Knights Defense Pitches a Shutout, in Conference Win.

It was Military Appreciation Night in Convoy, Ohio, on a warm, early fall evening.

The Crestview Knights took the field, donning special uniforms, after pregame ceremonies thanking local community members, for their service to our great country.

The Delphos Jefferson Wildcats made the short trip west on US-30, looking to pick up their first conference win of the season.

On the first snap of the game, the Wildcats fumbled the football but managed to recover. After picking up a first down, they would get nothing. Jefferson converted a fake punt, but a delay of game penalty and another fumble for an eighteen-yard loss, would stall their opening drive.

The Knights would not convert their own 4th and 4, on their first possession of the game. Knights TE/DE Liam Putman would get his 1st of 7 sacks (new school record) on second down, forcing the Wildcats into a 3rd and 16.

Putman would have 3rd down catches of 11 and 8 yards on the ensuing possession for the Knights.

Crestview would finally get on the board, with a 59-yard touchdown run by quarterback Huxley Grose, at the 1:17 mark of the game of the first quarter. That would be it for the quarter as well.

The Wildcats would once again struggle with the snap. This time on a 4th and 3 punt. The high snap would force the punter into an incomplete pass, giving the Knights the football at the 27-yard line. Crestview wouldn’t do anything with the ball on this drive, and ended up missing a 45 yard field goal attempt.

Another bad snap on 2nd down, making it a 3rd and 9. The Wildcats would convert on a big 48-yard pass, all the way down to the 38-yard line. After a false start penalty, Jefferson would call a timeout, with 8:12 left in the half.

The theme continued, as the 2nd bad snap of the drive, made it 3rd and 35 for Jefferson. Pressure by the Knights defense forced a bad pass, and #0 Hayden Perrott would pick it off, and take the interception back 50 yards for a touchdown. Made it a 14-0 game with 7:00 minutes left.

A Jefferson false start penalty on 2nd down and Crestview would get a sack by #66 OT/DE Will Sheets would end the drive.

Knights #15 WR/DB Braxtyn Couts would get their 2nd interception of the game.

#4 QB Huxley Grose would connect with #15 Braxtyn Couts for a 25-yard touchdown pass. PAT was good, and that would end the scoring for the first half, with the Knights leading 21-0.

Special shoutout to Crestview Knights #13 WR/DB Bowen Ayers, who returned my 50/50 tickets, that fell out of my pocket.

The Knights would lose a yard on the first play of the half, then a holding call would push the ball back to the 17-yard line. They would be forced to punt from deep in their territory.

The Knights would recover a fumble.

#2 HB/DB Braxton Leeth would finally get his first good run of the game, going 13 yards. A Crestview false start would make it 1st and 15 on the 35.

Leeth would pop off back-to-back 18 yard runs and score his first touchdown of the game. PAT good making it 28-0 with 7:55 left in the 3rd.

DEs Liam Putman and Will Sheets would get a big 3rd down sack.

HB Braxton Leeth would run for 9 yards on first down.

QB Huxley Grose would lose 2 yards, making it 3rd and 3 from the 36.

Leeth would run for 37 yards and his 2nd touchdown of the game.

The PAT was good, making it a 35-0 Crestview lead.

That would be the final scoring play of the game.

QB Huxley Grose finished the game 12 of 21, for 102 yards, and 1 TD.

HB Braxton Leeth had 17 carries, for 117 yards, with 2 TDs.

TE Liam Putman had 4 catches, for 32 yards.

Putman also led the team in tackles and sacks with 7, to become the 1st ever allsportsfan.com Player of the Game.

I spoke to Crestview Knights Head Coach Cole Harting on the sideline after the game.

I asked him what were the positives in another conference win?

“I thought our defense played lights out. Liam Putman had five, six, or seven sacks, and that was huge for us. Our defense has struggled at times this season, and to come out and with this type of dominate performance was just amazing to watch. We struggled on offense tonight and our defense picked us up.

I asked him about Liam Putmans’ dominate game, especially his catches on 3rd down. If that was something they worked on in practice this week.

“We always work on third downs, and we really work on our plays, and we really run and focus on those plays. We executed very well tonight on those plays.

The Knights were unstoppable off the edge in the game. Getting pressure on Jefferson all game long and forcing scrambles and not letting him get comfortable. I asked him about the defensive performance off the edge.

“Our guys up front played phenomenal tonight. They made it tough for their quarterback. We didn’t give him time and that led to a couple of interceptions which is pretty awesome.”

The Knights are now 5-1 overall, and 3-0 in the Northwest Conference. They travel to Bluffton next Friday Night to play the Pirates. Game starts at 7:00 PM (EST).

– by Sean McKenzie

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Stats courtesy of…..Chris Lutz.