CRESTVIEW — Twelve minutes into the football season, Crestview High School received its first major challenge as starting quarterback Rusty Moorer left the game with an injury to his right hand, his throwing hand.
The Bulldogs were leading Northview 12-8 when Moorer went down. Crestview Coach Tim Hatten had a couple of backup quarterbacks and backup plans.
Sophomore Keenan Redd first entered the game as Moorer’s replacement. While Redd wasn’t that bad, he failed to provide the spark and stability the Bulldogs needed.
Enter senior Corey Armstrong, who, as a sophomore, led the Bulldogs to an upset win over Niceville. Armstrong started last season as the Bulldog quarterback before moving to middle linebacker. Friday, he showed a senior leader's poise as he helped guide Crestview’s offense to 35 more points en route to a 47-20 win.
Armstrong wasn’t flawless, but he scored three touchdowns on runs of three yards, seven yards and one yard. He finished the game with a team-high 74-yards rushing on eight carries. He also was 4-of-7 passing for 69 yards.
“We knew he (Armstrong) could play quarterback for us,” Hatten said. “But he’s a good linebacker, too. And then Rusty is a good player.
“He gave us a little different shot with the dynamics of our team, but right now, sometimes you have to change the dynamics. It’s unfortunate for Rusty and we are going to see (the extent of the injury). But I thought Corey did a heck of a job.”
Armstrong shrugged off his heroics: “I’m confident,” he said. “I’ve run the plays before, but it’s been a year a year and a half.
“It took a while before we started to get into the flow of the game. This will give us confidence, but we have to play better as a team and make some improvements.”
CRESTVIEW 47, NORTHVIEW 20
Northview 8 6 6 0—20
Crestview 12 14 14 7—47
Scoring summary
First quarter
C – BA Larkins 22 yards blocked punt (kick failed); 10:13
C – Antryon Gloster 6 run (2-point conversion failed); 6:07
N – Luke Ward 23 run (Hunter Edwards 2-point); 1:01
Second quarter
C –Taron Akins 3 run (Seth Kootsouradis kick); 11:02
C – Corey Armstrong 3 run (Kootsouradis kick); 2:22
N – Ward 80 run (2-point failed); 2:07
Third quarter
C – Armstrong 7 run (Kootsouradis kick); 9:45
N – Ward 47 pass from Gavin Grant (2-point failed); 4:08
C – Armstrong 1 run (Kootsouradis kick); 0:28
Fourth quarter
C – Marcus Mobley 7 run (Kootsouradis kick) 6:08
Northview Crestview
First downs 16 16
Rushes-yards 43-253 39-249
Passing yards 60 93
Comp-Att-Int 2-6-1 8-16-1
Fumbles-lost 1-1 0-0
Penalty-yards 3-27 3-21
Individual Stats
Rushing
Northview: Ward 13-173, Holland 1-3, Harrison 11-38, Aliff 10-30, Grant 7-11, Robinson 4-1.
Crestview: Antryon Gloster7-33, LaJonte Watson 6-23, Corey Armstrong 8-74, Malik Studevan 5-22, Rusty Moorer 1-13, Taron Akins 1-3, Luis Berrios 4-23, Marcus Mobley 4-36, Keenan Redd 3-22.
Passing
Northview: Grant 2-5-1 60, Ward 0-0-0.
Crestview: Rusty Moorer 4-7-0 24, Keenan Redd 0-2-1, Corey Armstrong 4-7-0 69.
Receiving
Northview: Harrison 1-13, Ward 1-47
Crestview: Matt French 1-13, Marquis McClain 1-19, Capri Jones 1-2. Antryon Gloster 1-8, Alik Whited 2-32, Keenan Redd 2-19.
Crestview football box
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Crestview's Armstrong does 'a heck of a job' in Moorer's place