Team

Crestview

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

By Tom Williams

williams@vindy.com

COLUMBIANA

For most small high school football teams, the loss of 17 starters to graduation means one thing: rebuilding.

Lately at Crestview High, it means something else: reloading.

Last year’s Rebels went 11-2, winning their fourth straight Inter Tri-County League Tier One championship. Although most of the key players from that team have moved on, the Rebels are off to another 2-0 start and are emerging — again — as the team to beat in the ITCL Tier One.

Head coach Paul Cusick admits he’s a little surprised after replacing so many starters. This year’s squad has just 10 seniors on the roster.

“We have graduated a ton of key players over the past two seasons,” said Cusick, the Rebels head coach since 1999 who has compiled a 104-42 record. “I think we are off to a pretty good start but we’ve looked inexperienced at times.

“Some of the mistakes we make or some of the things that we do are from an inexperienced team,” said Cusick, cautioning that there is a lot of football to be played.

The Division V Rebels, who have qualified for the OHSAA playoffs seven times since 2004, are enjoying another solid start, first with a roller-coaster 37-33 win over archrival Columbiana (Div. VI), then a 31-6 blowout of Beaver Local (Div. III).

Normally, the Crestview-Columbiana showdown goes a long way to determining the ITCL Tier One championship. But this season, the Clippers have dropped down to Tier Two.

“It was pretty intense and it was different — actually, I’m glad it is over,” said Cusick of the opening game at Firestone Park. “And we only had to do it for one year, because they move back up into our league next year.”

Next year, Southern and Columbiana will move up to Tier One while Jackson-Milton and Mineral Ridge will go down to Tier Two.

Senior running back Nick Blower, who rushed for 115 yards and scored two touchdowns against the Clippers, said that win “was definitely more satisfactory because they are our rivals so we definitely wanted to beat them bad.

“It was different,” said Blower of facing off so soon.

As for motivation, Blower said, “Our coaches pretty much told us, ‘It’s Columbiana.’

“And we really don’t need a pep talk for them. We knew it was going to be a playoff atmosphere there even though it was Week 1,” Blower said. “It was a good test for us.”

Senior defensive end Dylan Douglass, a starter since halfway through his sophomore season, agreed.

“Definitely the Columbiana game meant more to me,” Douglass said. “That’s the last time I’ll play Columbiana. To tell you the truth, I’ve never lost a game to Columbiana and that’s a great feeling, a great feeling.”

Against the Beavers, Blower rushed 18 times for 147 yards and a touchdown. Quarterback Collin Gilbert, the junior who has replaced Adam Coppock, connected with Dimitri Gregory for two touchdown passes.

At 5-foot-7 and 139 pounds, Blower is far from the biggest player in the ITCL, but Cusick said his speed is something to watch.

“Nick is definitely a kid who can go the distance,” Cusick said. “Anytime he touches the ball, he tilts the field. He’s just incredibly explosive.

“One thing he’s worked on this year [is that] he’s gotten physically stronger,” Cusick said. “He’s not very big, but he’s getting tough yards for us.

“So if we have to, we can run him inside the tackles,” Cusick said. “And he’s a good guy to catch the ball in spaces. He’s going to make big plays for us.”

Douglass said the continual success of the Rebels program is not a surprise.

“It’s an expectation around here,” Douglass said. “I think the last time we lost more than two games in the regular season was probably around 2007.

“We try to work hard all the time, from running before practice begins, stretching,” the 6-1, 270-pound lineman said. “Everything is taken seriously. You have to do all the little things right so you can execute the big things.”

Blower and Douglass are two of the team’s senior captains. The others are Gregory and Kaleb Baker, a linebacker and tight end.

Blower, who is receiving interest from some Division II college scouts, credits Cusick’s leadership for setting a winning tone.

“He gets us motivated and gets us focused on just one team,” said Blower, who added that consistency has been a blessing. “It’s not like we’re getting different coaches and they are [trying] different schemes.

“We’ve had one coach throughout the years and he does the same [system] so we know what we are doing and we’re good at it.”

Douglass described Cusick as “an excellent coach, a great mentor, a great guy to be around. He’s fun, he knows when to keep things [light] and he knows when it’s time to start working.”

Cusick said Gilbert’s blossoming at quarterback has been a pleasant surprise.

“He was a starter last year as receiver,” Cusick said. “[He’s] just trying to run the offense, not having to worry about making big plays every time he touches the ball. He’s just kind of letting the offense come to him.

“Sometimes, in our offense as a first-year quarterback, you get a little anxious and try to make plays every time you touch the ball,” said Cusick, who has become an assistant principal. “He’s not doing that. That’s why I think offensively, we’ve been pretty efficient.”

For most teams, 68 points in two games is anything but pretty efficient.

After tonight’s home game against Southern, the Rebels will begin their pursuit of a fifth-straight league crown, a race that might not be settled until Week 10 when the Rebels welcome South Range (0-2) to Crestview, the home of the cannon that celebrates every Rebel score.

“Even though you know the cannon is coming, you still flinch every time,” Douglass said.

Even Cusick, who has heard the cannon go off a much as anyone, admits the bang gets him.

“Everybody flinches,” Cusick said.

He doesn’t mind the experience.