OLIVESBURG — The last time Crestview won a Firelands Conference championship, current coach John Kurtz was piloting Temple Christian and nobody on the Cougars’ 2022-23 roster was born.
It was 2000 and Rick Geiser was on the bench for the first of his seven seasons in Olivesburg after replacing Ohio High School Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Famer Walt Harrop. The Cougars were 13-1 in the Firelands Conference that season, finishing a game ahead of Norwalk St. Paul.
The title was Crestview’s second in a row after Harrop guided the Cougars to a 12-2 league mark in 1998-99. The back-to-back crowns are Crestview’s only two FC championships.
Fast-forward to today and the Cougars (11-0, 6-0) are off to their best start in program history under Kurtz, who is in the third year of his second stint in charge of the program. He previously coached at Crestview for three seasons from 2008 to 2011, going 33-33 before a successful seven-year run at Mansfield Christian (2011-2018).
Last weekend saw the Cougars outscore their two opponents by a combined score of 156-31. Crestview walloped FC rival Plymouth 75-19 on Friday before emptying the chamber in an 81-12 win over Temple Christian on Saturday. Unofficially, the 19 points allowed against the Big Red on Friday were the fewest in program history. That record stood for 24 hours.
Crestview is two games clear of Monroeville and St. Paul in the loss column as the second round of conference play begins. The Cougars were to host St. Paul on Thursday but the game was postponed because of leak in the gym roof. Crestview visits Western Reserve on Saturday.
Historically speaking, these Cougars are in uncharted waters. The 1965-66 team won its first nine games. Harrop’s FC-champion 1998-99 team opened with six consecutive victories.
“Our kids talked about it a little bit,” Kurtz said of the historic start after last week’s win over Plymouth. “We kind of have higher goals than that, but it’s really cool because there’s a lot of history at the school — but nobody has ever done that.”
Kurtz’s 2020-21 team went 17-8 behind 1,000-point scorer Evan Hamilton. The Cougars were 12-10 last year, setting the table for this season.
“I knew in the summer that our kids were putting a lot of time in and it was the right kids putting time in,” Kurtz said. “When your leadership puts the time in, I think everybody tends to get on board.
“I could see it coming, but I don’t know that I expected it this soon in the season.”
Crestview’s 10-man varsity roster includes just two seniors, Heath Kash and football standout-turned-power forward Owen Barker. Both are starters, along with juniors Dylan Bruner and Jarek Ringler and sophomore Justice Thompson.
“We have a solid five or six guys — and even the guys off the bench — who can come out and play any given night,” said Kash, who scored 18 points against Plymouth. “If someone is struggling, we’ve got people who can come in and fill those gaps.
“We’re all unselfish. Nobody cares who scores.”
The Cougars begin a grueling stretch Saturday at Western Reserve. Crestview will host Madison and South Central next week before visiting Lucas, Monroeville and Ontario before the end of the month.
“Our kids are really just waiting on the next game,” Kurtz said. “We’ve got tough ones yet. We’ve got to go to some tough gyms and play.”
Crestview will be in the 12-team Division III Norwalk district field, along with Cardinal Stritch (10-1), Genoa (9-1), Margaretta (9-4) and Wynford (8-3), among others. The Cougars reached the district tournament in 2021, but were ousted in the opening round last year.
“After last year’s rocky season we made it a goal to never let that happen again,” Kash said. “We’re all just playing for each other. That’s what we care about. That’s driven us this year.”
