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COLUMBIANA - The schedule makers of the Mahoning Valley Athletic Conference didn't do the Crestview Rebels any favors. The Rebels faced the second of the top three league contenders Friday night at home, suffering a 34-13 setback to the LaBrae Vikings.
The Rebels, who drop to 3-4 on the season, 2-2 in the MVAC Gray Division, lost a hard-fought 20-13 game last week to Brookfield. The Rebels will play at league-leading and state-ranked Garfield next week.
"It's a tough stretch. But you have to play who is on your schedule, and you have to get it down," Rebels coach Paul Cusick said. "We'll go back to the drawing board, get our kids healthy and go out and try to compete."
"Their kids play hard," Vikings coach John Armeni said. "You don't have the run that they had the past two decades without knowing what you're doing. We knew this was going to be a battle.
With the Vikings taking a 13-0 lead in the contest following a 15 yard run by Vikings quarterback Aiden Stephens at the 4:48 mark of the first quarter and a 77-yard scamper by Tre'Von Drake with just 9-seconds remaining in the stanza, it appeared the Vikings were taking charge of the game.
That is when the Rebels Dominic Yerkey took the ensuing kickoff and raced 87 yards to paydirt to get the Rebels back in the contest. That score at the end of the quarter cut the Rebels deficit to 13-6.
The Rebels looked to capitalize even more when the Viking fumbled the kickoff following the score. That gave the Rebels the ball at the Vikings' 45. But that is when the Vikings' defense and three costly penalties pushed the Rebels back to their own 45 where they had to punt the ball.
"That's what good teams do. You don't allow the opposition to seize the momentum and capitalize on your mistakes. You dig your heels in and stop them," Armeni said of the Vikings defensive effort following the turnover.
"Not only that, but we had that touchdown called back. That was a game-changer in my opinion. That makes it tough," Cusick said. "When you have opportunities, you have to score. And we didn't."
The Vikings made it even more difficult for the Rebels just before halftime when they marched 94 yards on eight plays to score on a Stephens run with only 8-second before intermission. That gave the Vikings a comfortable 20-6 lead at halftime.
The Rebels made one more push to start the second half when Yerkey scored on a 2-yard run with 4:13 remaining in the third quarter. That cut the Vikings lead down to 20-13.
But the Vikings answered with two fourth-quarter touchdowns as Stephens scored on a 12-yard run with 9:43 left, and Devin Carter raced 43 yards with only 2:19 remaining in the game.
"The kids played hard, they really did," Cusick said. "We just couldn't make the plays we needed to."
The Vikings will host arch-rival Brookfield next Friday in another key MVAC battle.
LABRAE: 13-7-0-14--34
CRESTVIEW: 6-0- 7-0--13
SCORING
L -Aiden Stephens 15 run (Matt Young kick)
L- Tre'Von Drake 77 run (kick nlocked)
C-Dominic Yerkey 87 kickoff return (kick failed)
L-Stephens 2 run (Young kick)
C-Yerkey 2 run (Joey Carr kick)s
L-Stephens 12 run (Young kick)
L -Devin Carter 43 run (Young kick)
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L C
First downs 11 11
Total Yards 436 217
Rushes-yards 39-395 40-140
Passing 41 77
Comp-Att-Int 3-7-0 7-12-0
Punts 3-33 8-34.75
Fumbles-Lost 2-1 1-0
Penalties-Yards 5-48 14-135
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INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
RUSHING--LaBrae, Devin Carter 17-163, Aiden Stephens 14-126, Tre'Von Drake 8-106; Crestview, Roclen Buttera 18-86, Dominic Yerkey 12-54.
PASSING--LaBrae, Aiden Stephens 3-5-41-0-0; Crestview, Kirkland Miller 7-12-77-0-0.
RECEIVING--LaBrae, Devin Carter 1-22, Tre'von Drake 1-10; Crestview, Zander Witherow 4-35, Jack Yerkey 2-34, Dominic Yerkey 1-8.
FUMBLE RECOVERIES-Crestview, Jake Parker.