MOOSEHEART, Sept. 4 - There are so many ways to look at the yards Mooseheart senior Jonell Crump gained on Friday night.

Certainly there were a lot of them - 229 rushing yards on just 12 carries. Then there was the quality of those yards. Crump scored five touchdowns and was the main catalyst in the Ramblers 46-36 win over Christian Life of Rockford in Northeastern Athletic Conference action.

And then there was the timeliness of those touchdowns. Trailing 36-32 on a 17-yard Jeremy Reitmaier TD run with only 2:13 to play, the Ramblers came right back and scored on a Crump plunge from the 1-yard line with 58 seconds left. Junior Smith gave Mooseheart a cushion when he scored on a 15-yard fumble recovery 24 seconds later--and the Ramblers moved to 2-0 for the season and 2-0 in the first-year NAC.

Finally, there was the hard-fought nature of that yardage. Crump scored on 87- and 65-yard runs--with most of that yardage after he was hit. He also scored two on a pair of 1-yard TD runs and ran in a 14-yard swing pass out of the backfield.
"Coach (Gary Urwiler) talked about leaving a legacy," Crump said. "I didn't want to stop at one roadblock when I first got hit. So I kept going."

Mooseheart's 46 points were the most it has scored since a 46-34 victory over Wayland Academy in 2004. The game total of 82 points marked the most in a Mooseheart football game since the team's 52-38 loss to Lake Forest Academy in 2000.

"I'm very proud of the guys," Urwiler said. "I said last week that I felt the guys have something special going. These guys are fighters and winners and they understand that there's going to be challenges and adversity. They're responding."

The game got more frenetic as it neared its conclusion. Forty-two of the game's 82 points were scored in the fourth quarter as Christian Life rallied from a 26-14 deficit.

Jacob Bach scored two fourth-quarter touchdowns and had four in the game. He gained 111 yards on 21 carries for the Eagles.

"He's playing on one leg, and you ask him what his pain was on a scale of 1-10, and he said 'zero,'" Christian Life coach Chuck Leonard said. "He's the kind of kid who will give you everything he had. If we had asked him to run through a wall tonight, he would have said 'how deep?'"

But every time Mooseheart needed a response, Crump was there to provide it. After Bach scored to put Christian Life into its first lead, 30-26 with 5:52 left, Crump answered immediately with his 65-yard TD dash.

Reitmaier drove the Eagles and his keeper gave Christian Life a further chance to win the game. But the Ramblers quickly marched down the field, using Crump runs and a key pass from Isaiah Brigman to Shawn McReynolds.

"What a see-saw we had there in the fourth quarter," Urwiler said. "I thought things were in good hands and we were in a position where we could run the clock a little bit and it went the other way for us."

Mooseheart gained a total of 370 offensive yards and showed a very diverse offense, even given Crump's overall success.

"There's so many things the guys are doing, and it's not just one or two guys," Urwiler said.

Christian Life fell to 0-2 overall and in NAC play. First the Eagles lost in overtime to Rockford Christian and then came within 1 minute of victory against Mooseheart.

"It's tough," Leonard said. "But you test a young man's resiliency when things like this happen. We told them we weren't worried about the boo-boos and 'owies' they have physically. We were worried about the 'owie' they have in their heads and how quickly that will dissipate so we can go and play ball next week."

Scoring plays

M - McReynolds 29 pass from Brigman (Cheneyon kick)
C - Bach 11 run (kick failed)
M - Crump 1 run (Cheneyon kick)
M - Crump 14 run (kick failed)
C - Bach 13 run (Bach run)
M - Crump 7 run (pass failed)
C - Bach 1 run (Reitmaier pass to Caudel)
C - Bach 10 run (Reitmaier pass to Westendorf)
M - Crump 65 run (run failed)
C - Reitmaier 17 run (pass failed)
M - Crump 1 run (kick failed)
M - Smith 15 fumble recovery (Brigman run)

Rushing

Christian Life: Reitmaier 9-36, Huber 1-(-5), Polsean 13-45,
Trotter 13-27, Bach 21-111.

Mooseheart: Gutierrez 5-10, Brigman 5-8, McReynolds 4-24,
Moore 11-32, Crump 12-229.

Passing

Christian Life: Reitmaier 5-15-1 80.
Mooseheart: Brigman 4-9-0 67.

Receiving

Christian Life: Caudel 1-9, Bach 3-40, Westendorf 1-31.
Mooseheart: McReynolds 3-65. Moore 1-2.