MFL-Mar-Mac too strong for Cadet football team

MONONA - A combination of several penalties and inconsistent play on both sides of the ball spelled disaster for the Crestwood varsity football team on Friday, Aug. 25 in Monona as the MFL-Mar-Mac Bulldogs defeated the Cadets, 35-0, in a non-district contest to open the 2023 season.

Crestwood Head Coach Justin Denner said his squad’s inability to maintain offensive drives early was a difficult factor to overcome as the Bulldogs raced to a 27-0 halftime lead.

“Ultimately, we could never get into a rhythm on offense,” Denner said. “We’d have a good play here or there but then we would have a misstep, such as a bad snap or a penalty. We couldn’t get momentum going in the first half.

“MFL-Mar-Mac is a really good football team. They take advantage of small mistakes (by their opponents). During their first drive, we thought we had them forced into a three-and-out, but we had a pass interference call go against us (to keep MFL’s drive alive). They turned that into a seven-minute touchdown drive, which is what good teams do,” Denner said.

The coach gave credit to the Bulldogs for playing better overall.

“What it comes down to is that MFL-Mar-Mac simply executed better than we did,” Denner said. “We didn’t execute well enough. We’re still trying to build our team but we’ll get better and keep growing.

“We had some good plays and situations. There were times we had two or three good plays in a row (on offense) but then we’d have a bad play (or penalty) that put us way behind the sticks. We couldn’t recover from that. It’s frustrating but it’s also correctable and fixable," the coach said.