It had been a while since the Crestwood Red Devils boys’ basketball team faced off against its former Portage Trail Conference County Division foe Mogadore. The Red Devils greeted their old conference rivals by beating them 66-44 last Saturday afternoon in Mantua.
“This is a great rivalry game,” said Coach Josh Jakacki. “We miss this rivalry and I wish there was a semblance of something we could do to continue with the rivalry against Garfield, Streetsboro and all of the local schools but our kids get up for these games because they know these kids.”
The last time Crestwood (3-0, 0-0) competed against Mogadore was during the 2019-2020 season, the final year the Red Devils belonged to the PTC County Division. The Red Devils defeated Mogadore and went on to win the PTC County Division title before moving to the Chagrin Valley Conference Valley Division.
Although it has been only three seasons since the teams faced each other, the old PTC County Division rivalry still runs strong.
“These dudes are one of our old rivals,” said junior guard Dekota Johnson. “We had not played them in years. We were coming off of two not very good seasons. It was a Saturday afternoon game and we had so many people in attendance, so it was huge.”
Although Crestwood held a 24-13 advantage at the half, Jakacki said he stressed to his team in the locker room that the Wildcats would not go away that easily.
After only scoring 13 points in the first half, Mogadore outscored the Red Devils 6-2 at the beginning of the third quarter, trimming Crestwood’s lead to 26-19.
“Coach Jakacki has been playing against them for so many years now and knew they were going to play as hard as they could,” noted the 6-foot-1 Johnson. “We had to return that and came out as hard as we could and played our defense, got to our spots and got our shots up.”
Mogadore’s length and athleticism bothered the Red Devils but they shot the ball well from beyond the arc and Johnson keyed 22-18 run, scoring 12 points in the third quarter, including hitting a pair of 3-point shots.
“Dekota had three points in the first half and did not really exert himself and took some shots that were a little questionable,” said the Red Devils’ ninth-year coach. “But we trust him. He is going to be a 1,000-point scorer here and is a really talented player that really works his butt off in the offseason and hit some huge shots.”
Johnson scored 27 points, collected 11 rebounds and shot four-of-seven from beyond the arc to pace the Red Devils.
Crestwood countered the Wildcats’ early second half rally with some impressive shooting, draining four 3-point shots in the third quarter to preserve a double-digit lead heading into the final period.
The Red Devils were fueled by a 10-0 run in the fourth period, aided by seven points from Johnson and a 3-pointer from senior guard Charlie Schweickert, pushing the lead to 21 points, and cruising to a 22-point victory to stay undefeated.
The Wildcats were physical on every possession, but Johnson said Crestwood was well-prepared to throw that kind of physicality right back into Mogadore’s face and eventually wore them down.
“We knew coming into this game that Mogadore is a very physical team,” Johnson said. “That is how they have always played, and I remember watching my older brother play against them. We knew we were going to have to be physical right back by boxing out and playing our defense.”
Despite losing the rebounding battle by a 49-33 margin, Crestwood overcame that disparity by collecting 30 points on its 3-point shooting compared to the Wildcats scoring only 12 points from behind the arc.
After only collecting five victories in the last two seasons, Jakacki said the Red Devils are ready to turn the page and finally start finishing off some games.
“We knew coming into the season that we left games on the floor last year that we knew we should have won,” acknowledged Jakacki. “We had nine games we lost by six points or less and we did not know how to finish so we came into the season and had a great offseason. The kids are bought in and but we have to get to a point where we have eight or nine guys ready to play on any given night.”
Crestwood’s chances for a season of redemptions is strengthened by returning 12 varsity players from last year’s squad.
“Our chemistry is off of the charts,” said Johnson. “Charlie, senior guard Ty Fannin and I are three-year starters. We can all score the ball and are defending as hard as we can.”
Following a home contest against CVC Valley Division foe Berkshire on Wednesday night, the Red Devils will welcome conference rival Grand Valley to their home court this Saturday at 12:15 p.m.
