Colonel Crawford gets bruising win over Mohawk
NORTH ROBINSON – The Colonel Crawford Eagles and Mohawk Warriors are used to running the ball up and down the field. As fast as they ran, the clock ran just as quick. By 9:30 p.m., the Eagles sealed the 27-6 Northern 10 Conference victory at H.J. Gary Field at Colonel Crawford High School on Friday night.
Both teams may also be heading home and adding a couple of different hues to their official school colors, black and blue. The hard hitting match up did not disappoint when it came to seeing and physical football.
"It was a physical football game," Eagles head coach Ryan Teglovic said. "They came out and hit us hard and played four quarters and stuck right with us the whole way. We knew it was going to be a tough game and whenever you face a team that has nine starters back like they do, you have to come ready to play."
The Eagles used their only possession of the first quarter to take a 6-0 lead on junior Blake Treisch's 2-yard run. They then forced Mohawk to punt on their only drive of the quarter. The Eagles proceeded to grab a 36-yard touchdown run from do-it-all quarterback senior Will Kirkpatrick in the second quarter and had a 37-yard field goal from senior Noah Ferguson to end the half up 15-6.
"We made a little bit of improvement this week, but we need to clean up some things. We will just continue to improve," Teglovic said.
It was a different story in the third as Mohawk seemed to grab the momentum and run with it. The Warriors forced a punt and proceeded to sustain a long drive thanks in part to powerful running from quarterback Juston Morter and Trevor Zender. Teglovic praised the Warriors effort in the hard fought quarter.
"They had a long drive and we did not get a first down. Sometimes your best defense is keeping an offense off of the field and that's what they did. They had a nice long drive that ate up a lot of clock and got them back in the game," Teglovic said.
The Warriors drove to the 1 yard line as time ran out in the third and took just one play to punch it in on a Morter power run. The Warriors were staring at a nine point deficit with an entire quarter to go and the momentum on their side.
But, the Eagles turned to their veterans and put together two scoring drives in the fourth, a 20-yard hook up from Kirkpatrick to senior wide receiver Owen Adams and a Kirkpatrick two yard run. The Eagles defense also stepped up in the clutch to force a turnover on downs, a punt and an fumble in the closing quarter.
"They got towards midfield on that drive and felt really confident and they scored. I was glad we could bounce back on that next drive and force a three and out," Teglovic said.
Mohawk punted on their first four drives of the ball game and again in the fourth. They played physical but were never able to fully take control of the line of scrimmage.
"It is disappointing when you look up at the scoreboard and it is 15-6 and you know you have not played very well," Mohawk head coach Brent Konkle said. "Up front, I am very disappointed in how we played. We should be able to run the ball off tackle."
The Warriors have always hung their hats on playing hard and Konkle felt he did not get an A+ effort.
"Disappointed in our intensity in the first half. We work so hard in the summer, two-a-days and practice. They should have just went out and had fun and I just did not see that from them in the first half," he said
The Eagles received another stellar night from Kirkpatrick who threw for 122-yards including 101 in the first half. He added a touchdown through the air. He also ran for 111-yards and two touchdowns. Treisch added some bruising runs on his way to 91-yards and a score. Owen Adams led all receivers with 77-yards and a trip to the end zone.
Mohawk was paced by Morter who ran for 54-yards and a touchdown and threw for another 29-yards.
The Eagles (2-0, 1-0) will now prepare for a very important N10 match up at Wynford next week, Mohawk (1-1, 0-1) will be locked in another physical battle with N10 rival Carey in Week 3.
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