East Montgomery received the ball to start the game but their offensive drive was quickly shut down by the Crusader defense forcing a punt. The Crusaders started out of the gate quickly by scoring on the ensuing drive by way of a 44 yard touchdown run by junior, Davonta Best, to give the Crusaders an early 7-0 lead.
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| Davonta Best trots into the end zone for a 44 yard touchdown run. |
The two teams continued to battle through the remainder of the 1st quarter but neither team could produce enough offensive fire power to find the end zone. The Crusaders led at the end of the first quarter 7-0.
The two teams continued to struggle offensively in the early stages of the 2nd quarter. The Crusaders hurt themselves by penalties all throughout the game. OH Rouse connected with running back, Marcus Scarborough, for a passing touchdown but was called back for an offensive holding penalty. The Crusader offense bounced back from the penalties to find the endzone, this time on a 29 yard touchdown run by Marcus Scarborough. The Crusaders extra point attempt was no good extending the Crusader lead to 13-0 with 7:16 left in the second quarter.
The latter part of the 2nd quarter remained scoreless as both teams stumbled on the offensive side of the ball. The Crusaders led the Eagles 13-0 at the half. Marcus Scarborough led the Crusader's first half offensive attack with 83 yards on 9 carries with 1 touchdown.
At the start of the 3rd quarter both teams struggled to gain offensive momentum. The Crusaders then pieced together a long drive that was capped off by a 6 yard touchdown run by senior halfback, Quinton Faison. Joseph Phaneuf punched in the 2 point conversion to extend the HCA lead to 21-0 with 8:39 left in the 3rd quarter.
The Crusaders seemed to fall asleep heading to the end of the 3rd quarter as the Eagles quickly bounced back and scored on a 17 yard quarterback scramble to tighten the HCA lead to 21-6 after a missed extra point.
The Crusaders led the Eagles 21-6 at the end of the 3rd quarter.
East Montgomery continued to throw counter punches by crossing the goal line once again on a 16 yard touchdown pass followed by a converted two point conversion to make the score 21-14 with 11:00 left to play.
The Crusaders answered with a long, clock wrenching drive that was capped off by a 7 yard touchdown run by Marcus Scarborough to amplify the Crusaders lead to 27-14 after a failed extra point attempt with only 3:35 left for an Eagles' counterattack.
The Eagles marched down the field but were forced into a 4th down and long situation. The Crusader fans rose to their feet to cheer on the HCA defense for the potential game ending play for the Eagles. The East Montgomery quarterback hurled a pass towards the first down marker only to be intercepted by Marcus Scarborough at the HCA 16 yard line to give his team the ball back with 1:46 left to play.
The hope ending interception by Scarborough put an exclamation point on the Crusaders victory after many struggles on the offensive side of the ball.
Assistant Coach Clayton Hall preached to his team after the game, "That took guts and heart boys. You all grew as men tonight."
The Crusader offense was led by Marcus Scarborough with 140 yards on 22 carries and 2 touchdowns. Other notable offensive contributors in the balanced running game were Quinton Faison who rushed for 74 yards on 9 carries and 1 touchdown, and Joseph Phaneuf who rushed for 73 yards on 16 carries. Davonta Best also contributed to the high powered HCA running attack with 5 carries for 68 yards and one touchdown.
The Crusaders look to extend their record to 3-0 next week, at home, against the Warren County Eagles who enter the game with a record of 1-0.
Follow HCA Athletics on twitter: @hca_athletics
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