{"id":209600,"date":"2026-09-01T20:41:13","date_gmt":"2026-09-02T01:41:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=209600"},"modified":"2026-09-01T20:41:13","modified_gmt":"2026-09-02T01:41:13","slug":"knights-seeking-first-win-of-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2026\/09\/01\/knights-seeking-first-win-of-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Knights seeking first win of 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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

CONVOY — Something will have to give when Crestview hosts Wayne Trace in the third and final non-conference game of the season for both teams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Crestview is trying to avoid an 0-3 start for the first time since 2008. Meanwhile, it\u2019s been a long time since the Raiders won a football game in Convoy. How long? The 2008 season, when Wayne Trace posted a 22-16 victory over the Knights. The Raiders went on to finish 3-7 that season, while Crestview was 0-10. Wayne Trace head coach Matt Holden was a freshman football player for the Knights then.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Knights are coming off a 37-0 loss to Minster and despite the tough start to the season, there have been some encouraging moments, leading head coach Cole Harting to say he wants to build on some positive things.<\/p>\n\n\n

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After two games, Harper Perrott leads the Knights in receptions. Bob Barnes\/Van Wert independent<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\u201cOur defense has done a great job at creating turnovers,\u201d he said.\u00a0\u201cWe need to continue\u00a0to be more consistent on the offensive side. We want to be playing our best football when we get into league play, but our main goal is to be better than we were the previous week.\u00a0If we can continue to do that every week, we will put ourselves\u00a0in position to win games.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Knights hope to jump start a running game that has had some ups and downs so far. Evin Brincefield is the team\u2019s leading rusher (23 carries, 74 yards) while Trenton Osborn has 52 yards on nine carries. Quarterback Cooper Miller is 17-of-49 for 280 yards, one touchdown and three interceptions. Cash Hammons (4-123, one touchdown) and Harper Perrott (6-87) have been the leading receivers to this point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCrestview is a team that is working to replace a lot of production from a year ago,\u201d Holden said. \u201cThey lost a lot of playmakers on both sides of the ball but they bring back large, physical linemen on both sides, which certainly helps fill that void.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe also need to be aware of their young but talented skill players on both sides of the ball,\u201d he continued. \u201cIf you’ve seen their games this year, you know that they’re capable of making some plays for Coach Harting, as well. The Crestview coaching staff does a great job of getting their guys ready to play, so we’ll need to be ready to go on Friday night.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wayne Trace (1-1) bounced back from a season-opening loss to New Bremen with a resounding 55-0 win over Spencerville.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think the biggest thing they did well was taking a focused approach to film and game planning,\u201d Holden explained. \u201cNo one wants to start the season with a loss, but our kids were very focused on seeing what they could improve to be the best version of themselves for Week No. 2 instead of feeling sorry that they got beat by a really good team in New Bremen. When looking specifically at the game against Spencerville, we challenged our guys to continue to take care of the football. Despite the tough competition Week No. 1, we didn’t turn the ball over and we continued that trend in Week No. 2. It’s certainly an area of emphasis and our guys are getting it done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAdditionally, we tasked them to be better in all areas of special teams and we were just that,\u201d he continued. \u201cWe did a great job of putting PATs through the uprights, getting down the field on kickoff and punt, and of getting positive yards and securing the ball on both punt and kickoff return. Finally, we knew we needed to continue to do a better job of getting our athletes the ball in space and we were able to accomplish that in both the running and passing games. We’ll need to continue to do that to be successful.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wayne Trace\u2019s ground attack has been led by Carter Baumle (14 carries, 174 yards and two touchdowns, while quarterback Reece Morehead has 19 carries for 106 yards and three touchdowns, all against Spencerville. He also passed for two touchdowns against the Bearcats and on the season, Moorehead is 12-of-25 for 147 yards. His favorite receiver so far has been Zach Stoller (6-62).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cReece is a key part of what we do offensively,\u201d Holden said. \u201cWatching from the stands, I’m sure people can see the athletic ability he has both running and throwing the ball, but we ask a lot of him, mentally, as well. His biggest strength for us is being confident, making great decisions, and communicating with us coaches on what he’s seeing to help us tweak parts of our offense to better attack the defense. He’s one of the toughest kids on our team and I’m excited to see him grow as the season progresses.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOn both sides of the football, Wayne Trace has really good size and strength on their lines,\u201d Harting said. \u201cOffensively, they are complimented by a very good rushing attack and a mobile quarterback who can extend plays and make things happen on the ground or through the air. Defensively, they do a very good job stopping the run, their line eats up blocks and their backers do a very good job filling and tackling while their secondary does a nice job with coverages.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWayne Trace is a familiar opponent, but it’s never easier in preparation,\u201d Harting continued. \u201cCoach Holden does a great job of mixing things up \u2013 he’ll show one thing on film, but then give you a completely different look come Friday.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Friday\u2019s game will air live on 99.7FM WKSD.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SCOTT TRUXELL\/independent sports CONVOY — Something will have to give when Crestview hosts Wayne Trace in the third and final non-conference game of the season for both teams. Crestview is trying to avoid an 0-3 start for the first time since 2008. Meanwhile, it\u2019s been a long time since the Raiders won a football game […]<\/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-209600","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-09-09 21:25:37","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\/209600","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=209600"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209600\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":209610,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209600\/revisions\/209610"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=209600"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=209600"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=209600"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}