COLUMBIANA– The sixth-seeded Crestview Rebels knew they were facing a big challenge in hosting the 11th-seeded Martins Ferry Purple Riders in the first round of the Div. V tournament. It didn’t help that they entered the contest without senior standout running back Max Hawkins.

The result was a 48-41 victory by the Purple Riders, who scored back-to-back touchdowns to open the second half to pull away from a close 20-20 game at halftime. The victory improves the Riders to 10-1 on the season and advances them to a second-round contest against Poland next Friday.

The Rebels’ loss closes their season with an 8-3 record and extends their losing streak in the playoffs to three games. However, with just six seniors on the team, the Rebel’s future looks bright.

“We played hard and we made some mistakes,” Rebels head coach Dom Perry said. “The effort was there all night. It’s just tough to lose the game, especially a playoff game.”

“This season was very special. Everybody on this team meant a lot to me,” senior captain Jameson English said. “It is something that I’m going to look back upon when I’m older and be grateful that I had the opportunity to experience it.”

Without Hawkins, who suffered an ACL injury against Garfield two weeks ago, the Rebels relied on junior quarterback Jake Noling and running back Mikey Proctor to carry the Rebels offense. Noling responded with 87 yards rushing with two touchdowns, and 7 of 14 passing for another 128 yards and a score in the contest. Proctor added 103 yards rushing and another 2 touchdowns as the Rebels offense racked 375 yards in the contest.

“To me, he is the best player in our league,” Perry commented about Hawkins. “It hurts a lot. But you have to handle adversity, and we had guys step up and play. We just didn’t make the plays when we needed to tonight.”

However, the Purple Riders’ offense made the key plays in the critical moments to pull away from the Rebels. They scored on their first possession of the second half and then executed an onside kick, adding another touchdown on a 50-yard pass to seize a 34-20 advantage.

“That put us in a hole and changed the momentum,” Perry said. “But we battled back, and we had chances. We needed to make plays.”

But the Rebels responded with a 36-yard touchdown pass from Noling to English just four plays later to cut the deficit to 34-28. English led the Rebels with 55 receiving yards in the game.

“I was trying my hardest,” English said with a deep sigh. “Obviously I didn’t want the season to end. But it didn’t work out how we wanted it.”

However, it was trying to stop the Purple Riders’ offense that proved to be the problem. The Riders would accumulate 485 yards in the game, with 277 on the ground and another 208 in the air.

The Purple Riders and Rebels traded touchdowns as the Riders scored on a 5-yard run by quarterback Ayden Ludolph with just 1:14 remaining in the third quarter, followed by a 3-yard run by Proctor just two seconds into the fourth quarter to make it a one-score game again at 40-34 in favor of the Purple Riders.

The theme of the game was each team answering the other as the Rebels would come up with a big defensive play and cause the Riders to turn the ball over on downs following a failed fake punt attempt. However, the Rebels surrendered the ball right back on their next offensive possession when Noling had a pass picked off by the Riders’ Maurice Barnett at the Riders’ 13.

The Riders essentially sealed the game away with an 87-yard, 12-play drive to score the winning touchdown with 5:23 left in the contest. They converted two third and long situations into the first down to keep that drive alive.

The Rebels would show their mettle as they went down fighting. They would drive 55 yards on 12 plays with Noling diving into the endzone with just 1:24 remaining in the contest and the Rebels trailing by 7. However, the onside kick attempt was touched by the Rebels before traveling the necessary ten yards and the Purple Riders were able to run out the clock for the victory.

They added a touchdown late in the contest to once again extend their lead before the Rebels closed the game with a gallant effort and a touchdown with just 1:24 remaining to make it an 8-point game. However, the Rebels were not able to convert an onside kick for a last-second miracle comeback.

“We grew a lot,” Perry commented about the Rebels season. “We had a lot of guys step up and we had a great off-season. We are going to continue to work hard and take the next step next season.”

Martins Ferry travels to No. 3 seed Poland next Friday.

MF: 14-6-20-8–48

CR: 6-14-8-13–41

SCORING

CR – Jake Noling 31 run (Run Failed)

MF – Walkquem Cox 47 run (Jacob Theaker Kick)

MF – Alex Reese 78 interception return (Theaker Kick)

CR – Wyatt Hart 2 run (Run Failed)

CR – Mikey Proctor 21 run (Noling Run)

MF – Ayden Ludolph 1 run (Run Failed)

MF – Maurice Barnett pass from Ludolph (Pass Failed)

MF – Reese 50 pass from Ludolph

CR – Jameson English 36 pass from Noling (Noling Run)

MF – Ludolph 5 run (Run Failed)

CR – Proctor 3 run (Run Failed)

MF – Cox 28 run (Reese Pass from Ludolph)

CR – Noling 1 run (Kyle Booth Kick)

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MF CR

First downs 21 18

Total Yards 485 375

Rushes-yards 36-277 37-247

Passing 208 128

Comp-Att-Int 12-24-1 7-14-2

Punts 1-32 1-46

Fumbles-Lost 0-0 2-0

Penalties-Yards 9-80 3-25

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INDIVIDUAL LEADERS

RUSHING–Martins Ferry, Walkquem Cox 11-112, Ayden Ludolph 15-109; Crestview, Mikey Proctor 12-103, Wyatt Hart 8-87, Jake Noling 17-57.

PASSING–Martins Ferry, Ayden Ludolph 12-24-208-1-1; Crestview, Jake Noling 7-14-128-1-2.

RECEIVING–Martins Ferry, Alex Reese 6-144, Luca Shane 3-40; Crestview, Jameson English 2-55, Kyle Booth 4-46.

INTERCEPTIONS-Martins Ferry, Alex Reese, Maurice Barett; Crestview, Jameson English.

FUMBLES – None.