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Rebels grateful for another opportunity

COLUMBIANA–When the Crestview football team trudged off the field following its week six game against South Range, the scoreboard read South Range 34, Crestview 7.

It was the Rebels third straight loss and their record sat at 2-4. The furthest thing from anybody’s mind was a potential week 11 rematch against their rivals.

“Everyone was pretty upset after that game, we prepared really hard to get after them and didn’t get anywhere near the result we wanted,” Crestview junior running back Andrew Yanssens said. “At the time, I didn’t think we’d see them again this year.”

“Honestly, I never thought we would get another shot at them,” senior wideout/defensive back Jeff Feo said. “But if we were to make the playoffs, there was one team I wanted to play and it was South Range.”

Friday at 7:30 p.m., the eighth-seeded Rebels will have that exact opportunity when they make the short trip to South Range High School to take on the top-seeded Raiders.

“It means everything for us to play them again,” Crestview senior safety Andrew Hardenbrook said. “They’re really our only rival this year. This week represents another chance at bragging rights and a chance to extend our season even further. For the seniors, this is everything you could ask for.”

Crestview closed the season with four victories in a row, which was enough to surge from the middle of the pack in Division V Region 17 into the final playoff spot.

“After the first time we played them we weren’t really thinking about a rematch or the playoffs,” Crestview coach Paul Cusick said. “At that moment, we just needed to right the ship and get some guys back healthy. Our focus for the last four weeks was just to go 1-0 every week and give ourselves a chance and we were able to do that.”

For the Rebels, Friday’s clash holds additional meaning beyond getting another shot at one of their biggest rivals.

After a disappointing 3-7 season in 2016 broke a string of eight straight playoff seasons, the Rebels badly wanted to get the proud program back on course. To do so, they had to navigate an independent schedule that featured six larger schools as well as the unbeaten Raiders and defending Div. VII state champ Warren JFK.

“It means a lot to these guys,” Cusick said. “We’ve always felt that we’re a program that is trying to get to the playoffs year in and year out. We really felt we needed to get back there this year. Our kids are proud of what they’ve done.”

The Rebels should be healthier this week than in the week six game when they were battling multiple injuries. Among the Rebels who missed the first meeting were big-play freshman running back Ethan Powell and leading receiver Dylan Huff–who also leads the team in interceptions with six.

“We had a lot of guys out during the week when we played them the first time, I can’t remember exactly how many,” Cusick said. “We’re hoping everyone is ready to go for this week.”

“We had guys banged up the last time we played them and we feel we didn’t execute very well,” Hardenbrook said. “With us being healthier, we have a lot of confidence. We’re definitely a more sound football team than we were the first time around.”

The South Range game concluded a stretch of 10 quarters in which the Rebels had scored a grand total of one touchdown. What jumped out at Cusick more than anything, though, was that his team continued to stay the course rather than hang its head.

“Even through the stretch where we lost three in a row and were really struggling offensively the kids stayed positive and continued working hard in practice,” Cusick said. “More than anything, it was their work ethic that has shone through. That kind of stuff matters over the course of a season.”

Feo credited a team meeting the morning after the South Range game with helping set the tone for the season’s final month.

“When we came in to watch film that Saturday morning we sat down and had a team discussion,” Feo said. “We figured out what needed to be done the rest of the way and straightened out our priorities.”

The Rebels responded the following week with a convincing 54-9 win at Magnolia (W.Va.) they followed it up with a 17-point win at Div. II Kent Roosevelt and an exciting 28-25 victory over six-win, Div. III Indian Creek–which vaulted the Rebels into realistic playoff contention.

Cusick said the Rebels got back to the basics with the no-huddle, zone-read scheme that has been the bread-and-butter of the program for the better part of a decade.

“It sounds simple, but we just wanted to get back to what we’ve always done,” Cusick said. “We just decided to run our zone-read stuff and get back to what this program was built on.”

“Our offense has operated a lot better after we started going to the no-huddle more,” Feo said.

Powell, in particular, has provided a needed spark. The speedy freshman has emerged with 544 rushing yards and four touchdowns over the last four games of the season, providing a nice compliment to the more power-oriented Yanssens in the backfield.

“He kind of helps take the pressure off of me,” Yanssens said. “Ethan gives us a nice change-of-pace and can get us key first downs when we need them.”

The Rebels came into week 10 needing to beat winless Lakeview (Pa.) and have Garrettsville Garfield lose to Ravenna Southeast to make the playoffs. As they were taking care of business against Lakeview, Yanssens said the Rebels couldn’t help but do just a little bit of scoreboard watching.

“One of our injured players was checking the scores,” Yanssens said. “When we saw Garfield lost we were pretty confident we were in.”

The Rebels are eager to make their second chance count.

“I know everyone is excited to give it another go and show them what we’re really made of,” Yanssens said. “We need everyone playing to their fullest potential and doing their jobs.”

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