Balanced Knights defeat Paulding 38-14

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent sports editor

PAULDING – Brody Brecht and Logan Gerardot each scored two touchdowns, Jayden Ward tossed a pair of touchdown passes and Crestview’s defense held Paulding’s potent offense in check as the Knights picked up their first win of the season, 38-14 on Friday night.

The end result left each team with a 1-1 record with one game left before the NWC tournament.

“I felt like we were able to get contributions offensively from a lot of different players which is good,” Crestview head coach Jared Owens said. “With Brody starting in his third year at running back we have teams who are going to key on him pretty hard and anything we can get from Logan, and as JJ (Ward) gets more comfortable, we’ll be able to give the guys more opportunities.

Brecht, who finished with 17 carries for 134 yards scored on a one-yard run with in the first quarter, then added a 14-yard touchdown run in the second quarter.

After a 23-yard catch by Hunter Jones on third and long, Gerardot scored from a yard out with 9:44 in the second quarter to give Crestview a 20-0 lead, then he added a second touchdown on a 40-yard swing pass from Jayden Ward that put the Knights ahead 35-8 with 1:41 remaining in the third quarter. Gerardot finished the game with 12 carries for 73 yards and four receptions for 74 yards.

In his second start, Ward completed 7-of-12 passes for 153 yards and two touchdowns, with the other touchdown pass being a 50-yarder to Rontae Jackson at the 3:19 mark of the first quarter, giving the Knights a 13-0 lead. He also completed a two-point conversion pass to Ayden Lichtensteiger after Brecht’s second touchdown run and rushed eight times for 41 yards.

Crestview’s final score came on a 30-yard field goal by Kaden Kreischer in the fourth quarter.

The Panthers scored on Payton Beckman’s four-yard touchdown pass to Adrian Manz with 4:17 left until halftime and after a 73-yard kickoff return by Deyton Price, an 11-yard scoring strike from Beckman to Manz with 34 seconds remaining in the third period. Beckman rushed for 66 yards on six carries completed 13-of-22 passes for 119 yards and Manz caught seven passes for 95 yards.

“I thought once we able settle in defensively and make some adjustments we were able to get some stops, but when you spot them 20 points shortly into the second quarter, you’re not setting yourself up very well,” Paulding head coach Tyler Arend said. “I thought we gave our offense chances to get us back in the game, but we didn’t run the ball as well as we wanted.”

“I thought our defensive line got after the passer and once we were able to build a lead they had to go to the pass probably more and once we got them in that situation, we were able to get a lot of pressure on the quarterback,” Owens said. “On the back end of things we were pretty sound – our tackling wasn’t great last week and I know we missed a couple tonight but I thought we were a little bit better in that area.”

Crestview will host Delphos Jefferson on Friday, while Paulding will entertain Spencerville. Those will be the final tune-ups before the NWC tournament.

Scoring summary

PHS 0 8 6 0 – 14
CHS 13 15 7 3 – 38

First quarter

CHS – Brody Brecht 1-yard run (Kaden Kreischer kick)
CHS – Jayden Ward 50-yard pass to Rontae Jackson (kick failed)

Second quarter

CHS – Logan Gerardot 1-yard run (Kaden Kreischer kick)
PHS – Payton Beckman 4-yard pass to Adrian Manz (Beckman run)
CHS – Brody Brecht 14-yard run (Ward to Ayden Lichtensteiger pass)

Third quarter

CHS – Jayden Ward 40-yard pass to Logan Gerardot (Kaden Kreischer kick)
PHS – Payton Beckman 11-yard pass to Adrian Manz (run failed)

Fourth quarter

CHS – Kaden Kreischer 30-yard field goal