By MIKE MCLAIN

sports vindy.com

EAST FAIRFIELD

They buried one of the area’s best football rivalries here Friday night.

After the classic game staged between the Columbiana Clippers and Crestview Rebels, they might want to get out a shovel and resurrect it in the near future.

Seemingly down and out, the Rebels, relying on old-fashioned power-I football, rallied from a 14-point deficit for a 17-14 win in an Inter Tri-County League game at Rebel Stadium. Sophomore Andrew Yanssens kicked a 19-yard field goal with three seconds remaining in the fourth quarter to clinch the win.

“It’s special,” said Yanssens, who contributed to the offense in a big way in the second half. “It’s the last time we’ll be playing them. We want to bring the trophy home and keep it here.”

Barring a change of heart by Crestview officials, the rivalry will remain dormant for awhile. The demise of the ITCL after this school year will lead to a new conference affiliation for the Clippers, while the Rebels could be an independent. The plan of Crestview officials at this time is to not schedule Columbiana.

With the history of 26 years as a backdrop, both teams were understandably determined to win the grand finale. The Clippers (1-1) were in control after Tanner Pearl made a spectacular catch of a Mitch Davidson pass for a 19-yard touchdown with 3:12 remaining in the third quarter. Jarred Bryarly’s extra-point kick gave Columbiana a 14-0 lead.

It was all Crestview from then on, and the turnaround was sparked by a halftime adjustment by coach Paul Cusick. Realizing the Rebels had no chance if they stayed in a spread offense, Cusick deployed a jumbo look that had two blocking tight ends, no wide receivers and a stacked-I of three running backs behind quarterback Caleb Hill.

“We felt what we were doing in the first half just wasn’t working,” Cusick said. “We figured, ‘Let’s just run right at them.’ I thought we were bigger and stronger up front and that we could wear them out. We executed on our offensive line, and our defense won the game for us.”

The Rebels rushed for a respectable 106 yards in the first half, but they wore down the Clippers to the tune of 213 yards in the second half. Hill finished with 120 yards on 26 carries, and Yanssens, who had no carries in the first half, finished with 79 yards on 13 carries.

Hill began the comeback with a 3-yard touchdown run with 10:45 left to play, completing a 12-play, 60-yard drive. Yanssens broke free on a 15-yard scoring run to finish a 10-play, 56-yard drive at the 4:49 mark of the fourth quarter. Yanssens’ point-after kick tied the score.

The Rebels defense, which didn’t allow a first down in the fourth quarter, forced a three-and-out after Yanssens’ touchdown. Crestview then marched 84 yards on 14 plays to produce Yanssens’ game-winning field goal and improve its record to 2-0.

The biggest play on the drive that led to Yanssens’ score was a 12-yard completion from Hill to Dylan Huff on fourth-and-8 from the Clippers’ 41. Huff was well-covered on a fade route, but Hill neatly dropped the ball into his hands.

“Coach told us if we hit the out a couple of times that it would come open,” Hill said. “Huff ran a great route. I just threw the ball. He did all the work.”

Two key plays in the early stages of the winning drive was a 17-yard run by Hill and an 18-yard run by Yanssens. Hill and Huff hooked up again, this time for 34 yards to the Clippers’ 20. Yanssens lined up for the field goal six plays later.

Yanssens didn’t feel a ton of nerves.

“A little bit, but I was taught well by my coaches,” Yanssens said.

The first quarter was a battle of field position. Columbiana took the lead on a 5-yard run by Pearl and the extra point by Bryarly. Pearl made a juggling catch of a pass from Davidson in the back corner of the end zone as the lead was stretched to 14-0. Davidson was 14 of 21 for 167 yards.

“It hurts,” Clippers coach Bob Spaite said. “You invest a lot of time. We gave a great effort. Ninety percent of the time when we play these guys, the last 10 years, it’s come down to one or two plays. Once again, they made them and we didn’t.”