Osage downs Crestwood football team, 20-18; Cadets face Waukon on Oct. 16

 OSAGE - Miscues on both sides of the ball combined with an incredible rushing effort by Osage senior Gavin Muller (48 carries, 287 yards rushing, three touchdowns) spelled disaster for the Crestwood varsity football team on Friday, Oct. 9, as the Osage Green Devils tripped the Cadets, 20-18.

The loss dropped Crestwood’s overall record to 6-1 and 3-1 in Class 2A District 3. Osage improved to 6-1 and 3-1. The Cadets will travel to Waukon on Oct. 16 to take on the Indians (5-2, 4-0) in the final regular season contest. The first round of the Class 2A playoffs are scheduled to begin on Friday, Oct. 23.

The link to watch the game between Crestwood and Waukon is as follows: https://fan.hudl.com/usa/ia/waukon/organization/2414/waukon-high-school

Friday’s contest against Osage was a back-and-forth, tight game for four quarters. The Cadets held a slim 12-8 halftime lead before Osage’s Muller gave the Green Devils a 14-12 lead with 7:18 left in the third.

However, the Cadets bounced back quickly on their next possession by driving the ball 57 yards in six plays. Quarterback Alex Loden capped the drive with a 14-yard touchdown pass to Mitchell Williams with 4:42 left to give the Cadets an 18-14 lead. The two-point pass failed.

Early in the fourth quarter, Osage capped an 80-yard drive with a three-yard touchdown run by Muller with 10:12 remaining to give the Green Devils a 20-18 lead. Crestwood had two more possessions in the final 10 minutes, but they turned the ball over on downs both times as Osage held on for the win.

“In all three phases of the game (offense, defense, special teams), we didn’t execute at the highest of levels,” Cadet Head Coach Justin Denner said. “We missed an extra point (after our first touchdown). We went for two points after our other two scores and we didn’t get either one of them. 

“We had a drive right before halftime (deep into Osage territory) and we didn’t score on that. We had fourth down play late in the game where we slipped and didn’t get the first down. On defense, we missed a lot of tackles. 

“I give a lot of credit to number zero (Muller). He’s a really, really good player and he ran hard. However, we missed several tackles, and it’s hard to win a game when you have those things going on.

“On the plus side, we fought hard during the entire game. We just didn’t execute as well as we needed to in order to win the game," the coach said.