Crestview vs. Springfield

Gallery

Team

Crestview

Record	Div.	Conf.
7/4	Div. V	Independents

Team

Springfield

Record	Div.	Conf.
9/1	Div. VI	Mahoning Valley Athletic Conference

By LOWELL SPENCER

sports@vindy.com

NEW WATERFORD

It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, but the fight in the dog.

And with the Crestview Rebels diminutive junior running back Nick Blower (5-foot-7, 136 pounds) leading the way, they literally ran over Springfield, 49-0, in an Inter Tri-County League Tier One victory on Friday night.

“He’s just an exciting running back. He’s explosive. He’s not very big, but he is very hard-nosed. Sometimes I wish he would go down, but he’s going to fight for every inch,” Rebels coach said of Blower.

The beginning of the game had the look of a very wild affair as the teams combined for two fumbles, an interception, five penalties, and a blocked field goal in the first five minutes.

“Springfield, the way they throw the ball around, they are going to make some plays,” said Cusick said. “They had some opportunities, and luckily they didn’t [take advantage]. We got lucky there a few times, let’s be truthful about that.”

Following the blocked field goal, the Rebels used just eight plays to score, on 5-yard run by quarterback Adam Coppock with 2:28 left in the first quarter.

“We just went double tight, full house backfield, just to get that physical mentality,” Cusick said.

The drive was set up by Coppock’s 37-yard run around left end that took the ball to the Tigers’ 13.

The Rebels then scored on their next four possessions to take a commanding 35-0 lead into halftime. Coppock scored again early in the second quarter on a 2-yard plunge, and he threw a 17-yard pass to Zack Moore in the right corner of the end zone to pad the lead at 21-0 at the 8:21 point of the second quarter.

Then Blower raced around left end and cut down the sideline for a 54-yard touchdown run.

“I had a rough start to begin [a fumble]. Our pulling guards did a great job on the traps,” Blower said.

The Rebels added a 3-yard run by Colin Gilbert with just 2:16 remaining in the half to give them that 35-0 advantage. This time Blower set up the score as he carried three times for 45 yards on the drive and set the Rebels up with a first down at the Tigers’ 6.

Crestview added two more scores in the second half — Coppock hit Gilbert on a 20-yard touchdown pass early in the fourth quarter, and then Gilbert, filling in at quarterback, added a 47-yard touchdown run.

“Our defense came out and got a turnover off of them, and then we got the ball at the 6. We’ve got to capitalize on that. We definitely had opportunities early to complete with them, we just have to make sure we take advantage of every opportunity,” said Springfield coach Sean Guerriero. “We were going to have to play a perfect game to compete with them.”