NEW WATERFORD, Ohio (WKBN) –
The Southern Indians are one of the area’s few remaining
unbeaten football, teams, but Friday night proved to be a battle as they pulled
away in the fourth quarter to beat Crestview 41-24. The victory improves the Indians to 5-0 on
the season while the Rebels drop to 1-4.
“We knew it was a trap game,” Wright stated. “And we were pretty beat up coming
into tonight. It caught up to us as the game went on. We’re banged up and we
were trying to piece it all together.”
The Rebels began the contest with a 70-yard, 14-play drive that ate up six and
a half minutes. But the Rebels had to
settle for a 21-yard field goal by Brandon Yanssens to give them a 3-0 lead with
5:30 remaining in the opening quarter.
“We knew they were a good, well-coached, and their defense is good. We just tried to come out and play hard,” Indians
senior lineman Stephen Craig said.
The Indians answered two plays later when Indians quarterback Jayce Sloan blasted
through the middle of the Rebels defense for a 70-yard run to make it 6-3 in
the Indians favor. The score came with
4:20 left in the first quarter.
But the Rebels would answer with another touchdown at the 2:24 mark when Ethan
Powell ran in from 2-yards out. With the
touchdown, the Rebels reclaimed the lead 10-6.
“I felt like defensively we could have played a little better,” Craig admitted.
“All in all we knew coming into this
week we had to get better, get healthy, and out at it.”
The Indians would jump back ahead on a 3-yard run by Sloan with just 1:37
remaining to make it 14-10. Sloan’s run
was set up by a 68-yard scamper by Dylan Milhoan down to the Rebels 3.
The Indians would add to their advantage with two scores before
intermission. At the 9:22 mark of the
second quarter, Jayce Sloan connected with his brother Bradly on a 50-yard pass
and run. That gave the Indians a 22-10,
then Cam Grodhaus took a jet sweep around left end 15-yards to make it 28-10
with 5:17 left in the quarter.
“I knew the size difference was going to be an issue,” Rebels coach Paul Cusick
said. “Being a young team that sometimes
happens, you get outmatched sometimes. But
our kids fought and clawed.”
The Indians stumbled coming out in the second half as they suffered a holding
penalty to put them deep in their own territory followed by an errant snap over
the head of Jayce Sloan into the endzone causing a safety. Crestview utilized the momentum they gained to
score again on a 4-yard run by Anthony Cusick with just 1:43 remaining in the third
quarter to make it 28-18.
“I think things came easy for us that first quarter offensively, and then we
came out terrible in the third quarter and made a game of it,” Wright said
about the Indians second-half start. “But
they (Crestview) are well, well-coached. They are well-coached as anybody around, and I
wouldn’t want to play them in week seven.”
But the Indians would settle down and start to take control of the game as they scored on a 2-yard run by Grodhaus with 10:16 left in the fourth quarter. Following a 4-yard run by the Rebels Powell with 6:29 remaining, Dylan Milhoan would seal the game with a 7-yard run with only 2:55 left in the contest.
“I’m really proud of the way we played. We never quit and our kids played hard,” Cusick said. “I’m not happy that we lost, but we did grow up some tonight.”
The Indians will host the Lisbon Blue Devils next Friday in EOAC action. The Rebels will host AAC foe Brookfield next Friday.
SOUTHERN 14-14-0-13=41
CRESTVIEW 10-0-8-6=24
SCORING
CR – Brandon Yanssens 21 field goal
SO – Jayce Sloan 70 run (Pass Failed)
CR – Ethan Powell 2 run (Yanssens Kick)
SO – Jayce Sloan 3 run (Mark Soukup Run)
SO – Bradly Sloan 50 pass from Jayce Sloan (Cam Grodhaus pass from Jayce Sloan)
SO – Grodhaus 15 run (Run Failed)
CR – Safety, ball snapped out of end zone
CR – Anthony Cusick 4 run (Pass failed)
SO – Grodhaus 2 run (Run Failed)
CR – Powell 4 run (Pass Failed)
SO – Dylan Milhoan 7 run (Nate Webster Kick)
