FeedsRomulus grinds out win against Crestwood
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Romulus’ defense, including Roderick Walker (2), Mario Crawford (3) and Andre Smith (18), upended Crestwood last Friday night, 25-14.In four games the Romulus Eagles have already surpassed last year’s football record.
With the team’s 25-14 victory against Dearborn Heights Crestwood at home on Friday, the Eagles stand at 3-1. They only won two games last year.
It wasn’t easy, though, as fumbles nearly cost them the game. The Eagles had two fumbles in the first half and three consecutive possessions where they fumbled in the second half—twice inside their own 20-yard line. It was a strong defense that kept Romulus in the game; Crestwood only scored on two of the turnovers.
Jason Piestrak hit fellow Charger Nate Gunter for a 16-yard score five plays after recovering one of those fumbles, cutting into the Eagles’ lead. The play made it a 13-7 game with 21 seconds left in the half. Then Piestrak scored on a four-yard keeper with 3:09 left in the third, just a few plays after recovering another fumbled Romulus ball. That score made it a 19-14 game in favor of Romulus.
The Eagles defense held strong the rest of the way while the offense took care of the rest.
“The defense buckled down,” said Romulus Coach Matt Ladach. “There’s five things I always tell them: work hard, do your best, never give up, compete and be tough—that will make you a champion. Our defense did those five things. They helped us and carried us to a win.”
Senior linebacker Cedric Smith led the defense with 13 tackles. Joe Kiesznowski, a senior lineman had eight tackles including two sacks. Junior defensive back Donzell Carter forced a fumble and senior defensive back Shane Wells recovered a fumble. Senior defensive end Antoine James recorded two sacks. Senior linebackers Rod Walker and Lamar Williams each had a sack and junior defensive end Steve Sanders sacked the quarterback once and helped on a second.
Junior running sensation Mario Crawford led the offense with 190 yards on 14 carries and three touchdowns.
Crawford opened the scoring with a 44-yard scramble to the end zone. The extra point failed but Romulus had a 6-0 lead as time expired in the first quarter. Then he raced 80 yards for a score with 5:53 left in the second. Smith’ point-after was good for a Romulus 13-0 lead. He scored again on a bruising 11-yard run at 10:43 of the third frame to put his Eagles up, 19-7.
Smith sewed up the scoring, 25-14, when he broke free for a 52-yard run with 3:48 left to play in the game.
The running game scored the points for Romulus but it was also the source of four fumbles—Crawford had three.
“We can’t put the ball on the ground and expect to win.,” Ladach said. “We were very fortunate to come out of here with a ‘W’. We used three different balls. Unless all three were slippery, I don’t know.”
Regardless, Ladach said it was a big win at the right time.
“It was good to get a good victory in a close game like that,” he said. “I’m proud of the guys. With these kids already and through the rest of their lives they’re going to faced with adversity and when adversity hits you in the face you can do one of two things: you can buckle or you can stand up like a man and fight. I’m proud of our guys for standing up like men and fighting.
“We have to keep building and keep fighting,” he added. “We’ve got tough teams coming up in our schedule and we have to keep playing week by week, game by game.”
Romulus will head to Garden City to face the struggling Cougars and their Wing-T offense at 7 p.m. on Friday.
“We have to stick to the basics and do what we do best and we have to stop what they do best,” Ladach said. “They run the Wing-T and I think they are a little bit better than what their 1-3 record shows.”
