{"id":209842,"date":"2026-09-08T20:39:54","date_gmt":"2026-09-09T01:39:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=209842"},"modified":"2026-09-08T20:39:56","modified_gmt":"2026-09-09T01:39:56","slug":"knights-bearcats-seeking-first-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2026\/09\/08\/knights-bearcats-seeking-first-win\/","title":{"rendered":"Knights, Bearcats seeking first win"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

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

CONVOY — A tough non-conference schedule is in the rear view mirror and now the Crestview Knights are turning their attention to Northwest Conference play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Knights (0-3) dropped games to Paulding, Minster and Wayne Trace and enter Friday\u2019s game at Spencerville seeking their first win of the season. For head coach Cole Harting and the Knights, it\u2019s kind of a fresh start.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are now entering the second part of our season,\u201d Harting said. \u201cWe aren\u2019t where we thought we would be at this point, but starting conference play allows us to sort of reset and refocus our goals.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

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Crestview quarterback Cooper Miller has passed for over 500 yards. Wyatt Richardson photo<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

While the results aren\u2019t what Harting wanted to see in terms of wins and losses, he did say the Knights learned a few things during the first three games.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe biggest lessons we have learned so far is that we have to take advantage of opportunities we are given,\u201d he explained. \u201cWe have to capitalize on field position and turnovers. We also have to execute our assignments, we cannot afford mental mistakes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Turnovers have plagued the Knights so far this season, and Crestview is currently last among NWC schools in rushing yards. The Knights are averaging 63 yards per game on the ground, with Evin Brincefield leading the way (27 carries, 84 yards, one touchdown). The passing game is averaging 178 yards per game, with Cooper Miller completing 35-of-91 passes for 534 yards, two touchdowns and four interceptions. Harper Perrott is the team\u2019s leading receiver with 10 receptions for 176 yards, while Cash Hammons has seven grabs for 165 yards and a touchdown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe first thing you notice about Crestview is just the size and physicality that they show up front,\u201d Spencerville head coach Kyle Koenig said. \u201cThey have a really good group of offensive and defensive linemen. We are going to have to match that physicality up front and work on our pad level if we want to be successful Friday night. You also have to worry about giving up the big play against them. They are not afraid to take some deep shots down field in this offense, and our guys in the back of our defense are going to have to stay disciplined to prevent those from happening.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just like for Crestview, there\u2019s no denying it\u2019s been a rough start for Spencerville. The Bearcats opened with a 60-0 loss to Anna, followed by a 55-0 loss to Wayne Trace and last week, a 35-0 loss to Riverside. All three teams are 2-1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe year obviously has not started the way we would have liked and it is disappointing,\u201d Koenig said. \u201cI think the one thing that I am proud of our guys the most is just how they come to work every day with a great attitude and want to get better. We have had to deal with some injuries early on that have really hurt us, but our guys have been adjustable and understand the situation and have gone about things in a positive way.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think last week in the Riverside game our defense took a big step in the first half with getting some stops early on, but we just couldn’t sustain it with some key guys going down during the second half of that game,\u201d he continued. \u201cWe just have to keep focusing week by week on improving the things we need to improve at and hopefully we can get things rolling in the right direction.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maxwell Jurek leads the Bearcats in rushing with 44 carries for 109 yards, while Evan Dunnigan has 24 carries for 86 yards. Grant Layman has completed 4-of-14 passes for 19 yards and an interception. As a team, Spencerville is averaging 114 total yards per game, while allowing 307 yards per game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWith us both being 0-3, we are both going to fight and give everything we have to get in the win column,\u201d Harting said. \u201cTheir offense has struggled, but the Wing-T offense is difficult to prepare for. Statistically, we have not done a great job of stopping the run (allowing 262 yards rushing per game). We need to force them into third and long and get them off the field.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDefensively, they have decent size up front and have shown the ability to create negative plays,\u201d Harting continued. \u201cWe will have to do a great job executing our assignments and finishing plays. We must come out with great effort and energy. Everyone must be sound with their assignments -and play with physicality. If we can do those things, we will put ourselves in position to get into the win column.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As far as the NWC championship race, Harting said he expects it to be a very competitive one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe NWC as a whole is very good this year,\u201d he said. \u201cIt wouldn\u2019t surprise me at all if the league champion ends up with at least one loss.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Crestview won last year\u2019s game 33-27 and the Knights have won four straight against the Bearcats. Spencerville\u2019s last win in the series was in 2021, 29-28.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SCOTT TRUXELL\/independent sports CONVOY — A tough non-conference schedule is in the rear view mirror and now the Crestview Knights are turning their attention to Northwest Conference play. The Knights (0-3) dropped games to Paulding, Minster and Wayne Trace and enter Friday\u2019s game at Spencerville seeking their first win of the season. For head coach […]<\/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-209842","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-09-16 03:27:00","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\/209842","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=209842"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209842\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":209845,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/209842\/revisions\/209845"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=209842"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=209842"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=209842"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}