Lake County Sentinel
Harvey improves to 2-2 with 21-13 win over Crestwood
BY STONE LEXINGTON
SENIOR WRITER
After three games out of conference, the Harvey Red Raiders and Crestwood Red Devils met in each team’s CVC opener on Friday night.
In a home game for Harvey, both teams were seeking their second win of the early season, but the Red Raiders were the team that got back to .500 with a 21-13 victory over Crestwood.
“That was a tough one,” Harvey head coach Mick Mohner said. “Watching Crestwood on film, we knew we were going to get everything we could handle tonight. They’re not the biggest guys, they’re not the fastest guys but man, those guys play hard. They’re scrappy, they played their hearts out tonight and it’s just a shame somebody had to lose the game tonight…We’re just happy to get out of here with a W tonight.”
After both offenses left the field with no points on the opening three drives of the game, Harvey got on the board just before the end of the first quarter. The Red Raiders used an 11-play drive that began on their own 41-yard line to take a 7-0 lead, capped by quarterback Rick Coleman Jr. rushing the ball into the end zone from four yards out with 2:11 remaining in the quarter. The versatile Coleman also had an interception in the first quarter.
Crestwood tied the game at 7-7 a little past the midway point of the second quarter, as Evan Daniels took a two-yard quarterback keeper into the end zone on a drive that was largely dominated by running back Louis Blasiole’s work on the ground. To set up the touchdown, Blasiole dragged what seemed like the entire Harvey defense down to the 3-yard line from the 14.
The Red Devils scored again just before halftime with a beautiful drive that lasted the final 2:29 of the second quarter. The biggest plays of the drive came by Daniels, who completed a 4th-and-18 pass down to the 5-yard line with five seconds remaining in the half. A field goal would have seemed appropriate with only five seconds showing, but Crestwood head coach Jack D’Amato dialed up a wonderful play call to get the Red Devils into the end zone.
Daniels completed a five-yard touchdown pass to Jonas Honeycutt, who ran a beautiful route, as time expired in the second quarter. Honeycutt lined up on the outside to the right of Daniels, broke his route toward the middle of the field and left the defender in the dust when he broke his route back out toward the pylon for the touchdown.
Harvey blocked the extra point attempt, and Crestwood led 13-7 heading into halftime.
“Overall, we just didn’t play very hard in the first half,” Mohner said. “For some reason, every once in a while we just have to have a switch turned on for us and it sometimes happens two quarters too late, but we were able to turn it on in the second half and find a way to get a victory. I couldn’t be more proud of our guys for doing that.”
Crestwood kicked off to start the second half, but recovered the ball on the Harvey 30-yard line. The Red Devils drove down to the Red Raiders’ 16-yard line, but got no further when they failed to convert a 4th-and-4 attempt. Harvey took over on downs and capitalized.
The Red Raiders used a 16-play, 84-yard drive that took up much of the time in the third quarter to score their second touchdown of the game. Harvey did not attempt a pass on the drive that was capped by a Coleman quarterback keeper from the five-yard line on 4th-and-goal. The Red Raiders converted the extra point to take a 14-13 lead into the fourth quarter.
Harvey scored its final touchdown of the game with 1:13 remaining in the fourth quarter, and stopped Crestwood on its final drive to seal the game.
“Our defensive line got a lot of pressure on the quarterback,” Mohner said about his team’s shutout of the Red Devils in the second half. “Our guys stepped up and found a way to get it done. It wasn’t easy, it was a tough one, but I couldn’t be prouder of our guys. We played with effort, we played with enthusiasm. I think that helped us in the second half to win the football game.”
Harvey picked up its first win of the season last week with a dominating 42-0 victory over Wickliffe, a game in which they rushed for 343 yards. They won their second straight on Friday night to push their record to 2-2.
After winning their opening game against Rootstown this season, the Red Devils (1-3) entered Friday night’s game on a two-game losing streak with losses to Struthers and Norton. That streak extended to three games, as the Red Devils were unable to score in the second half.
Harvey will play at Cardinal next Friday, while Crestwood will host Beachwood the same night.
POSTED 09/10/2021 23:00
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Photo by Stone Lexington