OLIVESBURG — Connor Morse and his Crestview teammates exorcised a decade’s worth of demons Saturday night at Scott Bailey Memorial Field.
Morse rushed for 186 yards and three touchdowns on 40 carries as the Cougars remained unbeaten with a 28-7 Firelands Conference win over Norwalk St. Paul.
Crestview (9-0, 5-0) clinched at least a share of the conference championship for a second straight year and can win the title outright for the first time since 2011 with a win next week at Mapleton. Before Saturday, Crestview’s last win over St. Paul (7-1, 3-1) came during that 2011 championship season.
“It feels so good. I can’t even explain how it feels,” Morse said. “It feels amazing to beat them.”
Crestview’s defense set the tone on St. Paul’s opening possession. The Flyers went for it on fourth-and-one from their own 37 yard line, but running back Will Stieber was stuffed for no gain by linebacker Shawn Bailey.
The Cougars took over at the St. Paul 37 with 10:03 to play in the opening quarter and took nearly four minutes off the clock before Morse powered in from 1 yard out for a 7-0 lead. Morse carried the ball on eight of the nine plays during the abbreviated drive, which featured a fourth down conversion on a 3 yard run by fullback Wade Bolin.
Crestview forced a three-and-out on St. Paul’s next possession and, after a long punt by Iowa State recruit Tyler Perkins, took over at its own 24 yard line with 4:11 to play in the opening quarter. Twelve plays later, Morse punched it in from a yard out on the second play of the second quarter for a 14-0 lead. Morse carried the ball eight times on the drive and quarterback Hayden Kuhn completed all three of his pass attempts, including a 16 yarder to Gabe Smedley that gave Crestview a first-and-goal from the 1 yard line.
The offensive line dominated,” Morse said. “They are all dogs. They’re not stopping and they’re making holes.”
Crestview turned the ball over on downs at the St. Paul 1 yard line with 2:25 remaining in the second quarter, but the defense again rose to the occasion and forced another three-and-out. The Cougars regained possession at midfield with 57 seconds remaining and needed only 41 seconds to march 50 yards for the score. Kuhn was 3-for-4 on the drive with his only incompletion coming when he spiked the ball to kill the clock. He connected with Smedley for a 25 yard pick-up to the St. Paul 20 and finished the drive with a 20 yard scoring strike to Adison Reymer with 16 seconds remaining in the half for a 20-0 lead.
“That’s what he does. He leads this team,” Crestview coach Steve Haverdill said of his junior signal-caller. “He manages it very well and our receivers do a very good job of not only blocking in the run game but they can get open in the pass game.”
Crestview extended its lead to 22-0 early in the third when a botched punt snap by the Flyers flew out of the end zone for a safety. Three minutes later, Morse plowed in from 3 yards out for a 28-0 lead.
St. Paul made things interesting in the fourth quarter. First, Quincey Crabbs scored on an impressive 32 yard run with 10:38 to play, breaking several tackles to make it 28-7. The Flyers recovered the ensuing onside kick and marched deep into Crestview territory, but Crabbs was stopped short of the goal line on fourth-and-goal from the 2 with 5:50 remaining to all but seal it.
“This is a big win for our kids and the community,” Haverdill said. “They’ve had that so-called monkey (on their backs) since 2011.
“We proved a point. We respect (St. Paul) very much but we’re not going to fear them any more. These kids keep putting the work in and our coaching staff keeps doing what they’re doing. We’re also going to have a dog fight with those guys.”
