Crestwood football team annihilates Forest City

CRESCO - The Class 2A No. 7 Crestwood varsity football team proved justified in its top 10 ranking by crushing the Forest City Indians, 49-9, on Friday, Sept. 25 during its homecoming contest.

The win improved Crestwood’s overall mark to 5-0 and 2-0 in Class 2A District 3. Forest City fell to 0-5 and 0-2. The Cadets will host North Fayette Valley on Friday, Oct. 2 at 7:30 p.m. The freshman/sophomore game will start at 5 p.m. on Oct. 2.

Crestwood snagged an early 7-0 lead on a five-yard touchdown run by Lux Smith with 8:51 left in the first, but the Indians responded quickly by returning the kickoff to the Cadets’ 17-yard line. One play later, Forest City connected on a 15-yard touchdown pass from Miles Douglas to Colin Thompson at the 7:51 mark to tie the game at seven-all.

Fortunately for the Cadets and their fans, it was all Crestwood after that as the Cadets tacked on two more touchdowns in the first period and two more in the second to take a commanding 35-7 halftime lead on their way to a convincing win.

Crestwood Head Coach Justin Denner said the Cadets still need to clean up a few mistakes, but overall, he was proud of his team’s effort.

“Our kickoff team still needs to get better,” Denner said. “That was one element among our special teams which wasn’t great, but we executed well overall.

“Anytime you put up almost 50 points on the scoreboard, you can’t be too angry right away. I’m really proud of our guys with the way they handled everything this week, including homecoming week. We’ve got a gauntlet (of tough games) coming up, so we’ve just got to continue to improve.

“Offensively, we had the ability to do a lot of different things, and we took advantage of that. Alex Loden and Caleb Holzer both had great games. Our (offensive and defensive) lines played well. We can still get better at a few things.

“It was great to get Nate Mahr back (after an injury earlier this year), which will help add to our offense. Defensively, we knew we’d have opportunities (for interceptions) because of how often Forest City throws the ball. They’ve got some good players who made plays, but we’ve also got some good players who made plays. 

“It was great to see some of our younger guys contribute. Carver Butikofer made a good play to stop a Forest City drive late, and Owen Chatfield made a pick (interception) late. It was great to see our guys get into the game and have success,” Denner said.