Short-Handed Cardinals get run over by North Crawford

By John Dalton

The North Crawford Trojans rushed the ball for over 300 yards on Saturday at Highland’s Homecoming game, defensively held the Cardinals to under 100 total yards, and easily defeated Highland 50-8 on a breezy afternoon for football.  

Highland kicked off to the Trojans to begin the game and it didn’t take long for the running game of North Crawford to kick in.  Two minutes into the game, Trojan Quarterback Cullen Jacobus scored on a 36-yard run to take a 6-0 lead. 

After Highland had to turn the ball over to North Crawford on its first possession, the Trojans wasted little time. This time Jacobus scrambled to his right and found receiver Damien McCormick on a short pass, McCormick then zigged and zagged 44 yards through the Cardinal defense for a touchdown.  After a failed two-point attempt, the Trojans led 12-0 with 4:26 left in the first quarter.

Fourteen seconds later, North Crawford went up 18-0 when Highland’s Brady Nankey fumbled the ball on second down, which was scooped up by Jacobus and he took it to the house 43 yards for the TD.  

With injuries to key Highland players who did not suit up, North Crawford took advantage and scored three more touchdowns in the second quarter.  Jacobus rushed for a touchdown, threw a 17-yard touchdown pass Gaven Tamling, and Landry Stluka scored on a 16-yard run for a 38-0 halftime lead.  “As a team, we had to move some guys into new positions due to some injuries, but that is just the reality of playing football in a small school. We will not feel sorry for ourselves,” said Highland Head Coach Jason Scanlan.  

Offensively in the third quarter, Highland finally reached paydirt when Nankey raced 71 yards for a touchdown while Jack Tarrell ran it in for the two-point conversion making it 44-8.  

“Unfortunately, we ran into a buzzsaw on Saturday. North Crawford has a very talented team. We knew we would have to execute at a high level to overcome our injuries and inexperience at some key positions.  We could not do that, as we struggled on the line of scrimmage, both offensively and defensively.   We also turned the ball over three times, including one that was returned for a touchdown.  We did not generate enough offense to put our defense in a good position to make it hard on the North Crawford offense,” Scanlan said.  

Despite the lopsided result, Scanlan said, “There were a few bright spots. Brady Nankey turned in another strong performance on defense, with 13 tackles, and Tanner Degenhardt was a wrecking ball on the defensive line with a team-high 14 tackles. The defense was well-prepared and was in position to make plays, but we still need to improve our tackling and get more guys flying to the ball. Their best players did what good players do - creating big plays that turned the momentum of the game in their favor.”  

Highland is now 4-2 in the Ridge and Valley-8 Conference, 5-2 overall.  North Crawford remains undefeated at 6-0 (7-0).  Belmont is 5-1 (6-1).  Highland will travel to DeSoto this Friday, who is also 4-2 in the conference.  

Coach Scanlan expects his team to have a short memory and move on.  “We will regroup and put another good week of practice together to prepare for a big challenge, travelling to play a good DeSoto team on their infamous home field, "the Pit", he said.  “It will be a good test to see what we are made of. As coaches, we fully expect our guys to rally together and fight for a chance to earn a playoff berth in DeSoto on Friday night.”

Game time is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.