Knights hope to trump the Aces

SCOTT TRUXELL/independent sports editor

CONVOY — After a 38-26 season-opening victory at Parkway, the Crestview Knights will open the home portion of their schedule tomorrow night against Hicksville.

The Knights used a pair of third quarter scores by Trevor Gibson and a fourth quarter interception return for a touchdown by Drew Kline to secure the win over the Panthers. Gibson finished with a team-leading 18 carries for 105 yards and two touchdowns. Along with the pick six, Kline had 170 yards passing and one touchdown, while rushing for 75 yards and a score.

“I was proud that our team had no panic in them,” Crestview head coach Jared Owens said. “I could tell from their body language at halftime they were going to play well in the second half.”

“Anything can happen in a week one game, but I thought we took good care of the football and won the turnover battle,” Owens added.

With a season-opening victory in hand, the Knights have spent the week preparing for Hicksville. The Aces opened the season with a 37-0 loss to the Archbold Blue Streaks, but Owens believes Hicksville is solid, with a spread offense and a base 5-3 defense.

“They are very athletic,” Owens explained. “They have one of the best quarterbacks (Jacob Greer) that we will see and coach Smith is a great leader, game planner, and motivator. It will be a great test for our team.”

In the loss to Archbold, Greer was 10-18 passing for 74 yards and an interception, and he rushed for eight times for 37 yards. As a team, the Aces were held to just 112 yards of total offense.

“We played well in our scrimmages and then against Archbold it was like we forgot how to play, we became selfish and just did our own thing,” Hicksville head coach Lucas Smith said.

Smith also noted the Knights will present several challenges to his team.

“They make you play disciplined football, you have to take care of multiple guys on every play or it will cost you,” Smith said. “They have nice size up front, which we don’t.”

Crestview and Hicksville will air live on WKSD 99.7 FM, and will stream live at www.thevwindependent.com. Pregame coverage will begin at 6:30, with kickoff at 7 p.m.