Staff photo / Joe Simon Crestview defenders Kaden Paskevitch (4), Brandon Yanssens (2) and Kain McIntosh (3) combine to stop Champion’s Austin Willforth on Friday night at Champion. The Rebels lost, 20-17, to the Golden Flashes.

CHAMPION — A hot start by Crestview and quarterback Anthony Cusick was doused with buckets and buckets of rain.

The Rebels nearly found a way to get it going again in a Mahoning Valley Athletic Conference, Gray Tier matchup with Champion, but the upstart Golden Flashes put out the fire once again.

Crestview couldn’t hold on to an early nine-point lead and a last-minute drive came up short as the Rebels fell, 20-17.

Despite pouring rain, Cusick completed five of his first six passes, including a 42-yard touchdown to William Hardenbrook for a 6-0 lead on their first drive. The Rebels forced a three-and-out by Champion, and Cusick completed added a 27-yard field goal by Brandon Yanssens to go up 9-0. Then Champion settled in and carried out its gameplan to near perfection.

The Golden Flashes (1-0, 1-0) ran the ball 45 times and threw it just twice as they controlled the clock and played solid defense (Cusick completed just three of his final eight passes). Led by back-up quarterback Joey Fell, who filled in for an injured Noah Vesey, Champion ran for 160 yards and three TDs.

“I thought they had a great gameplan, their kids executed and they deserved to win,” Crestview coach Paul Cusick said. “They kept the ball out of our hands, slowed us down and kept our offense off the field. That’s tough. They’ve got a great scheme for their personnel, and they executed.”

Turnovers hurt both teams.

Crestview fumbled three times, losing two of them. The first fumble came inside their own territory late in the first half. Champion had just scored to make the score, 9-7, and Ethan Powell ripped of a first-down run when the ball squirted loose. Champion recovered, and after a couple of encroachment penalties on the Rebels, Fell scored his second touchdown, making some nifty open-field moves before finishing a 21-yard TD run for a 14-9 lead just 25 seconds before halftime.

Crestview had five encroachment calls and 11 total penalties.

“We can’t jump offsides and give them free yards,” Paul Cusick said. “We did it 5 or 6 times. That’s inexcusable. There are some guys that are going to have to learn that lesson the hard way, but we got next week, so that’s what we’ll do.”

The Rebels struck back in the third quarter.

This time it was a turnover by the Flashes that set things up. Champion fumbled at its own 8-yard line, and on the next play, Hardenbrook raced in nearly untouched for an 8-yard TD and a 17-14 lead.

That was the only play Crestview had from scrimmage in the entire third quarter. The Flashes responded with a 10-play drive. A 2-yard TD run by Austin Willforth was set up by Fell, who on fourth-and-2, broke a tackle on a QB sneak and ran off the edge for 39 yards to the 2. The Rebels fumbled the ensuing kickoff, and Champion held the ball for the rest of the quarter.

“Having so many ups and downs the last three years, I think that’s really helped our program,” Champion coach Tim McGlynn said. “Being able to overcome those kind of things — we had turnovers in the red zone, and you can’t have that — but going down 9-0, our coaches just kept saying, ‘One play at a time. One play at a time. It’s OK. One play at a time.’ That’s something we’ve always preached, and finally it came back to help us.”

Champion’s drive following the fumbled kickoff stalled inside the Rebels’ 30 early in the fourth quarter, and that’s when some chaos started to happen.

Crestview went for it on fourth-and-19 from its own 20-yard line and came up well short. Champion took over at the Rebels’ 13 but only gained 6 yards, dropping a pass on fourth-and-4. Crestview again faced another fourth-and-long situation and came up well short with 5:16 remaining, and Champion was on the verge of sealing the win when Willforth fumbled.

Crestview took over at its own 13 and was aided by a few penalties on the Flashes as it moved inside Champion territory. The Rebels were on the Champion 30 when Willforth sacked Anthony Cusick. Champion was called for pass interference again on the next play, a Hail Mary attempt that was intercepted. That put the ball at the 37 with 15.9 seconds left. A short pass gave the Rebels one more chance, but Willforth stepped in front of a pass for the game-sealing interception.

“We speak all the time about a process,” Champion coach Tim McGlynn said. “We talk about our process and taking our steps, and that’s really, truly what our kids did. Overcome the penalties at the end, that wouldn’t have happened here three years ago.”