The small town of Convoy, Ohio is just 10 minutes from the Ohio/Indiana border in Van Wert County. With a population of only 1,002 (according to the 2024 census) it’s small town Americana. Mail is not delivered here. Instead, everyone in town is given a PO Box.
It has a flower shop “The Secret Garden Floral and Gifts”, run by Jason and Nate. A coffee shop “The Rebel Bean” run by Jennifer, Amy, and Ashley; and ice cream shop “Convoy Tastee Freeze”, share the same building. My daughter is in love with Daily Dose drinks. Cheers and Gears Bar and Grill has great mozzarella sticks. that I just smash on.
People are friendly, chatty, and always say “hello” when walking around and in the shops and churches.
There’s only one stoplight in the whole town, and it’s at the school.
It is home to the Crestview Knights.
3rd year head coach Cole Harting (in white shirt above) leads a team that returns 12 letter winners in total. 8 starters return on offense (mostly underclassmen) and 4 on defense.
I watched the team practice for 4 days and sat down with the head coach who granted me an interview.
With 2 of their first 3 games against their rivals, my first question was how he’ll keep his players focused on the games with all the trash talking that comes with these types of games?
“I’m sure there is more than I know about, but for the most part, you know, the kids are just interested in playing, and they want to go out there and compete. And you know the biggest thing for us is we just want to get better you know. From game to game. So, it doesn’t matter who we’re playing, whether it’s’ a rival or not.”
Between those two games, in Week 2, Crestview plays the 4-time defending state champions and a team on a 64-game winning streak, in the Marion Local Flyers in their home opener.
I asked Coach how he and the staff will scheme to match such a powerhouse school with personnel.
“We’re going to run our stuff. Obviously, we’ll scout them. We’ll probably get to their first game and then maybe a scrimmage or so. We’ll tackle them like we do everybody else. See what they run, and we’ll see what we can do to stop them. I’m actually really excited for that game. It’s going to be a great game. They are the gold standard. If we want to get where we want to get to, I think it’s important to play teams like that.”
Something that I noticed in my 4 days of watching them at practice was that they were rotating a lot of players at the center position. So, I asked him about that.
“Well, right now we’re returning 4 of our 5 starting linemen from last year. The one that was lost was actually our starting center. So right now, we’re just trying some different guys in that spot and see who can execute most consistently for us there.”
Senior TE/DE #7 Liam Putman led the team in receptions and sacks last season. I asked Coach Harting, how he plans on keeping him fresh throughout the season.
“You know, some kids just have the ability to play the whole game. We try our best to rotate guys in and out depending on certain circumstances. The biggest thing is keeping him fresh during the week. We don’t want to put too much on our two-way players throughout the week.
The Knights start the final month of the regular season with back-to-back road games, against Bluffton and Columbus Grove. Two teams that made deep playoff runs last season.
“You know, with high school kids the biggest thing is you go on these road trips, and once that bus leaves, the guys are focusing and thinking about the task at hand. Our kids aren’t messing around on the bus. They should be focused, locked in, preparing themselves for what’s ahead of them.” Coach Harting replied when I asked him about those games.
The 2024 Crestview Knights season was snake bitten by injuries. That led to a lot of young players getting pressed action. I asked Coach how that experience last season, benefited them coming into this season.
“Anytime you have injuries, that’s a huge blow to your team. And in the moment, it’s tough to overcome. But when you kind of step back a little bit, it’s kind of a nice thing sometimes, where it gives kids opportunities to grow. So last year, obviously dealing with all those injuries, that was difficult, but it did give a lot of our kids chances to play.”
(Starting QB Huxley Grose, was forced into action last season due to injury. Started 6 games as a junior. He had a ROCKET side arm throw on Day 4, into a tight window.)
Coach brought up the injury to star HB/DB #2 Braxton Leeth in particular.
“Braxton Leeth got hurt last year, which forced us to play one of our freshmen at safety, Cash Hammons. And you know, he had his moments where he struggled a little bit, but after he got a few games under his belt, he started playing really well. Now as a sophomore, he has almost a full season of experience, you know, has paid huge dividends.”
Speaking of Braxton, he was absolutely unstoppable on offense and defense. In my 4 days of watching practice, he was only stopped 2 times, and that was when he and Liam went head-to-head on a tackling drill. They split the 4 reps that I saw 2-2.
Listed at 6’0″ and 185 lbs. He certainly looks the part. He’s one of the fastest players on the field, and powerful enough to break the tackles of defensive lineman who weigh in at 235, 265, 230, and 245. There were multiple times where he was breaking through double and triple tackles.
As a sophomore, Braxton rushed for over 1,200 yards. Even though he missed 4 games last season, he still rushed for over 600 yards and 10 touchdowns.
I asked Coach Harting if another 1,200 yard and double-digit touchdown season, is the bar for Braxton.
“He holds himself to such a high standard. He thinks that he’s always going to get that. Every time he touches the ball, he thinks he’s going to score a touchdown. He refuses to be tackled. He’s got the speed, agility, and the vision. On your team, you have guys at different levels, and he’s just one of those guys. He’s all in when it comes to football. It shows in his work ethic. He’s been tremendous.”
He continued to sing his praises.
“When I got this job, I mean he never missed. He’s always here. He’s always looking to get better. The injuries last year were unfortunate, but he’s a tough kid and he battled back. I fully expect him to have a great year for us.”
(High point catch in the corner of the endzone on Day 4 of practice.)
To end my one-on-one interview with Coach Harting; I asked him what his and the coaching staff’s expectations are for the 2025 season.
“Our expectations are we’re going to continue to get better every single day. We’re going to chase excellence, and we’re going to do everything we can to put ourselves in positions to win games. There are a lot of great matchups throughout the season. We’re going to prepare every week, and we’re going to continue to grow week to week to week and be playing our best football come the weekend.”
Something I noticed in practice was just how well the entire coaching staff interacted with the players. Especially, when the players had questions about the schemes, proper forms, and lining up. They were eagerly asking questions and whether it was OL Coach Kory Lichtensteiger or STC/Linebackers Coach Dylan Hicks, or any of them. The coaches were clear and hands on with instruction. It was great to see.
During my 4 days interacting with the team, I also interacted with coaches from other sports. I went to the Crestview “Meet the Teams” Assembly, for the fall sports teams, held in the HS/MS gym. It was completely full. Not a seat to be found. It was a pleasure to see the community come out to support not just the football team, but the wrestling, cross country, cheer, golf, soccer, and the volleyball team. The volleyball team, led by Coach Tammy Gregory, has finished first in the conference the last 3 straight seasons, as well as deep playoff runs in those seasons.
The Knights have a deep and rich history in fall high school sports. I look forward to travelling and seeing them as often as possible this year.
– by Sean McKenzie
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Information packet provided to me, courtesy of……Head Coach Cole Harting.
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