Quarterback Tony Britton paced the Rebels to a 43-7
victory.

By DOUG CHAPIN

VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT

LEAVITTSBURG — Paul Cusick coaches a football team that has been to the playoffs the last three seasons and has 21 lettermen returning for 2007. Even so, like most coaches, the Crestview High mentor wasn’t entirely sure what opening night would bring.

He needn’t have worried. His Rebels scored on their second play from scrimmage and rolled to a 43-7 triumph over LaBrae Friday night.

“We played well throughout two-a-days, we executed well, and we had good scrimmages,” Cusick said. “Sometimes you worry though, that it might be too much too soon, but we kept it rolling. We had some guys step up and perform in new roles.”

Junior halfback Corey Hill turned a short swing pass from senior quarterback Tony Britton into a 62-yard scoring play on the Rebels’ second play. Crestview also got scoring runs of 44 and 80 yards from Britton on its first two plays of the second half.

“We thought that our offense had the ability to make big plays,” Cusick said. “We’ve got some playmakers and we want to get the ball in their hands.”

Britton on target

Britton hit on seven of 10 pass attempts including completions of 17, 38 and 27 yards to junior wideout George Gutierrez.

On the ground, Britton finished with 150 yards on seven runs, Hill had 68 yards and a running touchdown on just six tries. Senior Keith Drewnoski was the workhorse with 14 carries for 61 yards and two short touchdowns.

“Our bread and butter is still the running game,” Cusick said. “Even though our base offense is the spread, we still are going to be physical.”

Crestview opened a 20-0 lead as LaBrae punted or lost the ball on downs on its first four possessions. The Vikings took advantage of an interception by Cody Formanek and an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on Crestview following the return. Set up at the Rebel 26, junior quarterback Brian Watkins connected with Colton Hill to the 2 and Watkins scored one play later.

Crestview’s defense responded and the Vikings’ second-half possessions resulted in five more punts and a turnover.

Defense reponds well

“The defense was one of our big concerns,” Cusick said, “but the kids responded with a lot of new players in there. We think we have good team speed on defense and we had guys making plays, getting to the ball. When you see us on film you’ll see we have a lot of guys around the ball.”

The Rebels finished with 476 total yards, 304 on the ground and 172 passing. LaBrae had 136 passing yards and 86 on the ground.