OLIVESBURG – Through two weeks of its season, Crestline has played about two quarters of solid, smash-mouth football.
Those two quarters came Friday night at Crestview’s Scott Bailey Memorial Field, and they were enough to have third-year Bulldogs head coach Hastings Robinette believing his squad has the makeup to have a good season.
Crestline dominated the Cougars early, building a 28-0 lead after just a quarter and a half during an eventual 28-16 victory in the first meeting between the programs since 2003.
“We were a totally different team this week from last week (a 35-7 loss at Buckeye Central); we just had intensity,” Robinette said.
“I told the guys, ‘This isn’t even what we can be.’ We probably left at least 20 points out there; a couple missed balls deep, a couple bad snaps. But we’ll get it cleaned up.”
Returning senior All-Ohio running back and linebacker Quentin Kapp scored two rushing touchdowns and finished his bruising night with 154 yards on 15 carries.
Junior Ashton Hawk added a touchdown and 65 yards on five receptions from senior quarterback Kody Lawhorn (8-of-19, 131 yards passing), while sophomore defensive back Rondo Hudson set up two Crestline scores with huge plays as well.
It was the perfect mix to bury Crestview (0-2) early.
One week after a rough, 54-14 season-opening loss at home to Northwestern, the Cougars got behind too deep too fast against the Bulldogs to make up the difference the rest of the way.
“We made some adjustments and I thought the kids played a lot harder in that second half,” eighth-year Crestview head coach Steve Haverdill said. “We just made too many mistakes and they capitalized on them in the first half.
“We’re just so young that we’re trying to find out what it is that we do well, then trying to make sure it’s simple for them to go out and execute.”
Following the graduation of a talented senior class that included four All-Ohioans, this year’s Cougar roster is nearly half made up of freshmen.
It was clear from the jump Friday night that the hosts were still trying to find their footing.
After a sack from Bronson Rose ended Crestline’s opening drive in Crestview territory, Hudson picked up a sack for the Bulldogs a few plays later to stuff the hosts.
On the ensuing drive, Kapp took the handoff to his right before cutting back to the left side of the field for a 47-yard touchdown that made it 6-0 midway through the first quarter.
A few minutes later – on fourth-and-8 from the Crestview 44 – Lawhorn hit Hudson for a 43-yard reception on the last play of the first quarter.
That set up a 3-yard touchdown pass from Lawhorn to Hawk, and the Bulldog defense forced its fourth consecutive three-and-out for the Cougars on the ensuing drive.
When Kapp punched in his second touchdown from eight yards away with 7:54 showing in the second quarter, Crestline had a 21-0 lead.
“He’s a dog,” Robinette said of Kapp, who had more than 800 rushing yards and better than 100 tackles last year. “You give him a little bit of space and he’ll take advantage of it; he doesn’t fall backwards.”
At that point, the Bulldogs already had 140 yards rushing and 83 yards passing before Crestview even had a first down. And it quickly got worse for the hosts.
After Cougars sophomore Ben Sandvik (10 carries, 55 yards) moved the chains for the first time for the team, Hudson blew up a halfback pass attempt by Crestview with a huge hit.
The ball was scooped up by Crestline senior Colten Keller, who rumbled 40 yards for a touchdown and a 28-0 lead halfway through the second quarter.
“Right now, we’re just making way too many mistakes,” Haverdill said. “We had improvement from Week 1, but we’ve still gotta clean things up.”
Crestview senior quarterback Colten Ernandes reached paydirt on runs of six and eight yards in the second and fourth quarters, respectively, but the Cougars couldn’t get much going on offense.
A 34-yard run by sophomore Gavin Webb was the offensive highlight of the game for the hosts. Crestview was just 2-for-15 passing for minus-3 yards, with interceptions going to Crestline’s Keller and Weston Clark.
With two freshmen starting on the offensive line and a quarterback playing the position for the first season ever, Haverdill said things are a bit sped up for his offense right now.
Cougars senior Carson Keener had an interception in the second half – two quarters that were riddled with penalties for both teams.
Crestview will try to bounce back when it hits the road for the first time this season in Week 3 at Independence (0-2).
The Bulldogs, meanwhile, get to enjoy their home turf for the first time next Friday when they host Mapleton (1-1). It will be the first of four consecutive home games for Crestline.
Robinette likes the leadership of Lawhorn as a third-year quarterback, and said if his team can run the ball like it did Friday (39 carries for 213 yards), he likes its chances to pick up some more wins.
“We’re young up front, but if they can figure it out,” he said, “we’ll be in good shape.”
