LOUDONVILLE — Connor Morse and his Crestview teammates made a statement Thursday night.
A senior running back and defensive back, Morse rushed for 170 yards and two second-half touchdowns on 17 carries as the Cougars rolled to a 45-25 win over Loudonville on opening night in the Mohican Valley.
Crestview won a share of the Firelands Conference championship last fall en route to an 8-3 record, but lost a wealth of talent to graduation, including first-team All-Ohio quarterback Ross Kuhn and wideout Evan Hamilton. Preseason prognosticators who didn’t think Crestview would be a factor in the title hunt this year may want to reconsider after Thursday’s showing.
“I think we came out and established our own identity tonight,” said Morse, one of a handful of holdovers from last year’s team. “A lot of the guys who were on the field tonight were on the scout team last year and they were pushing us and making us better.
“Now they are showing what they can do, too.”
Crestview led 17-7 at the half but the Redbirds made things interesting early in the third when Peyton Regan bulled in from the 1-yard line to make it 17-13 less than a minute into the second half. The Cougars responded less than a minute later when Shawn Bailey hauled in a 62-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Hayden Kuhn, the younger brother of Ross Kuhn. Hayden was making his first varsity start under center, and that score made it 24-13 with 10:09 to play in the third period.
“That was huge,” Crestview coach Steve Haverdill said. “Loudonville made a nice adjustment at halftime and scored right away, but we were able to answer right back.
“Our kids are mentally strong. We regrouped and got back to what we do.”
Crestview recovered a pooch kick on the ensuing kickoff and Morse capped the abbreviated drive with a 26-yard touchdown run to make it 31-13 with 7:32 remaining in the third quarter.
It would remain that way until Loudonville scored on the first play of the final period on a 10-yard scoring strike from quarterback Matt Sprang to Connor Harper.
The Cougars again answered when Morse plunged in on a 2-yard run to make it 38-19. An 11-yard touchdown run by Crestview’s Clete Rogers made it 45-19 with 4:49 remaining.
Loudonville capped the scoring when Sprang hooked up with Zach Frankford for a 45-yard scoring strike with 2:39 showing.
“I wanted us to have an opportunity to win the game and we were there for a little bit,” first-year Loudonville coach John Battaglia said. “We’ve got some inexperienced guys out there. We had a sophomore quarterback starting in his first varsity game. He had a couple things go wrong early, then he responded.
“We’re just going to get better with time.”
Crestview piled up 380 yards of total offense to 258 for Loudonville. The Cougars rushed for 273 yards thanks largely to Morse.
“He ran the ball well and the line started to open up those lanes for him,” Haverdill said. “Connor has got great vision and he’s able to find those holes and sneak through.
“I thought we were able to wear them down a little bit.”
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