FRANKLIN — Fred Cranford recalled what Fenwick football looked like when the rebuilding process began.
Heads down. Keep working. Build it brick by brick.
A couple years later, the Falcons can see what that work has produced.
Roster numbers have grown. The culture has tightened. Players who were thrown onto Friday night fields as freshmen and sophomores are veterans. Fenwick returned to the playoffs last fall, and a senior class that has experienced the program’s growing pains enters 2026 determined to push it further.
“Literally, we knew what we came in with two years ago — chin down, grind, and then you get out and you work to build,” Cranford said. “Numbers got better, culture tightened up. We found a way to play Week 11. Now year three, the numbers are up. The kids are hungry. They’re excited.”
Fenwick finished 6-5 last season and reached the Division IV, Region 16 playoffs, giving the Falcons something tangible to build on entering Cranford’s third season of his second tenure with the program.
What comes next depends on one word Cranford has repeated throughout the offseason — consistency.
Fenwick doesn’t have the luxury of overwhelming opponents with numbers. Many of its best players will contribute on both sides of the ball, making conditioning, preparation and attention to detail critical.
“We’re a small-school football team,” Cranford said. “We have to lean on each other. But it really is the consistency, working hard, the prep. The summer was the best summer we’ve had since I’ve been here.”
Hudson Kreke has been around long enough to understand how much has changed.
Kreke remembers trying to find a role as a freshman. He enters his final season as one of the Falcons’ top players and one of the seniors responsible for making sure the progress continues.
“It’s surreal,” Kreke said. “I remember just yesterday I was a freshman trying to make my way onto varsity, and now we’re finally here. I’m trying to bring — and I know all the other seniors are bringing — this leadership and energy to the team.”
Kreke said the Falcons understand that last season’s playoff appearance guarantees nothing.
“We’re not where we want to be,” Kreke said. “We know that we can be good, but if we don’t go out and put in the work every day, it’s not going to happen. We’ve got to go out every day and bring it.”
There are reasons for Fenwick’s optimism.
Quarterback McCaffrey Halcomb enters his junior season as the starter, giving Cranford valuable experience in his Wing-T offense. Instead of spending August teaching the foundation of the system, the Falcons can add wrinkles to it.
“He’s going into his third year starting,” Cranford said. “Some of the guys up front have been playing for two years. Year three, we come out and start install, it comes right back to them. They understand it. Now we’re running faster. We’re executing.”
Kreke gives the offense another proven option after earning first-team all-league recognition as a junior. Fullback Micah O’Connor adds another physical presence in the backfield, while juniors Tyler McVey and Noah Henning are among the experienced players Fenwick will lean on up front.
No matter how much the offense expands, Cranford knows where everything begins.
“You’re only as good as those guys up front,” Cranford said. “Experience is going to really lean in our favor this year just because we’ve been doing the same things now going into three years.”
The same experience exists defensively.
Kreke has developed into one of Fenwick’s most versatile players, while senior DJ Berning returns as a three-year starter in the secondary. O’Connor is expected to take on a larger defensive role, with McVey and Noah Wagner among those counted on near the line of scrimmage.
Stopping the run will be particularly important once Fenwick enters Greater Catholic League Co-Ed play.
“People say we’re undersized,” Kreke said. “We might be undersized, but we’ve got all the heart in the world. We’re not scared. We’re coming to win.”
And that mentality is exactly what Cranford wants the program to embody.
“It’s grit. It’s this chin-down grit and grind,” Cranford said. “Historically, we’ve always been the smallest school. But we’ve found a way.
“That mentality has just been passed on, and it’s who we are. It’s the way we do things.”
