OLIVESBURG — Adison Reymer led with his legs. Owen Barker led with his heart.
The end result Friday night was a 31-6 win for unbeaten Crestview over Lucas in a non-league clash of local small-school powers at Scott Bailey Field.
Reymer, a 5-foot-11, 175-pound senior, rushed for 176 yards on 35 carries and two touchdowns for Crestview (6-0), ranked 7th among Ohio’s Division VI schools entering the game.
Barker, a 6-3, 205-pound All-Ohio defensive end, led a smothering Cougar defense that held Lucas (3-3) scoreless for almost 44 minutes and scored a TD of its own on a 32-yard fumble recovery by senior linebacker Shawn Bailey.
Crestview coach Steve Haverdill, now 33-8 in his fourth season leading the Cougars, praised both his senior leaders after his team won its 19th straight regular-season game.
“(Reymer) is the MVP. There’s not many people in this area who can do what he does. He can catch balls out of the backfield. He can block. He can play defense. He is a true MVP and he showed it again tonight,” Haverdill said.
Reymer, who now has 776 yards and 14 TDs on 123 carries, ran the ball eight times on a nine-play drive to open the second half, scoring on a 5-yard run to extend Crestview’s 10-0 halftime lead to 17-0.
SCORING SUMMARY
1st quarter
Crestview — Adison Reymer 14-yard run (PAT Devin Holloway kick)
2nd quarter
Crestview — Holloway 40-yard field goal
3rd quarter
Crestview — Reymer 5-yard run (PAT Holloway kick)
4th quarter
Lucas — Corbin Toms 33-yard pass from Andrew Smollen (PAT run failed)
Crestview — Owen Barker 18-yard pass from Hayden Kuhn (PAT Holloway kick)
Crestview — Shawn Bailey 32-yard fumble recovery (PAT Holloway kick)
Barker, the emotional leader of the defense, helped quiet a Lucas offense that came in averaging 29 points per game.
“Owen Barker is a stud. He’s All-Ohio for a reason. He’s going to be All-Ohio again this season. He may be the (state) defensive player of the year in Division VI. We have seen a lot of good teams and I haven’t seen a better defensive player than Owen Baker,” Haverdill said.
“Thank goodness he’s on our team.”
Both players took the win in stride. Another Firelands Conference title and playoff run are in the offing.
“Throughout the week, we knew we were going into a tough game with Lucas. They’re always strong,” Reymer said. “They have a really good offense and they hit hard on defense. So just going in throughout the week, we tried to stay focused during practice and getting prepared for tonight.
“It all starts in the trenches. Our offensive line makes the holes … I just run through them. It’s easy as that. It’s all them really. I trust my eyes and I trust them.”
Barker credited the Crestview scout team offense that prepped the Cougars for the Lucas double-wing attack.
“It all starts in practice. We always have to practice hard and our scout team, they do it all for us. They run the other team’s offense so we get used to playing that.”
Barker also knows his teammates look to him to set the tone.
“It takes a leader to run our defense, because even if they do get a couple yards on a play, even break out a big play, they gotta have a leader to keep everybody’s heads up and just keep pushing,” he said.
Haverdill, who led his team to the regional title game last year, knows this squad is marked by every opponent it faces, echoing Lucas coach Scott Spitler, who has his Cubs in the postseason every year.
“All I keep hearing is this consecutive, regular-season win streak. This senior class hasn’t lost on this field since their freshman year. I understand exactly what (Spitler) is saying. He’s right. He got our best game,” Haverdill said.
Spitler, whose Division VII squad advanced to the regional semifinals last year and played in a state title game in 2019, credited Crestview’s performance.
But he also pointed to mistakes that have cost his team in losses to the larger Cougars, Mogadore (6-0) and Clear Fork (5-1), including late turnovers in Week Five and costly penalties in Week Six.
Lucas moved the ball on its opening possession, then struggled to find its offense for most of the remainder of the game.
The Cubs, who had a 24-yard TD run called back on a penalty in the third quarter, finally got on the board with 4:36 left to play on a 33-yard TD pass from Andrew Smollen to Corbin Toms that cut the Crestview lead to 17-6.
“It seems like right now we can’t get out of our own way in these big games against great teams. When you play good football teams, you can’t hurt yourself. And that’s what we’re doing right now,” said Spitler, now 91-62 in his 13th season at Lucas.
“Until we grow up and realize that everybody has to bring it, not just the seniors, but everybody brings it, we’re gonna have this result,” he said.
Like Haverdill, Spitler knows opponents mark Lucas on their schedule each season.
“We know that we’re everybody’s Super Bowl. Everybody wants a piece of us because of what we established as a program.
“The problem is we’re a little young and we gotta realize that just because things were successful in years past, we can’t just show up and go through the motions. Our young kids gotta bring it because right now they’re letting our seniors down,” Spitler said.
“So like I said, taking nothing away from (Crestview). They’re a damn good football team and they’re gonna do really good things. But we (had) too many self-inflicted wounds tonight again. That’s a young team that needs to grow up. We’re at Week Six, we shouldn’t be doing this.”
Up next: Crestview resumes its chase for a Firelands Conference title at home next Friday against South Central (3-3). The Trojans blanked winless Monroeville, 28-0 on Friday night.
Lucas hosts Lima Central Catholic (3-3) next Friday. The Thunderbirds knocked off Hopewell-Loudon, 31-8, this week.
