Kirtland routed Crestview to advance to a regional final matchup with Ursuline.

By PETE MOLLICA

VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF

NILES — Crestview High ran into a buzzsaw Saturday night and it was in the form of Kirtland quarterback Ben Madden.

The senior passed and ran the Hornets to a 41-13 victory over the Rebels in a Division V, Region 17 semifinal contest at Bo Rein Stadium.

Madden completed 9 of 15 passes for 141 yards and five touchdowns, while also rushing for 92 more yards on 16 carries to eliminate the Rebels (10-2) and advance to next week’s regional final against Ursuline.

Crestview was still in the contest when it scored late in the second quarter to cut Kirtland’s lead to 14-7, but the Rebels allowed the Hornets to score right before halftime and then gave up two big touchdown drives to open the third quarter and were never in the game again.

“That’s a very good football team,” said Crestview head coach Paul Cusick. “They do everything well and they don’t make mistakes and beat themselves.”

“They made the plays when they needed them and we didn’t,” he added. “We gave them a big score at the end of the half and really turned the momentum to their favor and we never recovered.

Crestview got a big performance from sophomore quarterback Carter Hill, who rushed for 85 yards on 17 carries and passed for another 47 yards, but it wasn’t enough.

“Carter is just a sophomore and he really stepped up tonight,” added Cusick. “He’s a leader out there. He’ll be a big asset to this team next season.”

Carter’s brother, senior tailback Corey Hill, has led the Rebels all season, but was held to just 31 yards on 12 carries and he suffered an ankle injury in the second quarter.

“Corey has been our man all season long,” Cusick said. “He hurt his ankle blocking for Carter and when he came back in he wasn’t anywhere near 100 percent.”

Kirtland scored the first time it touched the football, marching 69 yards in 12 plays before Madden tossed 12 yards to Dominic Samf for the first score.

The Hornets went up 14-0 early in the second quarter as this time Madden hooked up with Anthony Ritossa for a 10-yard scoring pass.

The Rebels, who were held without a first down in the first quarter, finally got rolling in the second and drove 68 yards in 15 plays to get on the board on a 1-yard run by Hill with 1:09 left in the half. But they allowed Neil Perko to return the ensuing kickoff back to the Rebels’ 25 yard line and three plays later Madden again hit Ritossa with an 8-yard touchdown pass with just 36 seconds left in the half.

The Hornets blew things open in the third quarter, taking the kickoff and marching 56 yards on its first drive with Perko scoring from 3 yards out. They followed with a 72-yard drive before Madden connected with Rossi Santo on a 19-yard scoring pass.

Kirtland added one more score early in the final quarter when Madden capped off his night with his fifth TD pass, this one to Samf from 17 yards out.

Crestview, behind a big effort from Carter Hill, drove one last time going 80 yards in 15 plays and Hill had his hand in 14 of those plays before finally hitting Jakob Leon with a 13-yard TD pass with 4:36 remaining.

But when the onside kick failed, Kirtland was able to make two first downs and ran out the clock.