Knights win game for Noah Riggenbach

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent sports editor

CONVOY — It was a game dedicated to Noah Riggenbach, the Crestview freshman injured in a junior varsity game last Saturday.

With Riggenbach recovering from the severe injury and brain surgery at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus, the No. 10-ranked Knights rallied from a nine-point first half deficit to defeat Allen East 36-22 in a constant cold rain.

“Honestly, until he was starting to show some steps in the right direction after surgery, for me personally I had a hard time focusing on anything (about) Allen East,” Crestview head coach Jared Owens said. “I can’t speak for our guys but I know there was a lot of heartfelt prayer. Our guys were determined and inspired to get the job done for him.”

The Knights (7-1, 4-1 NWC) trailed 22-20 at halftime and didn’t take their first lead of the game until the 10:23 mark of the third quarter, when Drew Kline raced 61 yards for a touchdown. Brody Brecht added the two-point conversion to give the Knights a 28-22 advantage.

It was Crestview’s next possession that provided what proved to be the game clinching touchdown. After forcing an Allen East (4-4, 3-2 NWC) punt, the Knights took over at the 7:58 mark of the period and drove 80 yards in 14 plays, all on the ground. Kline and Brecht combined for 70 of those yards and Caylib Pruett finished the drive with a 10-yard touchdown run with 11:52 left in the fourth quarter.

“Allen East did some unique things defensively and gave us some trouble,” Owens said. “As the night went on we were able to wear on them a little bit, establish the line of scrimmage, and in this kind of slop you need that.”

Kline finished the game with 23 carries for 201 yards and a pair of touchdowns, while Brecht tallied 98 yards and a touchdown on 15 carries.

Meanwhile, Crestview’s defense clamped down in the second half, holding the Mustangs to just 52 total yards, including 38 on one play.

In the first half, it appeared the game might be a shootout.

After the Knights turned the ball over on downs in their initial possession in the opening quarter, the Mustangs struck on their first play. Quarterback Tyler Clum tossed a lateral to wide receiver Bryce Belcher, who in turn fired a 64-yard touchdown pass to fellow receiver Cole Fletcher. The two-point conversion failed, but Allen East had a 6-0 lead with 8:43 left in the quarter.

It didn’t take long for Crestview to respond. After a horse collar penalty on the ensuing kickoff gave the Knights the ball at the 44, Kline carried four straight times, with the fourth ending with a 35 yard touchdown run that tied the game.

The Mustangs responded with a nine play, 53 yard drive that ended with an 18 yard touchdown pass from Clum (10 of 34, 104 yards, one touchdown, three interceptions) to Fletcher, then Allen East recovered a mishandled kickoff and ran off 14 plays before Bradden Crumrine kicked an 18 yard field goal that increased the lead to 15-6 with 11:10 left in the second quarter.

The Knights went three and out on the next possesesion, but Kline intercepted a Clum pass and returned it to the Allen East 35. On the following play, Brecht covered the entire distance, then added the two point conversion to pull Crestview to within one, 15-14 with 8:25 left in the quarter.

However, Crumine answered by returning the Crestview kickoff 85 yards for a touchdown, then added the PAT for a 22-14 Allen East lead.

After trading possessions, Crestview had the ball at the Mustang 23 with 2:29 left until halftime. It took exactly 62 seconds for the Knights to score. Caylib Pruett ran for a yard, Kline completed an 11 yard pass to Wade Sheets, Kline and Brecht each ran for two yards, before Kline scrambled on third down and found a wide open Landin Burch for a six yard touchdown. The two point try failed, leaving the Knights down 22-20.

Kline completed 4 of 9 passes for 43 yards, one touchdown and one interception. Seven of those passes were thrown in the first two quarters, as the Knights leaned heavily on the running game in the second half. Sheets had two catches for 30 yards.

“It wasn’t pretty and it took us a while to get rolling,” Owens said. “We had some turnovers and some mistakes, but once we got rolling we were able to establish some physicality at the line of scrimmage and we played pretty well.”

Owens was quick to give Allen East credit.

“They played their guts out,” Owens said of the Mustangs. “Coach Schroeder is doing a really good job with them. They’re a physical team, and they’re a little undersized at some positions but they play hard.”

“We knew it wasn’t going to be easy, so I’m really proud of our guys to be able to play a quality opponent and get the job done.”

The Knights will play at Delphos Jefferson on Friday, then will close the regular season at Paulding the following Friday.

Scoring summary:

Crestview  6 14 8 8 – 36
Allen East 12  8 0 0 – 20

8:43 1st qtr: Bryce Belcher 64 yard pass to Cole Fletcher (run failed)
6:47 1st qtr: Drew Kline 35 yard run (run failed)
2:29 1st qtr: Tyler Clum 17 yard pass to Cole Fletcher (kick failed)
11:10 2nd qtr: Bradden Crumrine 21 yard field goal
8:25 2nd qtr: Brody Brecht 35 yard run (Brecht run)
8:08 2nd qtr: Bradden Crumrine 85 yard kickoff return (Crumrine kick)
1:27 2nd qtr: Drew Kline 6 yard pass to Landin Burch (run failed)
10:23 3rd qtr: Drew Kline 61 yard run (Brody Brecht run)
11:12 4th qtr: Caylib Pruett 10 yard run (Kline to Burch pass)