Preview: Crestview (1-0) at McComb (1-0)

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent editor

CONVOY — Crestview’s second road test of the 2023 season won’t be an easy one. In addition to an old school attack that features a punishing running game, McComb (1-0) has won 13 of its last 14 games at Doc Miller Stadium. The one team that won was perennial power Marion Local, who defeated the Panthers 10-0 in 2021.

Throw in a veteran coach (Kris Agle, 25th year) with 230 career wins and the 2018 Division VII state championship and it makes the task even more daunting.

McComb finished second in Division VII in the final 2022 Associated Press poll of the season and the Panthers didn’t seem to miss a beat during last Friday’s 42-7 win over Allen East. McComb rushed for 323 yards against the Mustangs while attempting just two passes, completing one for 30 yards. The Panthers yielded just 33 rushing yards and 125 total yards in the win.

“McComb is very big up front on both sides of the ball and they run the ball extremely well,” Crestview head coach Cole Harting said. “We are going to have to match their physicality this week in order to be successful. They want to get their line moving downhill and we can’t allow that to happen.”

The Knights (1-0) enjoyed their own success last week, racing out to a 34-0 lead on the way to a 41-27 win at Parkway. Bryson Penix passed for 230 yards, two touchdowns and three interceptions in the win, and Braxton Leeth added 98 yards rushing and a pair of touchdowns on 16 carries. Harting noted two key plays stood out in the victory.

“The interception by Hunter Jones, he covered a lot of ground and made a terrific diving catch,” Harting said. “The other was the kickoff return by Jaret Harting…we had our onside recovery team out and they kicked it deep and he went back and scooped it up and then returned it 95 yards to put the game away in the 4th quarter. Two huge plays by two of our senior leaders.”

While pleased with the victory, Harting said the fundamentals of football — blocking and tackling — are being emphasized in practice this week.

“Last week we had too many missed assignments and too many holdings, we need to clean that up if we are going to be successful this week,” he stated. “We also need to work on our tackling. We had way too many missed tackles last week, we had many opportunities to stop them for no gain or short gains and we didn’t finish.”

“We also need to reduce our penalties and turnovers, we can’t get behind the sticks and we can’t afford to give them short fields,” Harting added.

Alge did not respond to a request for comment for this story.

The Panthers are replacing Hicksville on the non-conference portion of the schedule and there is some history between Crestview and McComb. The two teams met in the playoffs in back-to-back seasons. The Panthers won both games, 27-26 in 2015 and 35-28 in two overtimes in 2016.