Crestwood football team trounces MFL-Mar-Mac, tickets available for Decorah game

MONONA - Superb team play in all three phases of the game (offense, defense, special teams) allowed the Crestwood varsity football team to chalk up an impressive 34-6 win over MFL-Mar-Mac on the road on Friday, Aug. 29, in the season opener in a non-district contest.

The Cadets took a modest 14-6 halftime lead over the Bulldogs before breaking the game open in the second half with three third quarter touchdowns. Crestwood racked up an eye-popping 383 total yards of offense (224 yards rushing and 159 passing) while holding MFL-MM to only 162 total yards, all on the ground.

Crestwood Head Justin Denner was thrilled to see his squad notch the big win in the season opener, but he noted the team can’t afford to rest on its laurels after one game.

“Our guys did a great job of settling into the flow of the game,” Denner said. “We had a huge defensive stop on MFL’s first drive. Then we made some big plays on the offensive side of the ball. We got the ball into the hands of the guys we wanted. (Quarterback) Alex Loden did a good job of distributing the ball appropriately.

“We still have a few things we want to fix. Some of our mistakes were coaching-inflicted and some were player-inflicted. We’ll go back to the film and learn from that. Still, we moved the ball very well on the ground and through the air. We need to keep improving and grow,” Denner said.

Cadet strike first

The Bulldogs took the opening kickoff and steadily moved the ball down to the Cadets’ 32 yard line before Crestwood recovered a fumble with 5:44 left in the first quarer.

Nine plays later, Loden hit tight end Alex Berg on a short screen pass. Berg then broke a few tackles and rambled 24 yards for a touchdown. Loden kicked the extra point to give the Cadets a 7-0 lead.

“This was a great ball and great read by Alex Loden,” Denner said. “Alex Berg caught it and we had great blocking downfield. This was a great job by our receivers and Alex Berg for finishing (by scoring the touchdown). This play peaked the deal by telling us, ‘Yeah, we can do this and we can execute.’ This touchdown was huge for us.”

 

For tickets for the game against Decorah on Sept. 5, go to the following link: https://gobound.com/ia/schools/decorah