Crestview Knights hope to keep rolling

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent sports

CONVOY — The Crestview Knights are off to a 4-1 (2-0 NWC) start, the program’s best since 2018, with the latest win coming in thrilling fashion.

Last Friday night, the Knights held off Allen East for a 34-33 victory. It took a goal line stand on a two point conversion attempt with 30 seconds left to preserve the win. 

“Last Friday was a great team win for us,” Crestview head coach Cole Harting said. “We faced adversity on both sides of the ball but both units overcame that and made key plays that allowed us to come away with the victory. What stands out to me most was that our defense came up with two huge forced fumbles in the third quarter to prevent Allen East from taking the lead.”

“When things aren’t going your way, you need players to step up and make plays, and I felt senior Liam Putman did that for us,” Harting continued. “Allen East was about to score in the third quarter to take the lead when he forced and recovered a fumble on the two yard line. Then on the last two point try he came in and made the stop to seal the win. He’s had a slow start to the season defensively, but played phenomenal last Friday. I hope that was the spark he needed and carries that through the remainder of the season.”

Reflecting back over the first five games, Harting said he’s most pleased with the offensive line – Denver McDougall, Jace Wehner, Noah Woodruff, Kale Lichtensteiger and Will Sheets – a unit that has helped pave the way for Baxton Leeth’s 1,312 rushing yards and 22 touchdowns.

“This was a unit that I knew would be better from last year, but they have gelled together and have exceeded my expectations thus far,” Harting said. “I look for them to keep improving as we continue into the back half of our season.”

As the Knights embark on the second half of the regular season, Harting said an area he’d like to see improvement is tackling.

“We have struggled to tackle consistently throughout the season,” he stated. “If we want to continue to have success in these last five games, we have to tackle better. We do a great job of getting guys to the football, now we just need to finish the plays.”

“This is a fun group to coach,” Harting said of his team overall. “They work hard, they do everything we ask them to do, and they enjoy being around each other.”

“Crestview is a solid football team that seems to find a way to win,” Delphos Jefferson head coach Allan Pohlman said. “Their running back, Leeth, is a phenomenal player and he has the statistics to show it. They run a few plays, but they run them very well. The challenge for us this week is to slow down the running game. We are excited for the challenge.”

Delphos Jefferson (1-4, 0-2 NWC) has endured a difficult schedule to this point. The losses have come to Evergreen, Paulding and Bluffton, three teams with a combined record of 14-1, plus perennial NWC power Columbus Grove. The lone win came against Parkway in Week No. 2.

“We have experienced some ups and downs on the first half of the season,” Pohlman said. “We’re a very young team and we have recently experienced injuries to some key starting players which have brought us challenges. In the face of these challenges, we have seen some of our older players show resilience and continue to bring their best every day to practice and games. They are changing the culture of the program and we are going to see these changes make a positive impact on our team.”

“Another thing that has been a positive for us in the first half is seeing the development of our younger players,” he continued. “They are making strides and a few of them have been called up to play varsity the past few weeks and they are rising to that challenge.”

“This Jefferson team is different from the past few years,” Harting said.  Despite their record, they have a lot of talented players and very good size at multiple positions. Defensively, they do a great job of tackling and being physical up front. Offensively, they can run the football, but have also emerged as one of the better passing teams in the league.” 

“We will have to be very sound in our assignments and make them work the ball down the field,” he added.

Crestview won last year’s matchup, 36-0.