Week 2 shaping up to be good for county

Crawford County football teams went 3-3 on opening night.

Week 2 has another inter-county game and some interesting Northern 10 Conference contests.

This week is offering up some intriguing match ups. Most should be easy wins, but a few have a couple of people second guessing their picks.

Let’s take a look at these Week 2 matchups.

Bucyrus at Crestline

This is the only inter-county game of the week and could be more interesting than most might think.

The Redmen are coming off of a very ugly loss to Galion. They will be looking to bounce back against yet another inter-county school. The Redmen must get their run game going. Last week, they tallied six total rushing yards.

It will be essential to get the run game rolling if they want to avoid the upset loss.

Crestline may be catching the Redmen at the right time. They are down after an ugly loss and the Bulldogs will get them on their home field. This could be the best chance the Bulldogs have of pulling off an upset.

This could also be the end of a historic rivalry as the plan for the Bulldogs is to no longer schedule Bucyrus for nonleague contests.

“We will continue to stress the importance of fundamentals that includes blocking and tackling and work on our alignment and our responsibilities defensively to make sure we are in the best position to make plays,” head coach Aaron Eckert said. “We will focus on the details of our offense to keep drives together.”

Wynford at Ridgedale

The Royals were less than a minute away from beating a very talented Liberty-Benton team in Week 1. They will travel to Ridgedale with a huge chip on their shoulder which spells bad news for the Rockets. Ridgedale is coming off of a 49-13 drubbing at the hands of Elgin.

They Royals will not be happy heading into this game because of the missed opportunities they had in Week 1. This one is a good candidate for a running clock.

Head coach Gabe Helbert identified four keys to winning the game for the Royals.

“We need to work to control the line of scrimmage, improve from Week 1, protect the football and create turnovers defensively and execute the game plan,” Helbert said.

Mohawk at Colonel Crawford

Expect a hard hitting physical football game with a ton of yards coming on the ground. Mohawk is a traditional ground pounding football team and the Eagles racked up the rushing yards last week against Mount Gilead in their 42-21 opening night win.

The Eagles ran for a total of 375 yards. Senior quarterback Will Kirkpatrick had 264 and running back Blake Treisch collected 107. Kirkpatrick was 0-for-4 passing with an interception. Expect the Eagles to look to establish the passing game early and get Kirkpatrick in a grove.

“Mohawk is a very good team. We need to tackle better and improve defensively,” head coach Ryan Teglovic said. “We also need to get a passing game going. We need to get our talented receivers involved, but most importantly, we need to not turn the ball over. We do those things and we will be fine.”

Columbus Crusaders at Galion

Galion will host the Columbus Crusaders. The Crusaders are a mystery of a team but on paper, look to be very good, but young. They have just nine seniors on the squad.

The Tigers are senior loaded and proved they are a good team in their Week 1 dominating win over Bucyrus. The Tigers will be at full strength with the return of head coach Chris Hawkins and also will be looking to add quarterback Chase Cooke into the mix after Jacob Fryer went down in the first quarter with an injury.

Fryer will likely play in the game but do not be surprised to see a different player under center at some point.

Buckeye Central at Seneca East

The Bucks beat up on the Plymouth Big Red in Week 1 30-6, but what may be more surprising is the Tigers performance against a different Firelands Conference team, South Central. The Tigers took home the 55-28 win last Friday.

This is not the same old Seneca East team that finished near the basement of the N10 last season. But, the Bucks are senior loaded and ready to make a mark on the program. This could be the most interesting matchup of the week.

Grant Loy had a successful Week 1 through the air but failed to put one in the end zone. Cody Roberts missed the first half against Plymouth and that was the good news for the Big Red. He ran for 169 yards and three scores in the second half alone.

jfurr@gannett.com

419-610-5034

Twitter: @JakeFurr11