, however, who got the game started with the first touchdown of the night. Clarksville started on their own 33 yard line following the kickoff and ran eleven plays before Keshaun Muckle ran the ball in from two yards out for six. Josh Hall ran in the for the conversion and the Generals had an 8-0 lead.

It didn’t take long for the Wolfpack to answer. Clarksville attempted an onside kick and Crawford immediately fell on the ball on the 47 yard line. With the exception of one failed pass attempt the Wolfpack kept the ball on the ground. It took just six plays for Crawford to hit paydirt with Brody Fish throwing to Bary Peppers for a 33-yard strike and six points. Conner Morgan completed the conversion and the scored was tied at eight at the end of the first period.

“North Harrison is always the smash-mouth so that’s what we watched,” said Stroud. “We also got the Greenfield-Central (film) to see how they did the spread. We knew coming into the game we were going to run it down their mouth. It worked out well. We were able to control the clock. I think we had five or six possessions the whole game. So that was the game plan, just run the clock.”

The Wolfpack had possession to start the second half starting on the 41 yard line. Again the Wolfpack moved the ball on the ground. Penalties moved the ball back and forth but the Wolfpack moved the ball down to the five yard line. From there Kaidyn Messer carried the ball in for six and the Wolfpack had their lead of the season.

Crawford’s defense forced the Generals to give up the ball on their next possession at the start of the fourth quarter. The Wolfpack bulldozed their way downfield, again to the five yard line. From there quarterback Brody Fish kept the ball and ran in to score, Morgan getting the conversion for a 24-8 lead with 1:23 left in the game. The General managed a final touchdown when Jacob Corbett threw to Cordae Clay in the final seconds leading to the final 24-16 score and a big ice water bath for Stroud from his team.

“I think the weight is lifted,” said the Crawford coach. “This junior class hasn’t got a win their who entire career … I’m hoping we can really snowball it from here. I love how the students and the fans reacted to it. It was awesome.”

Stroud said the coaching staff brought in some new plays for their team that their players took to heart to make a difference. Messer, Morgan, and Isaac Adams made the plays work.

“We implemented that wishbone formation a couple of weeks ago against Valley because we knew it was going to be muddy and we had some success against the Valley team that’s really, really good,” Stroud said. “So we used it against Paoli and against West Washington, so we knew we could run it well. They’re big bodied and hard to bring down. They’re perfect for that formation.”

“I was hoping it would happen sooner but we’ll take it when we can get it,” said Stroud of he win. “I take pride in playing football, especially in Crawford County. So getting any win, first win, last win, won’t matter. It will feel just as good. But the first one is especially special.”

Clarksville 8 0 0 8 — 16

Crawford County 8 0 8 8 — 24

Clarksville-Keshaun Muckle 2 yd run (Josh Hall conv.); Crawford County-Bary Peppers from Brody Fish 33 yds (Conner Morgan conv.); Crawford County-Kaidyn Messer 5 yd run (Messer conv.); Crawford County-Fish 5 yd run (Messer conv); Cordae Clay from Jacob Corbett 15 yds (Hall conv.)

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