By BRIAN DZENIS

bdzenis@vindy.com

MINERVA

Canton Central Catholic didn’t look like the juggernaut it was the last time the Crusaders met the Crestview Rebels, but they were still the better team.

Despite the Rebels forcing six fumbles and intercepting two passes, Crestview had its season end for the second year in a row against Canton Central Catholic, 33-6, in the Division V, Region 15 final. The Crusaders took the last meeting, 45-0, in a regional semifinal. The main reason for the rout came from a second-half offensive drought.

The Rebels were down just 13-7 at halftime, but there were signs the team was trending in the right direction. The defense forced five fumbles in the first half, intercepted a pass and blocked an extra point. On offense, Rebels running back Zach Hicks already had 107 rushing yards and a touchdown, but Crestview hit a wall in the second half. The team seemed baffled by the final score.

“Honestly, I couldn’t tell you [why] — assignment-wise, we were doing all right, we just couldn’t execute,” Crestview senior tackle Jarred Jones said. “I don’t know what to tell you.”

Said Hicks: “I hate to word it like this, but they’re a good team that’s coached very well, but they didn’t have the tremendous talent they had last year, the score kind of said that.”

The game began as a defensive struggle with points coming off mistakes.

A bad exchange between Crestview quarterback Spencer DeSalvo and Hicks led to Canton getting the ball on the Rebels’ 17. It took one play, a John Colangelo run to the outside for 17 yards, to get a touchdown and the lead in the first quarter.

While the Rebels recovered only one of those six fumbles, it came in prime field position at the Crusaders’ 29. Hicks scored on a 23-yard run a couple plays later.

Crestview had a chance to go into halftime down by a point when the Rebels’ defense seemed poised to force a third-and-long with less than a minute left at their own 26.

But a late hit on Crusaders QB Dan Platek out of bounds let Canton take a closer shot at the end zone. The Crusaders made it count with Platek hitting Luke Stuffel on an 11-yard touchdown pass with five seconds left until halftime.

Canton’s fumble woes continued in the second half. A would-be critical gaffe occurred on the opening drive of the third quarter when Colangelo coughed up the ball in the end zone, but lucked out when tight end Jack Murphy fell on the ball for a touchdown. The Crusaders then went into ground-and-pound mode, getting another score from Colangelo before the end of the third quarter while eating the clock.

“Last week against LaBrae we learned how to stop the run to make them throw and that’s kind of what we did today,” Hicks said. “I guess that third quarter came around and they got those two touchdowns, we knew they weren’t going to pass the ball anymore. It was all run.”

Conversely, Crestview wouldn’t record another first down in the second half until the final minute of the game.

“I was really proud of our defense they played their hearts out,” Rebels coach Paul Cusick said. “Our offense, we just didn’t help them out at all and when you have that combination, it’s not good at all.

“Our defense was put in a hole and they battled to the end and I’m proud of that.”

Crusaders back Justin Ditty had the final score in the game’s final two minutes.

Hicks was a bright spot for the Rebels, amassing 137 rushing yards and Cresview’s lone TD. He also had an interception.

“I’ll think of everyone and how much we are a family — you can’t call this a team,” Hicks said. “We’re practically a brotherhood. All these guys crying together, we wouldn’t want to be doing anything else right now.”