2B • MORNING JOURNAL • FOOTBALL PREVIEW 2013 • THURSDAY, AUGUST 29, 2013
League champs collide in early showdown BY RON FIRTH Journal Sports Editor
Morning Journal/Patti Schaeffer
West Branch’s Logan Sharp (left) and Crestview’s Collin Gilbert will meet again when their teams play each other for the first time on Sept. 6.
COLUMBIANA — One of the most interesting matchups of the season comes early on when a pair of league champions meet for the first time. Inter-Tri County League upper tier champion Crestview travels to Northeastern Buckeye Conference champion West Branch on Sept. 6. “That will be interesting,” West Branch coach D.J. Dota said. “You know of them because they’ve won a lot of games and league titles. “They have a great football program over there and have done a lot.” Both programs have winning traditions, but not anything to connect them — until now. “I’ve never watched them,” West
Branch senior lineman Logan Sharp said. “I’ve never played them. It’s going to be a new experience.” Sharp is one of the top returnees to a West Branch team that went 6-4 last season and captured its first NBC title in 11 years Crestview, which has won 19 straight regular-season games and returns its entire offensive line, doesn’t know much about the Warriors either. “Not a lot,” Crestview senior quarterback Collin Gilbert said. “I know Coach (Paul Cusick) went and saw them scrimmage. They’re a good team. They’re big. They’re a division bigger than us this year, but Coach did a great job of getting them and Liberty on our schedule. That gets us prepared for week 11 See SHOWDOWN, Page 3B