It's not pretty, but Crusaders win season opener

The Panhandle Crusaders opened their season Saturday night at Escambia High School. The pre-season number 2 team in the PFL, the Alabama Warriors, came to town with the first true test for the defending champs. The Crusaders kicked off to start the game. The Warriors started with pretty good field position, but was unable to do anything going three and out.

The Crusaders started their first drive on offence this season on their own 17 yard line. You could see from the start that the Crusaders wanted to establish their power on the offensive line. They went 12 plays, 9 of which were runs, for 83 yards for a touchdown. Cassidy Moore scored from 3 yards out. Michael Bailey came in for the extra point, giving the Crusaders a 7-0 lead.

The Warriors started their second drive with even better field position, but was unable to answer the Crusader's touchdown. Starting quarterback, Dale Hayes threw an interception to safety, Spencer Tiller.

The Crusaders took over on their own 8 yard line, but were unable do much with it. 6 plays and 17 yards later, the Crusaders had to give the ball back to the Warriors. This time the Warriors made the Crusaders pay. It only took them 3 plays to strike gold for the first time. Backup QB, Kawaski Jackson hooked up with former NFL player, Marcus Dowdell on a 43 yard touchdown pass. The Warriors tacked on the extra point to tie the game at 7.

The Crusaders didn't wait long to give their answer, going 9 plays, 7 of which were runs, for 55 yards. Starting QB, Octavious Smith went in from one yard out to break the tie. Bailey was unable to tack on the extra point.

Trailing 13-7 the Warriors were not going to go away. On their next drive, starting from their own 47, the Warriors mixed run and pass equally over seven plays for 53 yards. This time Jackson hooked up with Roderick Hall for a 15 yard touchdown pass. A bad snap prevented the Warriors from taking the lead.

The Warriors would throw one more pick before halftime to William Powell. With so little time on the clock the Crusaders were unable to capitalize.

The Warriors kicked off to start the second half, and the Crusaders decided to show a little passing offence. Smith hooked up with David Jennings on a wide receiver screen on the very first play of the second half that went 64 yards for a touchdown to take a 19-13 lead. The Crusaders would go for two, but were unsuccessful.

From that point, the Warriors were unable to get any kind of offensive consistency going in the second half. The Crusaders seemed content with running the ball and playing defence. Although there were many unforced errors in the first half for the Crusaders with 6 penalties, they made their first two big mistakes in the second half, giving away two fumbles, one after a 20 yard run. The defence stood tall, not letting those mistakes cost them the game.  The Crusaders ended the game with 275 yards rushing, however just one back went over one hundred yards. It was truly a team effort.