Team

Crestview

Record	Div.	Conf.
6/4	Div. V	Independents

Junior running back runs for 304 yards as Rebels advance with win over St. Thomas

By Matthew Peaslee

mpeaslee@vindy.com

RAVENNA

When he’s not wearing his uniform, Crestview’s Nick Blower looks more like a saxophone player in the Rebels’ marching band than a hard-nosed powerful running back.

But when he straps on those pads and helmet, Blower turns into a one-man wrecking crew.

“For a little guy, he’s got a lot of guts and a lot of heart,” Crestview coach Paul Cusick said. “He just runs hard.”

Standing at just 5-foot-7 and weighing only 136 pounds, Blower ran hard enough on his 22 carries for 304 yards as the Rebels defeated St. Thomas Aquinas 41-20 in the Division V regional semifinals at Ravenna’s Gilchrist Field. On the ground, they totaled 429 yards as a unit.

“Running the ball is what we do best,” Blower said. “Everybody did well and the offense was really clicking. The offensive line is just great up there. They’re the ones that opened up the huge holes.”

No hole was bigger than the one the Crestview line created to start the fourth quarter.

A strong defensive stand on fourth down stopped the threatening Knights on the Crestview 20-yard line. Then, Blower took a hand off on the first play of the ensuing drive and marched 79 yards. He wound up in the end zone, but referees marked him down just shy of it at the 1-yard line. Craig Lower punched it in, though, for the Rebels 31st point of the night.

The junior’s second biggest scamper of the night came midway through the second quarter when he evaded three tackles for a 35-yard scoring run. That broke a 7-7 tie, and the Rebels scored once more before halftime to give them 21 points in the quarter.

“I just want to get as many yards as I can so I keep moving,” he said.

As does the entire Crestview offense.

On its seven scoring drives, Crestview attacked quickly to average under three minutes per drive. The longest scoring sequence took 5 minutes, 57 seconds on the Rebels’ first possession of the third quarter. Starting at their own 12-yard line, they went 11 plays down the field to be capped off by a Zack Moore 31-yard field goal. The senior kicker was perfect on extra points and 2-of-3 in field goals.

“Time of possession is very overrated with us,” Cusick said. “We just kind of go. We want to play as fast as we can.”

After not scoring in the first quarter with a pair of three-and-outs, Cusick could see the offensive line tweaking their blocks going off what the Aquinas defense was throwing at them. After that, it was fairly smooth sailing.

“We knew that defensively they’d be pretty stout,” Cusick said. “To be able to put those points on a team I got to give it to the offensive line. They really adjusted well. Those first couple series they were just feeling them out and eventually we just got where we wanted to be.”

The Crestview defense played perhaps its best game of the season against an offense that averages nearly 30 points a game.

The Rebels limited the Knights to 317 yards, but were bit on two big plays.

Both passes of over 40 yards, the first came on a Tyler Moeglin pitch to Joe Blevins who found an open Colby Hart down field for a touchdown. The second was the final offensive play of the night when Moeglin hooked up with Hart, himself. To offset those, Dillon Gorby made a pair of big plays of his own recovering a fumble and intercepting a pass. Both came in the first half.

“The defense played awesome,” he said. “All we had to do was make plays. Not necessarily big plays … just the play.”