Fetsch, Axtell blast by Crawford in wake of Leathers injury
AXTELL — Perhaps two years ago Axtell would have been able to call itself David to Crawford's Goliath, but despite taking an early punch the Longhorns were mostly in control to stay undefeated with a 20-7 win over the Pirates Friday night at Ellison Field.
It came with a cost of their star sophomore quarterback Levi Leathers, who was injured five plays into Axtell's opening drive while being dumped for a sack. On an emotional night for the Leathers family as well as the Axtell community, sophomore backup AJ Fetsch hardly missed a beat.
"It's next man up," said Longhorns head coach Craig Horn. "Levi's a phenomenal talent but we believe in AJ as well. AJ stepped in and threw two touchdown passes and ran one in, so we know when AJ comes in everybody's got to step up and help, just like any backup situation. "
In a low scoring contest, Fetsch had a hand in all three of Axtell's scores, passing for 91 yards on 7 of 10 completions and two touchdowns, both to senior receiver Coldyn Horn, who had four receptions for 66 yards. On the ground, Fetsch strung together a pair of keepers, one for a loss of a yard but the other for a 67-yard nightcap in the third quarter. He was picked off by Pirates senior Jordan Archer toward the end of the first half, but Crawford didn't have any time left to do anything with the possession and the Horns had the ball coming out of the half.
"He's a really good quarterback — he just happens to be at a place where Levi's at," Horn said. "But we believe in him. When he came in the game, we didn't start hiding."
Senior running back Tyson Michel did the bulk of the work in the rushing lanes with 14 carries for almost 100 yards.
Axtell faced 2nd-and-11 following a pass for no gain, an incompletion and a Michel carry for a loss before Leathers was sacked and practically crawled away from the line of scrimmage. He was carried off the field with what looked like an injury to his left foot. He was seen standing on the sideline for a moment unable to put pressure on it. Horn said they are unsure if Leathers' foot is broken yet, but he is hopeful that it's not serious.
The Pirates came out strong, using their size advantage to force their way down the field in the opening drive of the game. Senior quarterback Kade Smith picked up a pair of first downs on QB keepers early before Archer and sophomore Cooper Denard strung together a series of carries to get Crawford past midfield.
Facing fourth down inside the Axtell 20, Smith hit junior tight end Austin Jenkins with a 9-yard dart to set up 1st-and goal from the 10-yard line. The senior signal-caller punched the touchdown in himself and Cade Carroll's kick was good for the extra point.
But that was the only time Crawford would reach the end zone. Pirates head coach Greg Jacobs said that his team continues to work to get better as they've played a tough non-district schedule.
"We put together a good first quarter," Jacobs said. "We just couldn't maintain that energy level throughout the game. They did some things defensively and we didn't adjust very well. Then we got tired a little bit and I think that hurt us. We gave up some big plays, just broke down defensively. It just kind of put us behind the eight-ball.
"We;ve got to learn from this. The teams we've been playing are pretty good teams, obviously. We're trying to learn from each and every game that we're in. We played some young kids tonight due to injuries last week, so they got their feet wet. So, I think we'll get better, stay focused keep working hard and hopefully we'll be able to string four quarters together and have some success."
In the second quarter, junior linebacker Korbin Tucker got the first of four sacks on Smith and Axtell converted it for a 30-yard scores to Coldyn Horn, who received Fetsch's pass and spun his way past the goal line breaking a pair of tackles. The extra point try missed, and the Pirates remained ahead briefly.
It didn't take long for Coldyn Horn to find the end zone again. Crawford went three-and-out and the Horns picked up excellent field position thanks to a face mask flag on the Pirates during the punt return. A pair of Michel runs set up Horn with the touchdown pass. The two-point conversion was no good, but Axtell took the lead and didn't look back.
Crawford recovered a fumble in the third quarter, reviving its response to Fetsch's mad dash score and a finally successful conversion. The Pirates extended their drive, but Axtell sophomore safety Ethan Porter tackled Archer for a loss and followed it up with another sack of Smith, this time with help from Kelby Hollingsworth and Hayden Cunningham.
Porter and Hollingsworth both picked up another pair of sacks to halt the Pirates' final attempt, giving Axtell the ball back with three minutes left in the game. The Longhorns took their time and finished in the victory formation.
"It was good to see a good team win," Coach Horn said.
Axtell will next take on Dawson for the district opener, a personal matchup for the Horn family as Coach Horn's stepson plays for the Bulldogs.
Crawford faces Holland in its final non-district matchup before facing the reigning 8-2A district champion Marlin to kick off the start of District 13-2A.
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