CRESTVIEW — A cool and wet Friday night greeted friends and alumni of Crestview High School as the Bulldogs hosted Choctawhatchee in a District 3-6A football game for Homecoming 2015.
Even the bad weather seemed unable to dampen the spirits of the home crowd at Jack Foster Stadium. But the Indians weren’t interested in playing the role of Homecoming game fodder.
Choctaw added a little rain of its own beating the Bulldogs 21-6.
Following the game Crestview Coach Tim Hatten, who doubles as the offensive coordinator, was quick to accept the blame for the Bulldog loss. He apologized to the team for not getting the offense ready to play and praised the defense for putting the team in a position to win.
“I thought defensively we played well enough to win the ball game,” Hatten said. “We throw a pick six (interception for a touchdown) on a play where we want to throw the ball vertical (downfield) to the outside, but the ball just came out of his (quarterback Corey Armstrong) hand wrong.
“We just made so many mistakes on offense execution wise and that falls on me. It was just a really poor coaching job by me offensively. I don’t know if I can remember a poorer performance by myself as an offensive coach.”
Crestview (3-3, 0-1) only had 166 yards in total offense.
Marquis McClain had 37 yards on nine carries. Andrew Adkins had six catches for 32 yards and a touchdown. Armstrong was 14-of-32 passing for 125 yards and one touchdown.
Armstrong also threw two interceptions. The first was returned by Choctaw’s Kaylin Lovitt for a touchdown in the third quarter. The second came as time was winding down and the Bulldogs were trying for a desperation score.
Choctaw (4-2, 1-0) scored the first points of the game on a 6-yard pass from Jake Fairly to Chris Pickett with 6:14 left in the second quarter. Jose Mendoza added the extra point and Choctaw led the rest of the way.
The Indians increased the lead to 14-0 on Lovitt’s interception with 8:45 left in the third quarter.
Crestview’s only score came with 4:13 left in the third when Armstrong hit Adkins with a 13-yard scoring strike.
The Indians closed out the scoring with 6:34 left in the game when Fairly hit Marquise Kane with a 9-yard touchdown pass.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Hatten blames self for Crestview loss