Crestwood gets big win despite six turnovers

By Dennis Brunson

hssr.com Associate Editor

Manning – The Crestwood High School football team had far from a beautiful performance in its season opener against Manning on Friday, August 23, at Ramsey Stadium.

           The Knights had six turnovers, including five in the first half. When it was all said and done though, they had scored on their last two full and came away with a 17-14 victory.

           “It was a roller coaster, but the kids fought their tails off until the very, very end,” said CHS head coach Roosevelt Nelson. “They never gave up. The defense played their butts off, special teams did a good job in the kicking game.

           The mistakes on offense, that’s going to get fixed. I’m not worried about it. We've got s very, very young team.”

           Especially at the skill positions on offense. Crestwood is without All-Stater Javion Martin behind center for the first time in four seasons. Senior Jamis Williams started at quarterback, but struggled mightily in the first half, throwing three interceptions. Nelson switched to senior Traveze Benefield, who threw a pass in the flat to freshman wide receiver Jaylen Martin, who turned it into a 65-yard scoring play in the third quarter to tie the game at 7-7.

           Nelson came back with Williams in the fourth quarter, however, and he led the Knights on a touchdown drive to tie the game at 14-14 with 4:05 remaining in the game. CHS got the ball back at the Manning 45, and Williams broke off a 15-yard run on the first play. That helped set up a game-winning 27-yard field goal by junior placekicker Jorge Lora Hernandez with 12.2 seconds left.

           “I wanted to get his feet back underneath him,” Nelson said about his decision to bring Williams back in. “We were able to calm him a little bit, let him see the game from the sidelines for a few series and then get him back in there. He responded well.”

           Junior running back Ladamien Belton had a strong debut, carrying the ball 25 times for 107 yards.

           “He’s going to be a back to be reckoned with this season,” Nelson said. “He does a tremendous job. He’s a blue-collar kid. I love him to death. He gets in there and runs extremely hard. He practices the same way he plays the game, full speed.”

           Starting on the offensive line for Crestwood are Aiden Mack at left tackle, Lorenzo Smallwood at left guard, Ladson Smith at center, Mikah Pressley at right guard and Dereon Harvin at right tackle.

           “I told them just to settle down, quick doing the self-inflicted wounds,” Nelson said of the offensive line. “We communicated better up front. We didn’t do that in the first half, but like I said, they’ve (Manning) got a great defensive front.”

           Jeremie Richardson is a returning AAA All-State performer at wide receiver. He had one catch for nine yards and four carries for 19 yards, one of them a 15-yard TD.

           Jaylen Martin had four catches for 108 yards. The tight end is Jahiam Jones.

           The Crestwood defense limited Manning to 164 yards of total offense. The Knights twice turned the Monarchs away without points while in the red zone. Also, CHS forced 12 negative-yardage plays.

           Mack, a junior, and sophomores Payton Grant and Jordan Carter start on the defensive line. The linebackers are seniors Kameron Brown and Robert Pugh and sophomores Yachin Gamble and Ahmandre Ricks.

           Junior All-State cornerback Da’Shan Scriven is back with Belton and Fredrick Wade sharing time at the other corner. Ja’Quaylylen Dennis-Harriett and senior Jaylen Wright are the other starters.

           Hernandez is handling all of the kicking chores. “He did a really good job in all parts of the kicking game,” Nelson said.

           “This game meant a lot to us,” Nelson said. “We’re going to build off of this. This will pay off for us in the end.

“It’s outstanding coming to a hostile environment with a young team for the first time out. We only had one scrimmage. It was a hostile environment, great atmosphere. That’s a good job, especially facing adversity.”