{"id":78949,"date":"2016-08-13T07:10:42","date_gmt":"2016-08-13T12:10:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=78949"},"modified":"2016-08-13T07:10:42","modified_gmt":"2016-08-13T12:10:42","slug":"knights-upbeat-about-2016-grid-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2016\/08\/13\/knights-upbeat-about-2016-grid-season\/","title":{"rendered":"Knights upbeat about 2016 grid season"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>SCOTT TRUXELL\/<\/strong><em>independent sports<\/em><\/p>\n<p>CONVOY &#8212; If Crestview Head Football Coach Jared Owens seems upbeat about the upcoming season, he has good reason to be. That\u2019s because the Knights are poised to move up in the Northwest Conference standings and make a fourth consecutive trip to the postseason.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_69440\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-69440\" style=\"width: 330px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-69440\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/Crestview-football-vs.-Paulding-10-30-15-Kline-TD.jpg\" alt=\"Crestview quarterback Drew Kline (10) runs the ball in for a touchdown against Paulding in a Northwest Conference game won by the Knights 42-20. (Bob Barnes\/Van Wert independent)\" width=\"330\" height=\"420\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-69440\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><strong>Crestview quarterback Drew Kline (10) scores\u00a0a touchdown against Paulding last season.<\/strong> <em>(VW independent file photo)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Owens said 17 lettermen are back from last year\u2019s team that went 4-7, including a one-point playoff loss to McComb. That translates into good experience at most positions, including quarterback.<\/p>\n<p>After starting two games as a freshman last season, sophomore Drew Kline will likely run Crestview\u2019s multiple spread option offense this fall. Senior Dylan Grandstaff started nine games at quarterback in 2015, but is on track to play wide receiver.<\/p>\n<p>Owens said running the ball is \u201ca big key to success,\u201d and, with that in mind, two seniors are in the mix to handle running back duties for the Knights: Peyton Knittle and Luke Gerardot.<\/p>\n<p>The backfield will operate behind an offensive line that returns four of five starters from last year\u2019s team.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTwo of those linemen have been battling injuries during preseason practices, which has allowed players from last year\u2019s junior varsity team to step up and battle for playing time,\u201d Owens said.<\/p>\n<p>Defense could be a strength for the Knights this season, the coach added.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have a number of returning starters, and our front seven should be fairly strong,\u201d Owens said.<\/p>\n<p>He added the secondary should be equally good against the run and the pass.<\/p>\n<p>The season opener for the Knights will be at home August 26 against the Parkway Panthers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>SCOTT TRUXELL\/independent sports CONVOY &#8212; If Crestview Head Football Coach Jared Owens seems upbeat about the upcoming season, he has good reason to be. That\u2019s because the Knights are poised to move up in the Northwest Conference standings and make a fourth consecutive trip to the postseason. Owens said 17 lettermen are back from last [&hellip;]<\/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-78949","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sports"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-17 06:05:47","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\/78949","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=78949"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78949\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78949"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78949"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78949"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}