Knights Win a Shootout, in Conference Opener.

It was a warm, late summer evening, with a slight breeze in Convoy, Ohio.

Little children running around with excitement.

The smell of salty, buttery, freshly popped popcorn permeated the air, making your mouth water just a bit.

It was the start of Northwest Conference play. The race for the title has officially begun.

Fort Loramie got the ball first, and couldn’t get anything started, as Knights CB Hayden Perrott got a sack on 3rd down, forcing a punt.

Crestview offense took to the field and struck quickly, as HB Braxton Leeth scored on the very first offensive play from scrimmage. Taking it 42 yards for the touchdown with 10:30 on the clock.

The Redskins would answer back with a 32-yard touchdown from QB Tanner Heckman to Tanner Eilerman. They’d convert a 2-point conversion to make it 8-7.

Knights TE Liam Putman would get a nice return on the kickoff, down to the 41-yard line. Leeth would score another touchdown, this time from 50 yards out. The PAT was no good, making it a 13-8 Knights lead with 6:41 left in the first quarter. That would be the score at the end of 1.

The Knights would get a TFL on first down. Redskins QB Tanner Heckman misses a wide open reciever on 3rd and 12.

Crestview and Fort Loramie would trade stops in the 2nd quarter before the Redskins would score on a 35-yard touchdown pass from Heckman to Hoying. The ensuing 2-point conversion attempt failed. Giving them a 14-13 lead.

Knights HB Braxton Leeth would score his 3rd touchdown of the first half, from 42 yards out. The 2-point attempt was successful, and the Knights took the lead 21-14.

The Redskins would convert a big 3rd and 8 on a 10-yard run with 2:47 left in the 2nd quarter. They’d score on a Ray Hoying 4-yard run, and another successful 2-point conversion, to make it 22-21 with 1:00 minute left in the quarter.

Crestview would again answer very quickly, on a 36-yard run by WR Hayden Perrott with only 0:15 seconds left in the first half. The Knights lined up to go for another 2-point conversion, but a false start penalty, changed head coach Cole Hartings mind. The PAT was good, and it was a 28-22 Knights lead going in at the half.

Knights QB Huxley Grose would complete a quick pass for a first down, before Leeth would score on a 46-yard touchdown run. PAT good, to make it 35-22.

Fort Loramie would respond with an 11-yard pass, and later a big run down to the Crestview 15-yard line. HB Hoying would take it in from 6 yards out for a touchdown. The 2-point conversion succeeded, and they cut lead to 35-30 with 8:43 left in the 3rd quarter.

Grose would hit Perrott for 9 yards on first down. Leeth would pop another big run, down to the 25-yard line, before breaking a tackle in the backfield and scoring his fifth touchdown. This time from 4 yards out. 2-point conversion fails, but it’s now a 41-30 Knights lead with 5:57 on the clock.

Knights DE Will Sheets would get a sack and force a fumble, at the 10-yard line.

Leeth would make it touchdown number 6, from 10-yards out. The PAT was good, to take an 18-point lead. 48-30, with 5:33 left in the 3rd quarter.

The Knights would force a Redskins punt. Crestview would muff the punt, and the Redskins would recover, however, it was negated by an illegal formation penalty.

Fort Loramie would force the Knights into a 4th and 2 from the 37. Coach Harting would go for it, handing it off to Leeth, who took it up the middle for 7 yards and a first down to the 30. QB Grose would hit TE Putman to the 22.

It would be a 48-30 Knights lead heading into the 4th quarter.

The Braxton Leeth show would conclude with his 7th touchdown of the game. A 5-yard run. The PAT would be good, and Crestview would take a 25-point lead 55-30, with 11:05 left in the game.

The Redskins would get on the board, one last time on a 1-yard run by Zander Grillot. The 2-point conversion was good, and that would give us the final score of 55-38.

Knights HB Braxton Leeth finished the night with 24 carries, for a massive 315 yards, with a whopping 7 TDs.

The senior running back has ran for 1,046 yards, on 91 carries, for 16 TDs, and 0 fumbles, in 4 games this season.

I spoke to Crestview Knights head coach Cole Harting after the game.

I asked him how it felt to start conference play with a big win at home.

“You obviously want to start league play 1 and 0. We didn’t want to start behind the eight ball with the rest of the league. It was great to come out here and establish some physicality and run the ball.”

I asked him about maybe leaning too much on Leeth.

“You know, Fort Loramie is a good team, and they can score a bunch of points. He’s our best player and you know, you look at it, he only had 8 carries in the first half, scoring several touchdowns, it’s not really that alarming. We try to mix it up a little bit at any time when need a play, but he’s our go to guy.”

Fort Loramie had success passing the football, using motion in the backfield, and getting open on crossing routes.

“That’s something if you watch on film, that Fort Loramie wanted to go to #81 and #0. They didn’t really focus on throwing to anybody else, so our defense was focused on those guys, and we did a nice job of limiting them. #81 made a couple of nice plays, and #0 did a nice job, but we made them earn it.”

It seemed like DE Will Sheets was always in the backfield when the Knights needed him to be. I talked to Coach Harting about that.

“He’s put on a lot of weight. A lot of good weight. A lot of muscle, and it’s really showing up now on Friday nights. It’s been really awesome to see that transformation as a football player, so we expect big things out of him and he does so, by making timely stops for us on defense.”

The Knights (3-1 overall, 1-0 in the NWC), travel to Harrod, Ohio next Friday night, to take on the Allen East Mustangs (1-3 overall, 0-1 in the NWC). Game starts at 7:00 PM (EST).

Stats and information courtesy of…..Chris Lutz.