COLONY — Southern Coffey County High head coach John Chanley figures Crest High — the Titans’ opening night opponent — is plenty good enough to win football games without any help.
But when you mix in five turnovers in the mix, you wind up with Friday’s result — a 30-point loss.
Crest coupled its strong defensive performance with a number of offensive highlights in a 44-14 win.
The victory came in the season-opener for both squads.
Southern Coffey County reached the scoreboard first, with a 14-yard touchdown pass from Colin Kraft to Scott Fischer that bounced off a Crest defender to Fischer, who knocked the ball back up into the air a second time before circling around and catching the rebound.
“We didn’t do a good job at that juncture of just knocking the ball down,” Crest head coach Brent Smith said. “But after that, we put everything together on defense after that.”
Crest responded quickly and methodically, its ensuing drive capped by a one-yard plunge by quarterback Kyle Hammond.
Jordan Morton followed with a three-yard touchdown run early in the second quarter to push the Lancers up 16-6.
Hammond sandwiched long touchdowns around halftime, first a 56-yard run late in the second quarter, then on an 76-yard kickoff return to open the third period.
“After that kickoff return it was a defensive struggle,” Chanley said. “But you could tell we were young. They got a lot of big plays because we were out of position, and you can’t do that against a good team like Crest.”
“We were able to make some big plays on defense,” Smith said. “And that’s not to take anything away from our offense. We did well at times, but we have some things we need to correct.”
Crest’s Luke Decker scored on a six-yard touchdown run midway through the fourth quarter before Morton and Byran Miller combined on a 16-yard touchdown pass to cap the Lancer scoring.
Kraft found Travis Bryan on a 35-yard touchdown pass with 3:15 left on the clock to complete the scoring for Southern Coffey County.
“It was a good night for football, with a great crowd,” Smith said.
Dakota Ramsey paced Crest with 116 yards on 16 carries, followed by hammond with 78 yards on 11 rushes. Decker chipped in with 77 yards on nine carries. Morton completed both of his pass attempts for 40 yards. Ramsey had a 24-yard reception and Miller pulled in a 16-yard pass. Thomas Dietrich had a handle in 17 tackles to go with a fumble recovery. Decker had 12 stops, Ramsey nine and Hammond, Dexter Wiley and Miller with five apiece. Wiley also had two interceptions, while Hammond and Ramsey had one pick apiece.
The Titans’ Kraft completed 12 of 26 passes for 126 yards along with a 28-yard reception. Aaron Ludolph snared five passes for 74 yards. Fischer had 23 yards on two receptions and 42 yards on two carries. Bryan rushed 11 times for 36 yards, while having a hand in 16 tackles, including six solos. Wes Callahan had five solo stops and four assists.
Crest travels to Altoona-Midway next Friday. Southern Coffey County hosts Waverly for its home opener and annual homecoming contest.
Southern Coffey Co. 6-0-0-8—14
Crest 8-16-6-14—44
SCC — Fischer 14 yd pass from Kraft (PAT failed)
Crest — Hammond 1 yd run (Wiley pass from Hammond)
Crest — Morton 3 yd run (Wiley pass from Hammond)
Crest — Hammond 76 yd kickoff return (PAT failed)
Crest — Decker 6 yd run (Ramsey run)
Crest — Miller 16 yd pass from Orton (PAT failed)
SCC — Bryan 36 yd pass from Kraft (True pass from Kraft)
