Knights come up short against Bearcats

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent editor

CONVOY — It boiled down to a two-point conversion attempt.

Trailing Spencerville 29-22, Crestview’s Nick Helt scored on a 16-yard run with 44 seconds left in the fourth quarter, then after the Bearcats were flagged for offsides on the PAT attempt, putting the ball inside the two, the Knights made the decision to go for two and the win. However, JJ Ward was stopped short of the end zone, preserving a 29-28 win for Spencerville.

“We had some success in short yardage situations throughout the night but credit Spencerville for running a good defensive play against us and stopping us short,” Crestview head coach James Lautzenheiser said. “That’s a tough Spencerville team and tonight was a demonstration of two teams that wanted to fight to the bitter end.”

Spencerville (4-4, 3-2 NWC) recovered an onside kick attempt and was able to run out the clock.

The game looked like a track meet in the first quarter.

Helt ended a seven play 80-yard drive with a five-yard touchdown run and Kaden Kreischer’s extra point gave the Knights a 7-0 lead with 8:50 left in the opening quarter, but the Bearcats answered with a two-yard touchdown run by Gunner Grigsby, plus a two-point conversion.

Ward scored from a yard out and Donovan Wreath added a two-point run to put the Knights ahead 15-8, but a Dale Smith five-yard touchdown run and Carder Orr PAT tied the game 15-15, a score that stood at halftime. The Knights drove to the Bearcat 25 late in the second quarter but Ward was intercepted.

Quarterback Nate Coulter put Spencerville ahead 22-15 with a two-yard touchdown run in the third quarter, but Ward connected with Rontae Jackson for a 64-yard touchdown pass that knotted the score 22-22. Jackson made a spectacular catch by plucking the ball from the back of the defender, then racing to the end zone.

The Bearcats scored on a two-yard run early in the fourth, which put Spencerville ahead 29-22 and proved to be the winning score.

Crestview was plagued by a pair of turnovers, plus eight penalties for 45 yards.

“We’re going to see that we had plenty of opportunities to do good things for ourselves during the game but we self-sabotaged a bit with some penalties that were clearly avoidable.”

Ward finished 15-of-20 for 285 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions Kellin Putman catching five passes for 78 yards and Jackson snaring two for 75 yards.

Dale Smith led Spencerville with 16 carries for 78 yards and Coulter was 12-of-12 for 103 yards.

The Bearcats will travel to Columbus Grove on Friday and the Knights (5-3, 2-3 NWC) will host Ada the same night.