CRESTVIEW — Three games into the 2015 season, Crestview High School's football team still has more questions than answers.
The Bulldogs opened the season with a win over Northview, but struggled with turnovers in a loss to Mosley in the season's second week.
Crestview had its poorest showing of the season Friday against a strong St. Martin team from Ocean Springs, Miss. The Yellow Jackets dominated the Bulldogs on both sides of the ball in a 46-13 win, leaving Crestview Coach Tim Hatten seeking answers.
“Right now, we are searching and we are not a very good football team,” he said. “We are staying on the field too long on defense. And when we have an opportunity on offense, we are not able to do anything.”
Losing starting quarterback Rusty Moorer at the end of the first quarter of the Northview game to a broken hand has hurt the Bulldogs. They have had to shuffle the deck with Keenan Redd and Corey Armstrong at quarterback.
Redd, who got the start against St. Martin, was ineffective against the Yellow Jackets completing just one pass in nine attempts. He also threw an interception.
In four series at quarterback, Redd couldn't lead the Bulldogs to a first down before giving way to Armstrong, Crestview’s starting middle linebacker.
At the time, Armstrong took over at quarterback, St. Martin had more first downs than the number of plays the Bulldogs had run.
Armstrong and Marquis McClain provided a spark for the Bulldogs late in the second half. A 22-yard pass from Armstrong to Andrew Adkins gave Crestview its first down of the game with two minutes left in the half.
Two plays later, McClain broke loose on a 62-yard touchdown run. He added a 55-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter.
Moorer is expected to be out at least four more weeks, leaving Redd and Armstrong to try to hold down the fort at quarterback. The numbers indicate Armstrong is the better option at quarterback. But leaves a hole on defense when he’s not at middle linebacker.
“We still need to get some players in (the right) place,” Hatten said. And we still need to get better.”
ST. MARTIN 46, CRESTVIEW 13
St. Martin 10 17 12 7—46
Crestview 0 6 0 7—13
First quarter
St. Martin – Sean Gomez 43 field goal; 5:57
St. Martin – Isaac Williams10 pass from Tyler Polk (Gomez kick); 2:13
Second quarter
St. Martin – Wayne Overman III 9 run (Ham McGee 2-point); 10:56
St. Martin – Polk 3 run (conversion failed); 2:13
Crestview – Marquis McClain 62 run (kick failed); 1:22
St. Martin – Sean Gomez 50 field goal; 0:00
Third quarter
St. Martin – Kalem Reddix 42 pass from Polk (kick failed); 3:14
St. Martin – Quan Wailey 19 pass from Polk (kick failed); 0:10
Fourth quarter
Crestview – McClain 55 run (Seth Kootsouradis kick); 11:39
St. Martin – Overman 6 pass from Polk (Gomez kick); 6:42
St. Martin Crestview
First downs 25 7
Rushes-yards 41-231 17-134
Passing yards 266 111
Comp-Att-Int 17-29-0 5-19-1
Fumbles-lost 3-0 2-1
Penalty-yards 8-60 3-21
Individual Stats
Rushing
St. Martin: Overman 15-77, Polk 17-90, McGee 1-90, Walley 2-10, Pankonin 2-7, Greene 1-8, William 1-0, Starks 1- (-1), Myers 1-12, Clevenger 1-19. Crestview: Keenan Redd 2-(-8), LaJonte Watson 1-2, Antryon Gloster 1-0, Capri Jones 1-0, Marquis McClain 9-134, Corey Armstrong 3-6.
Passing
St. Martin: Overman 8-17-0 139, Polk 9-12-0 127. Crestview: Keenan Redd 1-9-1 1, Corey Armstrong 4-10-0 110.
Receiving
St. Martin: McGee 1-12, Reddix 2-46, Overman 2-24, Williams 7-98, Clark 3-57, Walley 2-29. Crestview: Andrew Adkins 3-81, Alik Whited 2-30.
Crestview football box
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Crestview looking for answers after tough loss