Pedal power pushes Ellwood
star Crawford past competition
Written: Sep 14, 2011
By Joe Simon
New Castle News
Technology and intricate drills and exercises don’t play much of a role in Kyle Crawford’s offseason training.
One of the most athletic players in Lawrence County, Crawford uses two wheels, two pedals and a few rather large hills to prepare himself for football season.
“I ride bikes a lot, in the back hills,” he said. “It builds up your legs, makes you fast. It’s something other kids don’t do.”
Last Friday night, he did something else most kids don’t do. The Ellwood City Lincoln senior ran for 265 yards and five touchdowns on 18 carries. He also caught three passes for 47 yards and a touchdown. He nearly scored a seventh TD during Ellwood City’s 54-40 victory over New Brighton, but he was caught at the 1-yard line after a 97-yard jaunt. Crawford said he suffered a cramp, and it’s no wonder after all the running he did.
The performance earned him Athlete of the Week honors, an award sponsored by Washington Centre Physical Therapy and selected by the New Castle News sports staff.
The Wolverines coach, Don Phillips, raved about Crawford, a 6-foot, 170-pound running back who burst onto the scene last year when he led the area with 582 receiving yards on 28 catches, a 20.7 yards-per-catch average. He also ranked fifth in rushing yards with 571 and amassed 11 total touchdowns.
Phillips said Crawford’s physical abilities are some of the most fascinating he’s seen as a coach. Aside from speed, leaping ability and open-field moves, Crawford has soft hands, good vision and savvy instincts as a running back.
“As an athlete, he’s tremendous,” Phillips said. “The performance he gave the other night, that’s not unexpected. He is capable of doing that on any Friday night, under any circumstances. Not only is he a great, gifted athlete, but he’s a great kid. And when you put those two together, you come up with a kid who’s going to give everything he’s got for his teammates, and he’s going to do anything and everything he can to win.”
Crawford was a big part of the Wolverines’ success last year, when they advanced to the playoffs for the first time since 2001. He said he and his teammates learned from that experience and from years of winning together in junior high and youth league. Ellwood (2-0) carries a bit of swagger with it these days, something that was nonexistent a few seasons ago when the Wolverines were enduring a 31-game losing streak. The change has been just as much mental as physical, Crawford said.
“My grade, we know how to win — we’ve always won,” he said. “We aren’t intimidated by anyone. We know that we’re better than everyone.
“It’s the most important thing,” added Crawford, referring to the winning mentality. “These younger kids, they won, but not at the high school level, so they have to learn from the seniors, just like we had to learn from the seniors last year.”
The success created in 2010 is a bit of a personal challenge to the Wolverines, Phillips said. This year’s senior class doesn’t want to take a backseat to last year’s, so they’ve demonstrated the same dedication and team-first attitude needed to win. Phillips said it’s a psyche he wants the entire program to develop, so Ellwood can show last year wasn’t a fluke.
“They want to be able to say, ‘You got us to the playoffs. We went further,’ ” Phillips said. “There’s a sense of pride and a sense of desire to accomplish. They’ve had success. When we first got here, the kids that we had at the time, they never had success. People told me this. The group of seniors we had graduate, when they were sophomores, they vowed that by the time they left here, they were going to be the ones to make a mark. And now this young group saw that, and they saw what it took to get into a position to be successful. The attitude of the kids — they want to win. They want to show that they can do this.”
Crawford is a big reason they’re accomplishing the task.
(E-mail:j_simon@ncnewsonline.com)
*****
THE KYLE CRAWFORD FILE
POSITION: Running back/defensive back
TEAM: Ellwood City Lincoln
GRADE: 12
KNOWN FOR: Crawford made a name for himself last year when he led the area in receiving yards and scored 11 total touchdowns. He scored more than half that amount against New Brighton as he ran for 265 yards and five touchdowns and catching three passes, including a TD, for 47 yards.
PARENTS: Ann and Stephen Crawford
FAVORITE PRO PLAYER AND WHY: Hines Ward, Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver. “Hines Ward is just a tough dude. He beats up on people.”
FAVORITE PRO TEAM AND WHY: Pittsburgh Steelers. “They’re hard-nosed dudes and they’re from Pittsburgh.”
FUTURE PLANS: Crawford said he’s “pretty sure” he’s going to play football after high school. He’d like to go to a military academy and play because “I don’t want to sit in an office all my life. I want to jump out of planes and stuff.”
|
|