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Do-it-all Crews leads Heritage Hills to 4-0 start

Do-it-all Crews leads Heritage Hills to 4-0 start

POSTED: 11:11 PM, Sep 12, 2015


Heritage Hills football coach Todd Wilkerson faces a dilemma when he's asked to share his lineup.

What does he list for senior Kenton Crews?

"We move him all over the place," Wilkerson said. "He's usually one of the fastest guys on the field so we're trying to look at formations and we motion him and move him around, so people can't just sit on him.

"With a kid like that, we're just trying to find lots of ways to get him the football."

Crews knows what to do with it.

The 5-foot-11, 180-pounder had fourth-quarter touchdown runs of 67 and 62 yards to lift the Patriots to a 21-14 win over Class 4A No. 3-ranked Jasper on Friday night.

Crews ran 20 times for 192 yards and scored all three of Heritage Hills' touchdowns. The Patriots, ranked No. 6 in Class 3A, improved to 4-0.

Wilkerson said Crews lined up in the backfield more often than normal on Friday. The do-it-all playmaker also sets up at wide receiver and in the slot, returns punts and kicks and is the Patriots' punter.

Oh, and he was named an all-state cornerback after last season.

"When you go into a big game like (Friday) night, in my mind as a coach, you try to win with your best player," Wilkerson said. "And that's what we were able to do with Kenton."

Crews' big-play ability even proved useful when a bad snap forced him to scramble from the punt formation during the fourth quarter. Crews ran for a first down and allowed Heritage Hills to sap extra time off the clock.

The Patriots held Jasper (3-1) to 114 yards of total offense Friday, and their opponents are averaging just 9.5 points per game. Not bad for a defense that lost seven starters from a 12-2 team that advanced to semistate.

"We knew we were going to be athletic," Crews said. "We kind of lost some of the size that we had and we had less experience this year, so we figured if we could get through the first few games and get some of the newer guys some experience that we'd be all right. They stepped right in and did the jobs that they needed to do, so we're really happy with where we are."

Crews plans to visit Ball State within the next month to watch a football game, and has also drawn interest from Division I baseball programs. The standout center fielder has visited Indiana State and Evansville, plans to visit Louisville and drew an invitation to a prospect camp at Clemson.

His immediate goals, however, are to lead the Patriots to another excellent football season. Heritage Hills visits North Posey (1-3) Friday before returning home for a Sept. 25 showdown against Class 3A No. 2 Gibson Southern (4-0).

The Patriots beat the Titans twice last season by a combined six points.