Crowley quarterback Caleb Williams leads the Eagles in blowout of Birdville in opener

Crowley head coach Carlos Lynn said before the start of the season that how quarterback Caleb Williams went, that’s how the offense would go.

So far so good. Williams threw for 202 yards and two scores completing 12 of 16 passes and rushed eight times for 203 yards and two more tallies as the Eagles ran away from North Richland Hills Birdville 50-14 on Thursday night in the season opener for both schools at the Birdville Fine Arts/Athletics Complex.

“I couldn’t ask for a better start,” said Lynn. “Caleb just makes great decisions and he’s a heady ball player. He understands our system and what we want and being in year two I think things have slowed down even more for him.”

Crowley (1-0), No. 6 in the Star-Telegram Class 6A Area Rankings, jumped out to a 15-0 lead after a 49-yard touchdown run by Williams, the 25th ranked player in the Star-Telegram Top 100 Players, and a seven-yard scoring run by Jonathan Blake, the latter with 3:08 left in the first quarter.

But Birdville (0-1) battled back to cut the lead to 15-7 when quarterback Connor Malvick hit Mark Hicks with a 16-yard scoring pass on the first play of the second quarter.

Malvick was subbing for Hawk’s starting quarterback Noah Normand who fractured his collarbone in a scrimmage against Boswell. Normand will be out for four to six weeks.

On Crowley’s ensuing series Birdville defensive lineman Daniel Sandoval laid a hard hit on Williams forcing a fumble that was recovered by Hawk linebacker Hunter Grant at the Crowley 33.

The Hawks drove to the Crowley 22, but an interception in the end zone by Blake with 9:22 left before the intermission killed the threat and the Eagles took the game over from that point.

Kenyen Cotton scored on runs of 12 and seven yards to give Crowley a 29-7 lead at the half. Williams opened the third quarter with a 98-yard scoring run to up the lead to 36-7 at the 11:05 mark.

“It feels good, but it’s all due to my offensive line,” said Cotton was the work horse for the Crowley ground game picking up 145 yards on 13 carries. “I really appreciate my o-line a lot and I let them know when they’re working.”

“That was one of our number one goals coming into the season, to establish an identity in the running game,” said Lynn. “We knew we could throw the ball around, but sometimes that doesn’t translate in the playoffs. We’re trying to stake a claim and trying to be a team to be dealt with, but in Texas you have to be able to run the football.”

With Normand out, Birdville leaned heavily on senior running back Lamar Leggins who carried 19 times for 51 tough yards and had 30 yards on three receptions. Leggins scored on a one-yard run with 5:09 left in the third quarter to cap a drive that saw Malvick go down with an injury and sophomore Zach Wells come in to lead the Hawks to the end zone.

Williams tossed two scoring passes, both to Antayvious Ellis, from 49 yards out late in the third quarter and from 25 yards away with 5:56 left in the game to cap the scoring. Ellis actually ran out of one of his shoes on the 49-yard post, but still managed to haul in the pass for the score.

Ellis caught seven passes for 109 yards for the Eagles.

“We were definitely on because I was on tonight for sure,” said Williams. “They should play back on defense against us, but they were playing us up and we’re a very fast team and a very explosive team. Our game plan played out perfectly.”

Lynn commended his defense which controlled Birdville’s running game and had three interceptions out of his secondary, all which thwarted drives by the Hawks. Brandon Ford’s pick came at the Crowley five yard line and both of Blake’s interceptions were in the end zone.

Crowley will have a good measure of just where they stand as a football team next week when the Eagles host No. 3 Houston North Shore.

“I cringed when we got them on the schedule, but at the same time if you look at the overall picture we don’t have anything to lose,” said Lynn on facing the Mustangs. “It’s early and we get the opportunity to measure our program to see where we are. We have a big season finale against North Crowley and this is going to be the same caliber of team so hopefully we can show that we can play with the big boys.

“We’re trying to take another step as a program, so hopefully this will lend itself to helping us do that. We’re real excited.”

This story was originally published August 30, 2024 at 12:44 AM.