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By Kevin Oberhaus
Lima: It was a historical night for the Crestview Knights. With a 48-35 win over Lima Central Catholic, they earned the school's first ever playoff win. Now granted, it's just their second ever playoff game, but you have to win the first one sometime.
The Thunderbirds got the ball first and promptly marched down the field to open the scoring by converting on their second 4th down of the drive. Lasenby took it in from 4 yards out with 5:18 left in the 1st.
Photo by Kevin Oberhaus
Crestview answered right back with a 56 yard TD pass from Preston Zaleski to Isaiah Simerman. The PAT tied the score at 7 with less then 30 seconds taken off the clock.
Photo By Kevin Oberhaus
The Knight defense forced a 3 and out on the TBirds next possession. Jake Lippi would break off a 45 yard run to the LCC 15 and Dylan Henry would get the honor of taking it the final 15 yards on the next play. Still in the 1st, Crestview took a 14-7 lead.
But the TBirds were not deterred and on the first play, Stolly hit Rogers for a 75yard TD strike with 0:32 left in the first.
Photo by Kevin Oberhaus
After 1 it was knotted at 14.
In what was proving to be an offensive affair, Crestview drove right back thru the LCC defense. Oliver broke off a 22 yard run to the LCC 2. Lippi got the rock this time and bulldozed in from 3 yards literally carrying defenders all three yards after being hit at the line. PAT was good and Crestview was up 21-14 with 8:48 left in the half.
The Thunderbirds quickly drove down the field. Cameron White took in a Stolly from 68 yards away and brought the score back to 21's with 7:33 left in the 2nd.
This time the LCC defense stepped up and forced the first Crestview punt of the game. The Knights probably should've kicked it out of bounds as Stolly fielded the punt at the LCC 44 yard line and ran down the home sidelines for a 56yd Punt return TD. The PAT gave the TBirds a 28-21 lead and a ton of momentum and energy on the sidelines. 5:50 left in the Half.
The Knights would not back down tho. Zaleski hit Simerman for 42 yards down to the LCC 10. Malcolm Oliver then took it in from the 10 to tie it at 28 with 2:51 to play.
Crestview's defense stepped up and forced a TBird fumble near mid field. The Knights couldn't do anything with the ball and LCC held them on 3rd down BUT a dumb personal foul gave Crestview an automatic first down. Zaleski scrambled down to the 2 with just 12 seconds left. He then took it the final 2 yards to give Crestview a 35-28 lead at the half.
The Knights weren't done either. They took the second half kickoff right down the field and Oliver took it in from 5 yards out. Crestview ripped off 21 unanswered points after being down 28-21 and now held a 42-28 lead.
But kicking to the TBirds was proving to be dangerous. Lasenby took the kickoff at the 11 and turned on the jets. Barely a hand touched him and 89 yards later was enjoying his time in the end zone. Suddenly LCC was back to within a score at 42-35.
Crestview was not backing down and with the help of another LCC personal foul, quickly got to the TBird 11. A couple plays later Justin Overmyer trucked in from 6. A missed PAT gave CV a 48-35 lead with 2:06 left in the 3rd.
At that point, both teams decided to play a little defense. Crestview held LCC on downs and LCC returned the favor on the next drive.
Neither team got any offense going in the 4th and the Crestview Knights would finish off the Thunderbirds by taking a knee on the LCC 3 yard line.
So many big plays in this game but one overwhelming theme was the dominance of the Crestview line. Those hogs did an outstanding job of clearing the way for the stable of backs that the Knights throw at you. Zaleski looks totally comfortable at QB after the regular starter was injured early in the season. Every back seemed to fall forward after the initial hits.
LCC had speed to burn but really lacked discipline and did not make any tackles. The first hit almost never brought down the Crestview backs.
Photo By Kevin Oberhaus
Oliver had 208 yards on 30 carries including 3tds. The Knights rushed for 407 yards as a team.
Stolly was 10-20 for 210 yards and 2 TD passes.
Crestview (9-2) now advances for the first time to the regional semi finals to play Ada (8-3) at a site to be determined.
LCC bows out at 8-3.
