Crater blanks Lakeridge for first win

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By Luke Andrews
Mail Tribune
The Crater football team earned its first win of the season Friday night, but that was no cause for celebration in coach John Beck’s eyes.
The Comets (1-2), coming off an emotional 29-28 loss against Shasta High of Redding Calif., defeated visiting Lakeridge 23-0 at Dutch Meyer Field.
“I’m just happy to get a win,” Beck said. “It’s a tough deal coming off a big emotional loss, or win, especially with an inexperienced team, you might have a letdown.
“We weren’t overly pleased with anything.”
Crater appeared to control most of the action Friday, holding struggling Lakeridge (0-2) to just 174 total yards and forcing three turnovers.
The Pacers entered the season uncertain they would even field a team after dismissing the head coach just weeks before the opening game.
Crater racked up 376 yards of total offense, led by senior Kenny Fahndrich, who had 156 yards rushing on 21 attempts and 186 total yards.
The Comets had 12 penalties for 135 yards.
“We were just happy to get a win and move forward and learn something about ourselves,” Beck said. “We learned that we can’t play to the level of the competition. Not to take anything away from Lakeridge, but we’ve got a very tough preseason schedule. We can’t just hang out and expect things to come easy to us.”
The schedule quickly becomes more looming for the Comets. Crater faces Jefferson in Portland next Friday before playing at North Medford.
“We need to be ready to play at a high level,” Beck said.
Christian Massey put Crater on the board against Lakeridge with a 35-yard field goal in the first quarter. The Comets took a 9-0 lead into the break after quarterback Josh Lokeno found Jacob Ziegler for a 14-yard scoring strike.
Fahndrich added a 70-yard touchdown run in the third quarter and a 4-yard touchdown run in the fourth.
“When Kenny’s motivated and he’s focused to play, I really feel he’s a very good football player,” Beck said. “We challenged Kenny a little bit. He’s got a lot of pride and he wants to be successful. He took it upon himself to get some stuff done.”
Lakeridge was led by quarterback Ben Swinford, who was 9-of-23 passing for 88 yards. He was intercepted twice. Running back James Taylor gained 41 yards on nine carries for the Pacers.
Lokeno was 15-of-23 passing for 157 yards with one interception for Crater.
Reach reporter Luke Andrews at 776-4469, or e-mail landrews@mailtribune.com

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