Varsity teams play to draw in scrimmage

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent sports    

CONVOY — In the final preseason tuneup for both teams, Van Wert and Crestview battled to a 7-7 tie in two quarters of varsity action Friday night.

Both scores came late in the second quarter. Van Wert quarterback Zach Crummey engineered a 13-play, 73 yard drive that consumed half of the period. Crummey, a 6-6, 243 pound sophomore ended the drive with a 1-yard touchdown run, followed by the PAT by Griffin McCracken with 1:31 showing on the clock. Crummey went 5-for-5 on the drive for 40 yards, while carrying the ball four times for six yards and the touchdown. The drive also included a 15-yard pass interfence penalty on the Knights.

“He just keeps improving,” Van Wert head coach Keith Recker said of Crummey. “He showed a lot of elusiveness tonight, unfortunately because we weren’t pass protecting very well, but he showed the ability to get away from the rush. He can can deliver it when he has time and again he’s not afraid to put his head down and run, which is good.”

Crestview didn’t need long to respond to Van Wert’s score. In fact, it took just 25 seconds and three plays, with the third one being a 66-yard touchdown pass from senior quarterback Huxley Grose to Hayden Parrott, who also added the game-tying extra point with 1:06 left in varsity action. Grose was pressed into action last year and started the final six games at quarterback.

“He comes in with the expectation that ‘I am the man,’” Crestview head coach Cole Harting said of Grose. “Last year he knew he was going to come in as the backup and he was always ready to go but now this year he’s definitely more engaged and he’s ready to put his best foot forward.”

Crummey finished 8-of-12 passing for 56 yards, while Grose completed 6-of-8 tosses for 98 yards and a touchdown.

Both teams struggled offensively in the first quarter. Crestview lost a fumble on the second play of the scrimmage and had to punt twice. Van Wert also punted twice in the first quarter and turned the ball over on downs. However, both teams were able to pop long runs in the opening stanza.

Van Wert’s Xavier Kelly had a 34-yard run and finished with seven carries for 46 yards. Crestview’s Braxton Leeth had a 33-yard run and finished with eight carries for 69 yards.

“Defensively we stood our ground pretty well,” Van Wert head coach Keith Recker said. “They’re a pretty good running team with four of their five offensive linemen back and a really good running back, so we really challenged our guys. We didn’t step up against the run last year against them so we challenged our linebackers to fill where they needed to, our defensive linemen did a nice job and our safeties even filled when they had to and really gang tackled.”

“I thought we were able to run the ball well,” Crestview head coach Cole Harting said. “I thought our line was able to move the line of scrimmage but we just have to be consistent from play to play to play and obviously we have to clean up the turnovers – that’s never a good thing, but I thought we ran the ball well and passed the ball well when we needed to.”

“We need to watch the film and see what we can do offensively to get the ball moving on the ground, whether it’s switching guys around up front, whether it’s new positions, whether it’s a tweak in the run game, we just have to figure that out,” Recker said.

Obviously there are things we need to improve on,” Harting said. “If we get a negative play we have to shake that off and get to the next one and stop dwelling on that previous play. We definitely have to shore up our snapping – that kind of put us behind the sticks from time to time. If we can improve on that we’ll be a lot better next week.”

After halftime, each team played two sets of 10 plays, offense and defense, with junior varsity players. Crestview scored on a long pass from Cooper Miller to Logan Matson.

Both teams will open the regular season on the road next Friday. Van Wert will travel to Bryan, while Crestview will head to Rockford to face Parkway.