CRESTVIEW — When Crestview High School's football team — coming off a 53-6 win over the International School of Broward — hosts Pace on Friday. The Patriots (2-2) will stick with a script that has worked well for them under Coach Mickey Lindsey. Look for Pace to line up in a Power-I offense, emphasizing the run game. The Patriots also will occasionally go to a spread formation.
The Patriots have rushed for 842 yards this season, while only throwing for 197 yards. Anthony Johnson Jr. — who leads Pace's ground attack with 616 yards rushing — ran for 360 yards against Fort Walton Beach in the season opener. When Pace does throw the ball, quarterback Ashton Stephens will enter the fray; he has completed .387 of his passes this year.
Crestview Coach Tim Hatten doesn’t expect too much different from Pace. “They are not going to take a bunch of chances on defense and … they are going try and run the football," he said.
Hatten hopes last week’s win over the Pumas will be a building block for Friday’s game. “Success breeds success,” he said. “You can only learn so much from failure. We were probably at the brink of being damaged by failure.
“We needed a win, and we got it. We did what we needed to do and had the game under control in the first quarter. We got to play everyone we needed to play, and rest everyone we needed to rest. We got some good reps so that was good for us.”
Hatten downplayed that this was the last game before the Bulldogs (2-2) open District 3-6A play next week. “I don’t know that you value one (game) more than the other,” he said. “You just line up and play to your strengths every ball game."
The Bulldogs had no turnovers against Broward, and Hatten said they were solid in the kicking game. Crestview will need those strengths against Pace. “It’s a whole new ball game Friday night,” he said. “Everything starts over. As soon as the whistle blows, you don’t even want to think about the week before.
“If we play good defense and don’t have any turnovers, we have a chance to play with any team we have left on our schedule. If we don’t, we get beat.”
UPCOMING
WHAT: Crestview High School vs. Pace
WHEN: 7 p.m. Friday
WHERE: Crestview High School Jack Foster Stadium
Crestview-Pace football information
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Bulldogs to play strengths against Patriots