ORRVILLE — After an ugly first half where penalties and negative plays were a common sight, Keith pulled away from Wilcox Central in the second half to open their 2013 season with a 28-12 victory.

After a first half that left a lot to be desired, the Bears were able to pull away in the second half thanks to some timely halftime adjustments.

“We corrected some mistakes we made,” Keith head coach Harry Crum said. “We focused on the details and took care of three drives in a row. We were able to overcome the little things.”

One of the changes in the second half was to put sophomore Jermiah Campbell in the game at running back, so that the Bears could utilize his fresh legs.

“In the second half, we got one of our young players in — Jeremiah Campbell – that hadn’t been touching the ball,” Crum said. “I knew his legs were going to be fresh and we just kept giving it to him and he kept setting us up.”

Campbell’s stats weren’t mind blowing — 5 carries, 28 yards — but the rest he provided Delmuss Irby and DeAnthony Griffin was important as the Bears pulled away in the second half.

Irby had 50 yards on the ground and Griffin piled up 31 yards, giving Keith a balanced backfield attack.

The Bears also got a great game from senior quarterback Maurice Crumpton, who accounted for all four Keith touchdowns, with two passing and two rushing.

Following a long drive where Irby had two long first down runs, Crumpton opened up the scoring with a three-yard rushing touchdown late in the first quarter, giving Keith a quick 6-0 lead.

The game remained tied until late in the first half, when Wilcox Central backup quarterback Julian Chambers hit Jamie Eaton on an 18-yard touchdown pass with 43.6 seconds on the clock.

Keith came out firing near all cylinders in the second half.

On the Bears first drive, Crumpton hit Delmuss Irby on an eight-yard touchdown pass. Irby also added the two-point conversion, giving Keith a 14-6 lead.

Later in the quarter, Crumpton scored again on a 2-yard quarterback keeper. On the ensuing two-point conversion try, he threw to Jareece Bryant to give the Bears a 22-6 lead.

With the game getting out of hand midway through the fourth quarter, Crumpton hit Bryant on a 6-yard touchdown pass to extend Keith’s lead to 28-6.

The Patriots added a score with 5.3 seconds left, but by then the damage was done.

Despite his team’s performance, Crum said his team still has a lot of work to do.

“We won the game, but I don’t give us an A-plus,” Crum said. “I think we played somewhere in the B-minus range. If we can get where we are clicking on all cylinders, it will be something to really watch.”