FORT WALTON BEACH — Headed into the fourth quarter against Crestview on Friday, Choctaw’s defense had done everything to ensure a win.
The Indians recovered three fumbles. They picked off Corey Armstrong in the end zone. The Bulldogs weren’t even threatening the 100-yard rushing mark.
Yet, the Indians trailed 3-0 after a Seth Kootsouradis 17-yard field goal split the uprights at the end of the third quarter.
What more could they do?
Enter the Indians’ special teams, which had a message for its defense after yet another stop: We got you covered.
With Crestview backed up inside its own 30 and forced to punt, Chris Pickett broke through the left side unblocked and laid out to get both hands on the ball, which bounced a few times before being scooped up at the goal line by Kevin Hodges Jr. for the touchdown.
Marquise Kane and Quint Gornto followed with a touchdown run each, Choctaw recovered two more fumbles and picked off Armstrong yet again, and the Indians (2-0) scored a 21-10 win over Crestview (0-2) Friday night at Joe Etheredge Stadium.
“I was just thinking we needed that spark, and I was going to be that spark,” said Pickett, who also had a sack. “I had just convinced myself in my mind I was going to make a play.”
It was Choctaw’s second straight win over Crestview, which ironically was done in last year by a blocked point after attempt in a 14-13 loss.
A week after giving up 28 points to a Quaide Weimerskirch-led Pace offense, the Indians ended up with five fumble recoveries and two interceptions. That included two fumble recoveries by Sergio Castelan and an interception and fumble recovery from Patrick Keefe, whose interception in the final minute sealed the win.
“This whole season the defense had prepared to kick it into a fifth gear,” Keefe said. “… We’re hungry. We’re mad dogs on defense."
Corey Armstrong, who had 315 yards and two touchdowns last week, put up an impressive 301 yards, but the big yardage didn’t result in many red zone trips. Meanwhile, no Crestview rusher topped 50 yards.
Choctaw’s lone blemish was allowing an 18-yard touchdown pass by Armstrong to Andrew Atkins in junk time.But at that point the game was well in hand. And all thanks to Choctaw’s defense and special teams.
“It was basically our defense and special teams that did it for us tonight,” Choctaw head coach Greg Thomas said. “They were the MVP.”
While the defense shined throughout, Choctaw’s offense took awhile to find its footing.
Quint Gornto was hurried as the pocket collapsed time and time again, and Cyrus Daniels and Kane struggled to fill in for an injured John Hicks. The result in the first half was just three rushing yards, a Gornto pick and two failed red zone trips, the last just before the half when the Indians turned down a Carlos Leon 21-yard field goal attempt only to watch Daniels get tackled well behind the line.
“It wasn’t pretty,” Thomas said. “We struggled all night offensively and we got a lot to work on. But we’re happy with the win.”
A big part of that was Crestview’s swarming defense, which rebounded from giving up more than 300 rushing yards last week to hold Choctaw’s run game well below 200 yards.
Boding well for the future, Choctaw’s offensive struggles turned around after the blocked punt.
Kane found the end zone from 5 yards out with 7:20 left for some breathing room, and Gornto, who ended up with 171 total yards, found the end zone on a 5-yard keeper to put the game out of reach.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Turnovers doom Bulldogs