COLUMBIANA — The Crestview Rebels could ill afford to look past the Champion Golden Flashes in their homecoming game Friday night. With a battle for first place in the Mahoning Valley Athletic Conference (MVAC) looming next week, they needed to hold up their end of the deal.

The Rebels proved that they were squarely focused on the game at hand with the Flashes as they jumped out to a 40-0 lead by halftime and rode that momentum to a resounding 53-8 final score to stay undefeated on the season and in the league.

“We just tried to take (tonight) like any other game,” senior receiver/defensive back Caidyn McElhaney said. “We tried to stay locked in and do our jobs. There were some mistakes, but they are fixable.”

“Like I say all the time, we don’t look forward, we take it a week at a time,” Rebels coach Dom Perry said.. We prepared for Champion, and my coaching staff is phenomenal. They had the kids ready to play and in the right positions, and hopefully they execute, which they did tonight for the most part,” Rebels coach Dom Perry said.

With the victory, the Rebels improved to 8-0 on the year and 5-0 in the MVAC Grey Tier. It also sets up a huge contest next week when they face the Garfield G-Men, which should decide the fate of the league championship.

“It’s a revenge game,” said Caidyn McElhaney, whose Rebels lost 23-22 to the G-Men last year. “We want to come out on top this year, so we are going to need to really practice hard this week and hopefully come out on top.”

The loss drops the Flashes to 2-6 overall on the season, 0-5 in the MVAC. It also pushes their losing streak to five straight games.

The Rebels successfully scored on 7 of 8 possessions in the game, with only the end of the game clock stopping them from scoring on all 8. They scored on all five of the first-half possessions while adding a special team’s touchdown for good measure. They out-rushed the Flashes 279 – 69 and held a total yardage advantage of 437 yards to 74 yards for the Flashes.

“Our d-line and o-line played really well tonight,” junior lineman Dylan Stoffer said. “The o-line gave our backs opportunities, and our d-line did their jobs and made the tackles.”

“It’s all about energy,” Caidyn McElhaney said. “We need to keep our energy high and keep screaming, keep going, and if everybody does their job, it will work out well.”

Senior quarterback Jake Noling rushed for 101 yards and a touchdown, along with connecting on 9-of-13 passes for 158 yards and another two scores to lead the Rebels in the victory. Senior Wyatt Hart added another 77 yards rushing and two touchdowns while Mikey Proctor and Trevor McElhaney also scored on rushing touchdowns.

“We try to keep everyone honest on every single aspect of our offense,” Caidyn McElhaney said. “We can throw the ball, and then if you prepare for the throwing, we are going to run at you. We change it up every week.”

The Rebels wasted no time in scoring on the third play of their opening possession with a 3-yard run by Procter to grab a quick 7-0 lead. That score came at the 7:59 mark of the first quarter.

They hit paydirt again on their next four possessions with Noling scoring on a 1-yard run with 1:26 left in the opening quarter to make it 13-0. That was followed by a 13-yard run by Hart, a 10-yard pass from Noling to Ethan Kane, and a 3-yard pass from Noling to Josh Smith in the second quarter to build a 34-0 advantage.

The Rebels’ special teams then made a statement with a touchdown as the Flashes’ punter kicked the ball into his blocking backer, with the Rebels junior lineman Dylan Stoffer catching the deflected ball and rumbling 27 yards for a touchdown and a commanding 40-0 lead for the Rebels at halftime.

“It was awesome, it was a great feeling,” Stoffer said about his first varsity touchdown. “I was thinking, ‘wait, I can return this.’ So, I grabbed it and ran for a touchdown.”

Despite a second-half running clock, the Rebels added two more touchdowns to reach their 53-point total on the night. Hart added a 15-yard run for his second touchdown in the game, and Trevor McElhaney scored from 1 yard out.

The Flashes got on the scoreboard with 6:13 remaining in the contest when backup quarterback Morrison Ruckman connected with senior receiver Joaquin Fuentes in the corner of the end zone.

“They are the reigning league champs, and they do a phenomenal job,” Perry spoke about facing the G-Men next Friday. “They will be the best team we have seen so far on film. So, we have a big task ahead of us to go up to their place and beat them.”

The Rebels will hope to carry the momentum that they have built up into their battle for the top of the MVAC against Garfield next Friday in Garrettsville.

The Flashes will return to action next Friday when they host the Liberty Leopards.

CH: 0- 0- 0-8– 8

CR: 13-27-13-0–53

SCORING

CR-Mikey Proctor 3 run (Danny Novak kick)

CR-Jake Noling 1 run (pass failed)

CR-Wyatt Hart 13 run (Novak kick)

CR-Ethan Kane 10 pass from Noling (Novak kick)

CR-Owen Finley 3 pass from Noling (Novak kick)

CR-Dylan Stoffer 27 punt return (kick kailed)

CR-Hart 15 run (Novak kick)

CR-Trevor McElhaney 1 run (took knee)

NF-Joaquin Fuentes 23 pass from Morrison Ruckman (Ryan Brigham run)

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CH CR

First downs 6 20

Total Yards 74 437

Rushes-yards 25-69 30-279

Passing 5 158

Comp-Att-Int 2-6-2 9-13-0

Punts-Avg. 3-32.7 0-0

Fumbles-Lost 0-0 0-0

Penalties-Yards 3-15 6-30

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INDIVIDUAL LEADERS

RUSHING–Champion, Caden Rowland 6-37, Ryan Brigham 5-21; Crestview, Jake Noling 11-101, Wyatt Hart 5-77, Trevor McElhaney 5-45.

PASSING–Champion, Zack Morris 2-5-5-0-1, Caden Rowland 0-1-0-0-1; Crestview, Jake Noling 9-13-158-2-0.

RECEIVING–Champion, Caden Rowland 2-5; Crestview, Kyle Booth 1-53, Ethan Kane 4-43, Josh Smith 1-26.

INTERCEPTIONS -Crestview, Ethan Kane, Caidyn McElhaney.