COLUMBIANA — The Crestview Rebels had two big goals heading into the 2025 season. One was to beat Garfield and capture a Mahoning Valley Athletic Conference championship, and the other was to make a deep run in the OHSAA playoffs. The Rebels accomplished the league title but came up short in the playoff run.

The seventh-seeded Garaway Pirates were able to grind out a hard-fought 34-0 victory on the Rebels’ home turf to advance to next Friday’s Division VI, Region 21 semifinal. The Pirates will face the Dalton Bulldogs at a site to be named later by the OHSAA

With the loss, the second-seeded Rebels close the season with a 10-1 record and a MVAC league championship with a perfect 7-0 mark. Unfortunately, it also marks the fifth consecutive playoff loss that the Rebels have suffered in the postseason.

“It was a great season, I couldn’t ask for more. This was the best thing I have done in my life. This was my favorite team to be a part of,” senior quarterback Jake Noling said. “We worked all off-season, and in season, it meant a lot to us. Beating Garfield was special. It was marked on our calendar since our freshman year. That was huge.”

“That is the goal every year, to come out and win the league, and we accomplished that with going undefeated,” Rebels head coach Dom Perry said. “It was tough coming out here and losing like this tonight, but we accomplished a lot this year.”

Following a three-and-out on their first possession of the contest, the Pirates went on to score on their next four offensive possessions to build a 21-0 advantage at halftime, and then they added another touchdown on their first possession of the second half to provide them with a commanding 27-0 lead.

They added their last touchdown with just 2:35 remaining in the game, which provided the final 34-0 margin. It also activated the running clock in the contest.

“It was tough for both the coaches and the kids. We were expecting to play a little better than we did, but that is a very good football team,”said Perry about the Garaway squad.

As well as the Pirates’ offense was able to move the ball, it was their defense that controlled the contest by suffocating the Rebels’ offense throughout most of the game. The Rebels, who averaged 40.6 points per contest, were held to just 149 total yards in the game. They were only able to squeeze out 41 total yards in the first half.

“They got the upper hand on us a little bit on us up front,” Perry admitted. “They were a little stronger than us. That is something that we will have to address in the off-season.”

The Rebels’ defense, which only surrendered 9.6 points per game, struggled to keep the Pirates’ quarterback, Grady Miller, from finding his receivers as he completed 18 of 30 passes for 205 yards and 3 touchdowns. They also rushed for 164 yards in the game.

The Pirates score their first touchdown at the 3:23 mark of the first quarter when quarterback Grady Miller connected with Trey Miller on a 5-yard toss to jump out to a 7-0 lead.

They added two scores in the second frame, with Grady Miller finding Jaxon Garber for a 13-yard touchdown pass at the 9:09 mark of the frame. That was followed up by a 3-yard run by running back Matthew Frey to make it 21-0 with just 54 seconds remaining in the first half.

The Rebels’ offense seemed to awaken in their first possession of the second half as they drove to the Pirates’ 6-yard line, helped by a 43-yard pass from Jake Noling to Ethan Kane. However, the drive stalled at the 6 as the Rebels turned the ball over on downs.

“Yeah, that was tough, that was tough. Not punching that in there that hurt,” Perry said.

The Pirates took advantage of the momentum swing and drove 94 yards on 10 plays, with Frey racing into the end zone from 15 yards out to make it 27-0. That score came with 3:28 left in the third quarter.

The Rebels’ defense also showed its presence as they thwarted a Pirates drive at their 2-yard line when Ethan Kane intercepted a pass in the endzone. However, it appeared that Kane may have suffered a broken collarbone as a result of an awkward fall to the turf.

Unfortunately, the Rebels returned the favor as the Pirates intercepted a Noling pass, as the Pirates’ Micah Yoder came down with the ball at his own 13. The Pirates eventually scored on a 2-yard pass from Grady Miller to Trey Miller once again to finish the scoring in the game.

GA: 7-14-6-7–34

CR: 0- 0-0-0– 0

SCORING

GA-Trey Miller 5 pass from Grady Miller (Thomas Grimm Kick)

GA-Jaxon Garber 13 pass from Grady Miller (Grim Kick)

GA-Matthew Frey 3 run (Grimm Kick)

GA-Frey 15 run (Kick Failed)

GA-Trey Miller 2 pass from Grady Miller (Grimm Kick)

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GA CR

First downs 22 7

Total Yards 369 149

Rushes-yards 33-164 26-69

Passing 205 80

Comp-Att-Int 18-30-1 7/14-1

Punts-Avg. 2-43.5 4-20.8

Fumbles-Lost 1-0 0-0

Penalties-Yards 3-21 4-33

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INDIVIDUAL LEADERS

RUSHING–Garaway, Mathew Fry 26-132; Crestview, Mikey Proctor 14-49, Jake Noling 10-17.

PASSING–Garaway, Grady Miller 18-30-205-3-1; Crestview, Jake Noling 7-14-80-0-1.

RECEIVING–Garaway, Jaxon Garber 6-90, Micah Yoder 5-58; Crestview, Ethan Kane 2-47, Caidyn McElhaney 3-22.

INTERCEPTIONS-Garaway, Micah Yoder; Crestview, Ethan Kane.