OLIVESBURG — One at a time.
It’s a philosophy that has served the Crestview Cougars well as they make history with every additional victory.
One possession at a time.
One quarter at a time.
One game at a time.
One win at a time.
The Cougars are 17-0 with five regular season games remaining — all against Firelands Conference opponents they already have beaten once this season. Crestview’s average margin of victory in those games was 35.4 points and only one was decided by less than 30, a 59-39 win over Plymouth in early-January.
There is a very real possibility the Cougars will complete the first unbeaten regular season in program history. As it it, the 2023-24 edition of Crestview basketball already has topped last year’s record-setting streak of 14 straight victories to start the season.
Veteran coach John Kurtz, who picked up career win No. 400 at Northwestern last week, welcomed back an embarrassment of riches from last year’s team. The Cougars were 21-3 last winter, setting a record for most wins in a single season in program history.
So how has Kurtz managed the lofty expectations this year?
“I know it’s a cliché from the coach, but we tell the kids that every game is a new game,” Kurtz said after the Cougars dispatched Norwalk St. Paul in mid-January. “It’s just a fact. We told our kids, ‘Let’s worry about St. Paul today and we’ll worry about our next opponent later.’
“For us, it really is a one-game-at-a-time approach.”
Crestview is averaging 71.6 points a game and scored a single-game record 105 in a win over Ontario in December.
Senior Jarek Ringler and junior Justice Thompson were both double-figures scorers last year and they’ve gotten plenty of help this winter from seniors Dylan Bruner and Sam Wells and junior Tyson Ringler.
“We expected to be good. We’ve put a lot of work in,” Bruner said after the Cougars avenged last year’s loss to Lucas late last month. “We have enjoyed the process. Getting to this point has been a lot of fun.”
Kurtz has been impressed with his team’s selflessness.
“I have told our kids since I’ve been here I don’t really care about having 20-point scorers. We don’t really want that,” Kurtz said. “We do like a lot of 12-point scorers and this team has got multiple kids who can do it on a given night.
“There are nights when there are some guys who are probably open who don’t get the ball and is hasn’t become a problem for us.”
Defensively, Crestview is allowing 50.2 points a game. Only two games have been decided by fewer than 10 points.
“You choose to be physical and you choose to play defense,” said Wells, whose rebounding prowess and ability to throw long outlet passes triggers a high-octane transition game. “We like to make the game faster.”
With the tournament draw rapidly approaching, Crestview is likely to get a high seed for the Division III Norwalk district. The Cougars are atop the Division III district RPI rankings this week.
“The tournament is a big thing for us,” Bruner said. “We’re going to take it one game at a time.”
With an all-for-one attitude, the sky is the limit for the Cougars.
“There’s really great leadership on this team,” Kurtz said. “I give the credit to our kids and our culture.”