{"id":146219,"date":"2021-09-22T03:54:26","date_gmt":"2021-09-22T08:54:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=146219"},"modified":"2021-09-22T03:55:01","modified_gmt":"2021-09-22T08:55:01","slug":"preview-knights-4-1-vs-pirates-4-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2021\/09\/22\/preview-knights-4-1-vs-pirates-4-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Preview: Knights (4-1) vs. Pirates (4-1)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

SCOTT TRUXELL\/<\/strong>independent sports editor<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A unique challenge awaits Crestview Friday night in Bluffton.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Knights (4-1, 1-1 NWC) will go up against an old-school option attack that\u2019s run by a fourth-year starter at quarterback who happens to be the Northwest Conference\u2019s leading rusher.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Sophomore Isaac Kline has racked up nearly 200 yards on the ground for the Crestview Knights. Bob Barnes\/file photo<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Through five games, Bluffton senior Nate Schaadt has amassed 874 yards rushing and 14 touchdowns on 105 carries while piloting a flexbone offense that leads the NWC with 303 yards rushing and 385 yards of total offense per game. Bluffton (4-1, 1-1 NWC) also has the top scoring offense among conference teams (36 points per game).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNate Schaadt brings a style of play to our offense that is hard to prepare for,\u201d Bluffton head coach Jeff Richards said. \u201cHis experience as a four-year starter in a multiple option offense gives us the confidence to trust him with making reads and also communicating adjustments that we see on the sidelines. His overall ability as an almost 200 pound running quarterback makes him a huge threat at the second level when running the ball.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPassing, Nate has the ability to make defenses pay throwing deep when they cheat up as well,\u201d Richards added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Schaadt has completed 28-of-65 passes for 358 yards, three touchdowns and four interceptions, with Braedon Jordan serves as his main receiver (10 receptions, 97 yards).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Landon Shutler adds another dimension to the running game with 54 carries for 347 yards and a pair of touchdowns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

\u201cBluffton is a very dynamic and incredibly athletic team,\u201d Crestview head coach James Lautzenheiser said. \u201cCoach Richards probably has one of his largest rosters and I believe that’s a testament to the type of culture that he’s building in Pirate country.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe will have to be disciplined in order to keep the power run and option game under control and also have our eyes right when their quarterback decides to pass,\u201d Lautzenheiser continued. \u201cWe have challenged our team to be tough and stingy this week in all phases of the game.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHarmon Field is a tough environment to get a win on the road, and we know we’ll have to play fast, physical, and disciplined football to compete and win in Week No. 6. Our players understand that this is an opportunity to gain some momentum in league play and that we still need to continue to grow and develop throughout the season.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite missing last week\u2019s game against Delphos Jefferson, JJ Ward continues to lead all NWC passers with 874 yards and nine touchdowns, while completing 49-of-82 passes. In his absence, Carson Hunter completed 14-of-28 passes for 289 yards, three touchdowns and an interception.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI can’t say enough about some of our younger players that stepped up in key roles in the second half of last week’s game,\u201d Lautzenheiser said. \u201cWhen you see new names in the box score on Saturday morning, that means that someone took advantage of an investment opportunity and ran with it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAs we move forward to this week, we’ll continue to lean on some of these younger players in key positions as still have some lingering issues in some spots. It helps you sleep a lot better at night when you know you have some younger players chomping at the bit to get in there and prove their worth.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Entering Week No. 6 Rontae Jackson leads the conference with 364 yards and five touchdowns on 11 receptions, while Ayden Lichtensteiger has nine catches for 109 yards and Nick Helt has recorded eight receptions for 108 yards. Helt also leads the Knights in rushing (54-255, five touchdowns) while Isaac Kline has added 191 yards on 39 carries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Overall, the Knights are second in total offense (358 yards per game) and they\u2019ve done it with a balanced offense, averaging 182 yards rushing and 176 passing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCrestview is a tough team to prepare for as they are very disciplined and well coached,\u201d Richards said. \u201cThey have a solid group of big guys up front and some talented athletes at their skill positions. They have a great culture and respond well to adversity. It will be a tough, physical game for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last year\u2019s Crestview-Bluffton game was canceled by COVID-19, but the Knights have won four straight against the Pirates, with Bluffon\u2019s last win coming in 2015 (41-28).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SCOTT TRUXELL\/independent sports editor A unique challenge awaits Crestview Friday night in Bluffton. The Knights (4-1, 1-1 NWC) will go up against an old-school option attack that\u2019s run by a fourth-year starter at quarterback who happens to be the Northwest Conference\u2019s leading rusher. Through five games, Bluffton senior Nate Schaadt has amassed 874 yards rushing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-146219","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-10 22:08:42","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146219","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=146219"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146219\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=146219"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=146219"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=146219"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}