OLIVESBURG – With its playoff and league-championship hopes hanging on life support Friday night, the Crestview football team needed just one more miracle.
But visiting Firelands Conference front-runner Monroeville wouldn’t grant that wish at Scott Bailey Memorial Field in an instant-classic, 28-26 win for the Eagles.
The Cougars (5-4, 4-2 FC) and three-year starting quarterback Liam Kuhn – who did not play the first three quarters due to a leg injury – made a frantic, fourth-quarter push.
But after Kuhn ran in a 7-yard touchdown with 5:43 to play, Monroeville got a critical stop on the ensuing two-point play, forcing CHS senior Ayden Reymer out of bounds at the 1-yard line.
The Eagles (7-2, 6-0) then drained the rest of the clock, hitting a 26-yard pass on a back-breaking, third-and-19 play to keep the final drive going.
Had the Cougars made a stop there, they would have gotten the ball back with more than three minutes left. But the vaunted Monroeville run game – led by quarterback Colton Clark (205 yards, two touchdowns on 26 carries) – finished things off.
Crestview suffered a 34-0 road loss in Week 8 at Western Reserve, but a win on Senior Night would have kept alive its hopes for a playoff berth and at least a share of an FC crown.
Instead, the Cougars were all but mathematically eliminated from the postseason hunt, breaking a seven-year playoff streak.
Monroeville could win its first outright FC crown since 2002 next week at St. Paul (5-4, 4-2).
“Our seniors played their hearts out; the thing about our team is we just don’t quit,” Cougars head coach Steve Haverdill said. “(The shutout loss at Western Reserve), I can’t explain it. It was something I haven’t seen since I’ve been here.
“But it happens in high school sports and you chalk it up and you move to the next day, and these guys did that. They prepared all week and they played four quarters of what they needed to play against a very good football team.”
Crestview’s defense did have one final chance to get the ball back to the Cougar offense with about a minute to go, forcing third-and-goal from the 1-yard line.
But after a false start was called on MHS, it was overturned, with the referees instead penalizing Crestview for trying to instigate the false start.
Haverdill was penalized for arguing the call, granting the Eagles the first down they needed for victory formation.
It was a fitting finish in a game that seemed to have something crazy happen in every quarter.
“Everytime we come down here it’s a battle,” Eagles head coach Tylor Nester said. “(Haverdill) always has his kids prepared and ready to go.
“We talked all year about riding that momentum – there’s ups and downs – and we did a really good job of being persistent and being patient with some of the run plays and schemes they were giving us.”
Things were wild from the very start.
After the Cougar defense forced a turnover-on-downs with a big tackle from senior Keith Abshire, backup quarterback Lane Robinson started the game under center for CHS.
Kuhn had missed most of the week of practice due to his injury and Robinson – who had not attempted a pass all season – helped guide the Cougars to an opening-drive touchdown.
The left-handed senior completed a pair of passes on the 11-play drive before Reymer slipped a tackle and found the end zone from 15 yards.
Abshire’s PAT kick made it 7-0 and the Crestview defense forced a punt to set up another score.
On that first play of the second quarter, Robinson pitched the ball to Reymer, who ran right, then unloaded a deep halfback pass to senior Max Durbin for a 52-yard TD strike.
The Cougars maintained that 14-0 lead more than halfway through the second quarter – in part due to a big fourth-down tackle by senior Cole Hughes – but the Eagles started to find their footing.
Clark aired it out deep down the middle to Chase Horn for a 42-yard touchdown pass to make it 14-7 with 3:10 before the half.
Then, after a short punt, Monroeville got the ball back inside the CHS 40 and Clark used a stumbling, 26-yard scramble to set up his 1-yard score with eight seconds left to tie it at 14-14.
“Everything was clicking (when it was 14-0), but we also know it’s a long game and they were going to make adjustments,” Haverdill said.
“They’re very good at what they do,” he said of the Eagles, who finished with 311 yards on the ground and 125 through the air. “… You only need a handful of plays, and if you run them very well you can attack any kind of defensive front you’re facing.
“I thought they hit the holes extremely hard.”
The Eagles marched 75 yards on 10 plays on their first drive of the second half to go up 21-14, capped by a 2-yard run from Connor Bores (14 carries, 66 yards) – the FC’s second-leading rusher entering Friday.
But after a Crestview punt, Robinson intercepted Clark in the CHS end zone on the first play of the fourth quarter. The pass was wobbly and into the wind on a third-and-3 from the Cougar 31-yard line.
“You’ve got to be able to pass when you want to in games like this,” Nester said, “and in that one opportunity it didn’t come for us, but in a couple opportunities before, it did.”
Kuhn entered the fray from there, and on his third snap of the game, hit a slanting Carson Keener over the middle for an 87-yard touchdown.
“We talked to our trainer and we talked to Liam and we felt like he was able to go if needed,” Haverdill said of his senior, who was 6-of-8 for 157 yards in the fourth quarter. “We wanted to protect him as much as possible and if we didn’t need him, you know, these are kids.
“We got into a situation where we felt like (it was the right time to put him in) and it created a spark.”
Crestview’s PAT kick was blocked, however, and the Eagles forged ahead 28-20 on their next drive, covering 71 yards on five running plays in a little more than a minute.
Unfazed, Kuhn marched CHS 71 yards in about four minutes after that, connecting with Keener, Durbin and seniors Bransen Hider and Karter Goon (three catches for 63 yards).
On the drive, Kuhn surpassed 4,000 passing yards for his career (he was already the Crestview career leader in passing yards), and when he ran in his touchdown with 5:43 left, the Cougars were within 28-26.
But Bores and Cooper Cleary forced out Reymer at the 1 on the two-point play and MHS held.
The Eagle defense didn’t allow a single rushing first down after Crestview’s opening drive, holding the Cougars to just 31 yards on 25 carries.
“Tonight’s nice, but we want to be greedy and get it all next week,” Nester said.
Haverdill lauded the efforts of his squad and its 13 seniors, adding that Robinson was everything the team needed with Kuhn hobbled.
“Hats off to both guys – I thought they both played well,” the coach said. “It comes down to little things when you’re in a game like this.”
Crestview will finish its season next week at Mapleton (2-7, 1-5).
NOTE: After the game, as fans were shuffling out of the stands and teams were heading to their locker rooms, longtime Crestview High School public address man Mike Baker announced Friday’s game was his last on the microphone.
He has been the voice of games at CHS for the last 42 years.
“The Crestview community, current and former players thank Mike for all the great memories he helped bring to life under the Friday night lights,” said Crestview athletic director Tim Kuhn, who had Baker on the microphone during his playing days for the Cougars as well.