The Crestview Lady Knights varsity volleyball team, took on their cross county rival, the Van Wert Cougars on Monday night.
The Lady Knights got out to a fast start in the first set, winning the first 7 points of the set, forcing the Cougars to call a timeout. It worked, as Van Wert would get 3 straight points. The momentum wouldn’t last, as it quickly got to 17-5, and win the first set 25-12.
The second set was another fast start for the Lady Knights at 5-1. The Cougars would battle back to get it to 6-5, before the Lady Knights would rattle 6 straight points, making it 12-5. The Cougars would sprinkle in a point here and there, but the Lady Knights would dominate the second set, winning 25-8.
The theme of the night was fast starts by the Lady Knights, as they got 8 straight points to open the third set. The Cougars would not go quietly though, as then responded with 6 straight points of their own, getting it to an 8-6 set. The two teams would trade points, small runs, long rallies, and a lot of digs.
The Cougars would get it as close as 23-20, before falling to the Lady Knights in 3 straight sets 25-20.
Leading the way for the Lady Knights…..
Serving
Delanie Balliet 18/19 with 4 aces
Nora Perkins 10/11 with 4 aces
Kaylee Owens 9/10 with 3 aces
Kinley Crider 5/5 with 3 aces
Hitting
Kaci Gregory 6 kills
Alecta Baxter 5 kills
Kaylee Owens 4 kills
Ella Ream 3 kills
Setting
Nora Perkins 11 assists
Kenadie Schwartz & Kinley Crider 5 assists each
Digs
Delanie Balliet 6 digs
Kaci Gregory 5 digs
Blocks
Alecta Baxter 3 stuff blocks
The Lady Knights are now 6-5 on the season, and are right back on the court Tuesday Night in a conference match against the Delphos Jefferson Wildcats. JV game starts at 5:30 PM, with varsity immediately afterwards.
Van Wert County, Ohio is a rural county with strong agricultural roots. Only 1% of the counties 410 square miles has been deemed “urban”. The Lincoln Highway Byway is a beautiful driving route, with many land markers and stops along the way. America’s very first free public county library was built here (Brumback Library). The Van Wert County courthouse, built in 1876, is a Gothic and Romanesque architectural marvel. I’ve visited multiple times.
There is strong community support and spirit in the towns that dot the landscape. People greet each other by name. Know your family and help neighbors out in times of need.
There’s only one thing that could divide families, and put friendships on hold for a few hours, and that is high school football.
The two predominate football teams in Van Wert County are the Van Wert Cougars.
and the Crestview Knights.
Parents and children are often related to someone from the other team. Friendships formed from youth sports, church events, pancake breakfasts, and other community events.
So for that brief moment in time, when the helmets are put on. The chin straps are snapped on, and pads start popping, the trash talking starts. On this hot and clear, but beautiful summer evening, the friendly chirping was aplenty.
Knight Pride vs Cougar Pride.
The 2025 football scrimmage game had both teams looking to clean some things up, lingering over from summer practice. Both teams hoping that this would be the start, of a return to the playoffs.
The varsity starters played an entire first half of football.
On the first play, Knights HB Braxton Leeth busted through the middle for a 15-yard run. but it was to be short lived, as the Knights fumbled the football on the very next play.
The Cougars couldn’t capitalize, as the Knights stopped them on a 4th down attempt.
Van Wert QB #15, sophomore Zach Crummey missed a throw, to a wide-open receiver, that would’ve been a touchdown on Van Wert’s fourth offensive drive.
The defenses ruled, and after the first quarter of play, it was a 0-0 game.
Finally, with 1:31 left to play in the half; the Cougars put the first points up on the board, when QB Zach Crummey scored on a quarterback draw from the 1-yard line, on a 3rd and 1.
The lead would be short lived for the visiting Van Wert Cougars as a mere 25 seconds later, the Crestview Knights would tie the game when senior QB #4 Huxley Grose connected on deep pass to senior WR #5 Hayden Perrott, with 1:06 left on the clock.
That would be it for the varsity football teams from both schools. Ending up in a 7-7 tie at the end of the half.
The Knights outgained the Cougars in total yards 162 to 151. Both teams struggled on 3rd downs, going a combined 2 for 11.
Knights QB Huxley Grose finished the half completing 5/9 for 89 yards.
His counterpart Cougars QB Zach Crummey 9/14 for 60 yards.
I spoke with Crestview head coach Cole Harting first after the game.
“I thought both teams played really hard. Both offenses were able to move the ball at times. We had a couple penalties here and there, so we got to clean that up. We got to get our snap game a little better, we had some bad snaps, but we should be OK. Braxton had a really nice game. He had a couple tough runs, and a couple deep runs. Obviously, Hayden Perrott had a nice game, and I thought Huxley played really nice.”
I asked him specifically about the Knights defensive line getting lots of pressure on Cougars QB Crummey, mostly on the edge.
“We have a little bit more experience on the edges there, and our kids are pretty athletic, so that bodes well for us on the perimeter.”
Van Wert head coach Keith Recker has been leading the Cougars for 14 seasons, and led them to a state championship in 2020. I caught up with him after the game.
“Defensively we played well. We challenged them to really stop the run. They ran all over us last year with the same running back and a lot of the same offensive line. So, we challenged our linebackers to fill and keep their shoulders square. We did a really nice job against that.”
I asked Coach Recker about #11 sophomore WR/DB Xavier Kelly, who was a 2024 Honorable Mention as a freshman.
“Yeah, X does a great job and he’s only a sophomore. He can play a lot of different positions. We put him in at running back today because he can get a lot of touches that way.”
Van Wert’s starting QB Zach Crummey is a big kid, at 6’6″. He showed some scrambling ability for a kid his size. I asked Coach Recker about his ability to move around.
“Unfortunately, our pass pro broke down quite a bit and he had to be elusive, but I thought he showed that really well. We want to keep him healthy through the scrimmage and but he’s tough and he’ll do whatever he needs to when we get into the game.”
At the end of the day, there were hugs and handshakes by all. Players, coaches, and even the fans who came out to support their kids and teams. They’ll be seeing each other again. I know both teams will be represented at the Wren Homecoming Pie Eating Contest, in Wren, Ohio on Saturday at 2:15 PM.
I wonder if it will be as competitive as last night’s game.
As summer break for kids starts coming to a close, fall high school sports season is about to kickoff.
After a few weeks of those long, hot, dog day of summer practices against each other, teams are finally seeing how they stack up against other local area squads.
On late Friday afternoon, I made the trip up US-49 (getting lost thanks to those detour signs), to Antwerp, Ohio to watch the Crestview Knights take on the Antwerp Archers.
I wasn’t the only person who made the trip. I counted 69 parents and fellow students (including 5 members of the girls’ volleyball team), who all came out to support the football Knights.
The starters for both teams opened the scrimmage on both sides of the ball. On the first play of the scrimmage, Antwerp jumped offsides. That was something they unfortunately struggled with often on this day.
The 3rd offensive play, saw Knights HB Braxton Leetch score a TD on a long run over the right side.
On the 2nd drive, the Knights had back-to-back high snaps. This is something they’re struggling with, as they search for a new center. QB Huxley Grose threw a TD the next play.
Crestview started the third offensive drive by lining up offsides. That was a very brief setback, as the very next play, HB Braxton Leeth scored his second TD. This time a reception out of the backfield.
Leeth would score not one, not two, not even three, but four TDs in this scrimmage, as well as deliver a big hit, that forced an incompletion on Antwerp’s second offensive drive.
Knights WR/DB Braxtyn Couts would also get on the board with a TD.
The starters for the Knights dominated the Archers on both sides of the ball.
The Archers answered back though once the backups got in, with a great TD catch by #10 Kane Hines, and #12 Zack Salas bulldozing his way into the endzone.
To end the scrimmage, the starters played a full 12-minute quarter.
#8 Cash Hammons had a pick-6 for the Knights defense, and the afore mentioned #2 Braxton Leeth, as well as, #7 Liam Putman had scores.
I got a brief interview with Knights head coach Cole Harting afterwards.
“Obviously, I thought we did a lot of good things. We got a lot of kids’ reps tonight. Offensively, we found some stuff that could work. They played well and really executed well at times. We just let our athletes be athletes.”
“On the defensive side of the ball, we did a really good job of rotating guys in. They had a couple of long drives, but we did a good job of rotating guys in and out. There’s obviously things to fix, but you know, we’ll go back and watch film and see what we can improve on.”
He finished up the interview saying “I told the guys, I want us to be playing our best football Week 10. So, looking forward to watching the tape and seeing what we can fix for next week.”
The Crestview Knights will scrimmage against the Van Wert Cougars next Friday afternoon, at 6:00 PM (EST) in Convoy.
– by Sean McKenzie
Subscribe, Follow, and Like.
Follow me on X (Twitter) @JoeAmerican6771 and @allsportsfancom.
