JOYCE — Crescent shared the wealth around while amassing just a shade under 500 yards of total offense in a 52-14 eight-man football pasting of the Mary M. Knight Owls.
Eight Loggers played a part in racking up 287 rushing yards and five players caught passes totaling 208 yards in Saturday’s game.
“That’s our goal this year,” Crescent coach Brian Shimko said.
“We want to really share the love with the football and not just give it to one guy. That makes it more difficult for the defense. They can’t just key on one guy and try to stop him. And it helps us out to get guys experience carrying the ball.”
The Loggers got on the scoreboard first with an explosive play, an 80-yard touchdown pass from quarterback KC Spencer to bruising tight end McCabe Story.
Crescent then scored on a reverse.
“Eric Emery took the handoff and we had Caleb Anderson come around on a reverse and he went 47 yards,” Shimko said.
Spencer then found junior Robert Cox for a 15-yard TD pass.
“Having Robert Cox this year and Caleb Anderson — it’s just a huge help to our offense to have some more guys with some wheels who can make some plays,” Shimko said.
Anderson, a senior wide receiver, had three carries for 86 yards to lead the Loggers in rushing. He also had one catch for 9 yards.
Cox added a 32-yard run for Crescent.
An 1-yard run by Emery put the Loggers up 30-0 at halftime. Emery also returned the second-half kickoff 70 yards for a touchdown.
Emery had 206 all-purpose yards and four touchdowns. He carried the ball seven times for 72 yards and two TDs, caught two passes for 62 yards, including a 24-yard TD, and returned two kicks for 72 yards.
He also had an interception on defense.
“It was good having him out there for us,” Shimko said.
“Eric didn’t play in the Tacoma Baptist game, so this was a great start to his season.”
Wyatt McNeece had 15 total tackles (five solo, 10 assists), three tackles for loss and a sack defensively.
“He was the guy who really stood out on defense for us,” Shimko said.
“McCabe Story tore it up as well on defense.”
Shimko also said Spencer had a 27-yard interception return and deflected two passes from his position at safety.
He said it was hard to judge how his team improved in its second game because of the difference in talent between Crescent’s experienced week one opponent, Tacoma Baptist, and the young Mary M. Knight team.
But he liked what he saw from his offense.
“Our offense came together a lot better in week two,” Shimko said.
“We also had a couple more players out for this game, so we were able to run out some fresh bodies which helped when guys got tired. And we changed up some guys around on defense, too.”
The Loggers (1-0) have a short week to prepare for their next game.
Crescent hosts the Washington School for the Deaf at 4 p.m. Thursday.
Crescent 52, Mary M. Knight 14
MMK 0 0 6 8— 14
Crescent 16 14 22 0—52
First Quarter
C— Story 80 pass from Spencer
pass to the flat and he took it (Leonard run)
C— Anderson 47 run (Story run)
Emery took the handoff, reverse to Caleb Anderson 47 yards
Second Quarter
C— Cox 15 pass from Spencer (Buchanan run)
C— Emery 1 run (run failed)
Third Quarter
C— Emery 70 kick return (Spencer run)
MMK—39 run (run failed)
C— Emery 24 pass from Spencer (Story run)
C— Emery 33 run from Spencer (Run failed)
Fourth Quarter
MMK—5 run (run good)
Individual Stats
Rushing—C: Anderson 3-86, Emery 7-72, Buchanan 3-41 Spencer 5-24, Hartley 6-19, Cox 1-32, Leonard 1-11, Story 1-2
Passing—C: Spencer 7-12-1, 208 yards, 2 TDs, Story 0-1-1, 0.
Receiving—C: Story 1-80; Emery 2-62, Leonard 2-41, Cox 1-15, Anderson 1-9.
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Sports reporter/columnist Michael Carman can be contacted at 360-417-3525 or at mcarman@peninsuladailynews.com.
Keith Thorpe/Peninsula Daily News Crescent’s Kyle Buchanan front, looks for running room as Mary M. Knight’s Reese Tottle, left, and Crescent’s McCabe Story look on during the second quarter on Saturday in Joyce.
