Crawford Surprises Lincoln : Colts Use ‘Mad Stunt’ Defense to Thwart Hornet Attack, 23-15

Crawford High School Coach Chris Miller didn’t think his team could afford to sit back and watch what the county’s best offense had to offer Friday night. So Miller, borrowing a page from the University of New Mexico, turned his defense loose against Lincoln. The result was awesome.

Crawford, ranked 10th in The Times’ Top 10, turned the offense of No. 4 Lincoln every which way--including loose--and emerged with a 23-15 win at Patrick Henry.

The victory improved Crawford’s City Central League record to 3-0 and its overall mark to 5-1-1. It also put the Colts in excellent position to win their second straight league title. Lincoln (2-1, 4-3) fell into a tie with Hoover for second place.

Lincoln, which came into the game averaging 34 points per contest, was flustered by a scrambling Crawford defense that rushed eight and sometimes nine players. As a result, the Hornets managed just 141 yards in total offense and turned the ball over three times.

Moreover, the Crawford defense sacked Lincoln quarterback Malcolm Glover seven times for 64 yards in losses and limited the Hornet running game to minus-17 yards.

“Lincoln just had too many good athletes,” Miller said. “We felt that if we sat back and let them pass, they’d pick us apart. During the summer, we studied New Mexico’s defense. They fly around and like to send eight and nine people on every play. So we put in our own version, and called it the ‘Mad Stunt.’ We thought it would be our best chance to beat them.”

It didn’t look like the plan would work at the outset, as Lincoln drove 58 yards on six plays for a touchdown on its first possession. An eight-yard pass from Glover to Marcus Hopkins and a successful conversion by Victor Camacho put Lincoln up, 7-0, with 5:58 left in the first quarter.

But it was all Crawford after that. Lincoln managed just one first down the remainder of the half and only picked up five more the entire game.

Crawford closed the gap to 7-3 on Ken Tan’s 35-yard field goal with 9:15 left in the half.

The Colts took the lead on their next possession. Quarterback Tommy Ferjarang hit Keven Williams with a three-yard touchdown pass to climax a 4-play, 38-yard drive. The conversion failed but Crawford led, 9-7.

Moments later, Crawford regained possession at the Lincoln 15 when Hornet Kenarsie Caesar couldn’t field a bad punt snap. But the Lincoln defense turned the Colts away empty-handed when Ferjarang was sacked at the 10 on a fourth-and-goal from the 1.

Two plays later, the Colts had another opportunity to score when Michael Campbell recovered a Glover fumble at the Lincoln 10. But Lincoln’s defense held again, as Crawford was turned away when Tan missed another 35-yard field goal try.

The key play of the game, however, came late in the third quarter when Crawford’s Donald Pleasant rushed Glover, hit him, jarred the ball loose, picked it up and ran 53 yards for a touchdown. Tan’s PAT made it 16-7 with 4:54 left in the quarter.

The Colts got an insurance touchdown when Ferjarang ran a bootleg to his right and found Jeffreyn Moten wide open for a 28-yard scoring pass.

Lincoln made it interesting by taking the ensuing kickoff and driving 55 yards in five plays. A 12-yard pass from Glover to Omar McDale and a two-point conversion from Glover to Patrick Newman cut Crawford’s lead to 23-15 with 8:04 remaining.

Lincoln had the ball two more times but never threatened to score. The loss was the Hornets’ first on the field. Their other two defeats were by forfeits.