Skyline sophomore quarterback Askaree Crawford led the Eagles to their first-ever win in front of a home crowd on Thursday.

Dan Brenner | AnnArbor.com

With one minute, 48 seconds still left on the clock at Skyline High School, the players on the sidelines finally got to do what they've been waiting two seasons to do.

They snuck over to the home bench, grabbed an orange bucket filled to the brim with ice cold water, then dumped it over coach Lee Arthur's head.

It wasn't just in celebration of Arthur's first win as head coach of the team. It was in celebration of the program's first-ever varsity win at home.

Arthur may have been expecting his team to perform the way they did in the 41-14 win over Dexter, but he certainly wasn't expecting the ice bath.

"It made my heart stop. Truly my heart stopped, I couldn’t move," Arthur said of ice bath. "It felt great though, 'cuz I knew it came from my kids and it came out of love."

Though known as an offensive team throughout its short history, it was the Skyline defense that came to play Thursday night, surrendering just 175 yards of offense on the night. Dexter’s only offensive score came with just one minute, 11 seconds remaining and Skyline got it right back with an 85-yard kickoff return for a touchdown from Percell Franklin.

More coverage: Boxscore at MLive.com | Photo Gallery | Football roundup

"Like I always told (former Skyline quarterback) Andrew Copp, who I love to death," Arthur said, grabbing the former quarterback -- who was on hand to watch the game -- by the arm. "I’m a defensive coach, I just ended up coaching offense here...defense is what everything is built on."

Copp was happy to see his former team win at home, but admittedly jealous not to be a part of that first home win. Thursday was all about the Eagles' new quarterback, Askaree Crawford, who threw three touchdowns and ran for another score in leading.

The sophomore quarterback was 10-of-21 for 235 yards passing and ran for another 65 in just three quarters of work.

"This program’s been waiting a long time for it and I’m excited for the program and for me to be the first quarterback of the first team in history to (win at home),” Crawford said.

Skyline (1-1) got the scoring started with Crawford hitting Marcus Wallace for a 45-yard touchdown pass on a short slant across the middle. Tori Norris’ extra point gave Skyline a 7-0 lead with 4:22 left in the first quarter.

The lead proved short-lived with Noah Gary returned the ensuing kickoff 88 yards for a score. Crawford hit Jack Clark for touchdown passes of 15 and 24 yards, both on third-and-long plays and the Eagles took a 21-7 lead into the break.

Clark finished with five catches for 122 yards.

Skyline had a chance to extend its lead before half after Wallace intercepted an Andy McWilliams pass near midfield and looked to be end zone-bound. Instead, McWilliams caught Wallace on the five-yard line and injured the receiver/defensive back on the play. Wallace did not return in the game and was wearing a sling on the sideline in the second half.

Crawford scored on a 27-yard keeper with 6:47 to go in the third quarter to put Skyline up 28-7. Alex Lozon played the entire fourth quarter and connected with Nick Durand for a 13-yard touchdown with 4:33 remaining.

When the final whistle blew, the Skyline student section emptied onto a field they've never been able to celebrate a win on and after a quick motivational an assistant coach yelled to his players, "Go celebrate with our fans. Enjoy it!"

And they did.

"One hundred years from now, when kids look back, we were the team that got that first (home) win," said Skyline linebacker Eric Guldberg. "We set the tradition."

McWilliams finished 11-of-23 for 120 yards, an interception and a rushing touchdown for Dexter (0-2)

Pete Cunningham covers sports for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at petercunningham@annarbor.com. Follow him on Twitter @petcunningham.