The Pirates scored on their first three possessions in the first quarter against Jarrell and made Delbert Kelm a winner in his head coaching debut as Crawford rolled to a 42-12 win Friday night at Cougar Field.
“They just physically whipped us,” Jarrell coach Randy Franklin said. “They’re very disciplined, well-coached and are more seasoned than us.”
After taking over at Jarrell’s 42-yard line, Crawford needed only five plays and less than two minutes before Jordan Farmer scored on a 5-yard run with 8:15 left in the first quarter.
On their second possession, the Pirates drove 71 yards in 1:42 as Logan Hendrick hauled in an 8-yard touchdown pass from Chase Lynch to make it 14-0.
Jarrell mishandled the snap on an attempted punt and Crawford’s Brock Duncan scored on the next play from 10 yards out to give the Pirates a 21-0 lead with 27 seconds remaining in the opening period.
Trailing 28-0, the Cougars turned to the passing game. Facing a second and 14 at his 40, Jarrell quarterback Chris Trevino faked the option, dropped back and threw a 60-yard touchdown pass to Daniel Tucker.
On fourth and 4 from the 7-yard line with 25 seconds remaining, Trevino ran a keeper around the left side and dove in for the touchdown to trim the lead to 28-12 and give the Cougars momentum heading into halftime.
“Myself and the whole coaching staff challenged them at halftime,” Kelm said. “The first five minutes would be extremely important. We told them we must take control in the next five minutes. (When) you let a team back in the game, how you react is extremely important.” The Pirates responded precisely like Kelm hoped.
Starting at their 20, the Pirates consumed 5 minutes and 22 seconds in an 80-yard, 10-play scoring drive. Two Duncan scoring runs were nullified by penalties. On third and 12 from the 17, Lynch threw a perfect fade pass to Taylor Holmes in the back of the end zone. Lynch completed all five attempts and threw for 82 yards on the drive.
“We told our kids at halftime the two biggest possessions of the game are our first offensive possession and the other team’s first offensive possession,” Franklin said.
On Jarrell’s next possessions, the Cougars did move the ball into Crawford territory before punting. Jarrell never threatened again and produced just 96 yards and four first downs in the second half. The Cougars also had four turnovers for the game, including three lost fumbles.
“You can’t do those things,” said Franklin, whose team will host Hamilton for its homecoming next Friday. “On the positive side, everything is correctable. The only thing this game did for us is let us know we can’t go 10-0.”
Kelm was all smiles as the longtime assistant to now-Temple assistant coach Murphy enjoyed his first win as a head coach.
“It’s certainly gratifying but I give a lot of credit to the players and the coaching staff,” Kelm said. “They had the team ready to play. It makes my job easier."
cmeister@temple-telegram.com
