Balliet lead Knights to season’s first win

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent sports

SPENCERVILLE — A few changes, a balanced offense and tough defense led the Crestview Knights to their first win of the season on Friday, 41-8 over Spencerville in the NWC opener.

“It feels good to get in the win column and finally execute at a high level and take care of business,” Crestview head coach Cole Harting said. “We did that really from the opening kick and I’m really proud of how our guys responded this week.”

An 8-yard touchdown run by Connor Hammons and a missed extra point put Crestview ahead 6-0 at the end of the first quarter, then the Knights tacked on a pair of second quarter scores. The first was by freshman Calin Balliet, who made his first start at quarterback for the Knights and scored on a 33-yard run. Later in the quarter, Hayden Waltmire raced in from 20 yards out and added the two point conversion, which put Crestview ahead 20-0, a score that stood at halftime.

The floodgates opened in the third quarter for the Knights (1-3, 1-0 NWC). Balliet tossed his first varsity touchdown pass, a 28-yarder to Beau Lichtensteiger, followed by a two point conversion by Hammons. Balliet scored on a 2-yard run, then tossed his second touchdown pass of the quarter, a 12-yard strike to Lichtensteighter for a 41-0 lead.

“Cal got the ball to our playmakers, made a lot of plays with his feet and really put us in a position to get on the scoreboard multiple times,” Harting said. 

The entire fourth quarter was played with a continuous clock and Spencerville (0-4, 0-1) scored on a 15-yard run and added the two point conversion. It was the first touchdown of the season by the Bearcats. 

Balliet finished the game 15-of-18 for 148 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. Lichtensteiger caught five passes for 60 yards and two touchdowns, while Beckham Putman had five receptions for 40 yards. Balliet led the Knights in rushing with six carries for 72 yards, while Hammons added 55 yards on seven carries. Waltmire tallied 46 yards on five carries as Crestview finished with a season-best 193 yards rushing.

“Conner and Hayden ran the ball well for us tonight,” Harting said. “It was nice to get our running game going.”

All 151 of Spencerville’s yards came on the ground out of the old Wing-T set, as the Bearcats attempted just three passes, completing none with an interception by Evin Brincefield.

“Defensively I thought we played really well,” Harting said. “We did give up chunk yardage at times but we did a nice job of getting them behind the sticks and forcing them to do some things they didn’t want to do. It’s just so hard to replicate (the Wing-T offense) during the week – they run it a lot better than our scout team runs it, but it does take a few series to figure out how you can play it.”

Crestview will travel to Fort Loramie on Friday, while Spencerville will host Columbus Grove.

Scoring summary

Crestview       6  14  21   0 – 41

Spencerville   0    0    0   8 –   8

First quarter

C – Conner Hammons 8-yard run (kick failed)

Second quarter

C – Calin Balliet 33-yard run (two point conversion failed)

C – Hayden Waltmire 12-yard run (Hayden Waltmire run)

Third quarter

C – Calin Balliet 28-yard pass to Beau Lichtensteiger (Conner Hammons run)

C – Calin Balliet 2-yard run (two point conversion failed)

C – Calin Balliet 12-yard pass to Beau Lichtensteiger (Bladin Scott kick)

Fourth quarter

S – 15-yard run (two point conversion)