HOLMES TOWNSHIP — Ryan Teglovic had one huge decision.
Colonel Crawford trailed Wynford, 35-34, with 3:24 left in the game, and Teglovic had to decide: Go for one with the extra point or take a chance and go for two and the take the lead.
The Colonel Crawford coach never hesitated. He decided to go for two.
After the decision was made, quarterback Brock Ritzhaupt faked an inside handoff to tailback Tristan Cross then shuffled the ball to Lincoln Mollenkopf, who raced around the left end untouched for the conversion and the lead.
From there, the Royals took the ball and quickly moved to the Colonel Crawford 29 with two minutes left. But Eagles’ safety Carter Valentine made his fifth interception of the season to seal the Eagles’ win.
Wynford coach Gabe Helbert called Teglovic’s decision a gutsy one.
“They’re very good in double tight wing, and you have to commit to their 215-pound tailback, who runs the football like a son-of-a-gun. It was a good call,” Helbert said, referring to Eagles’ tailback Cross.
The score capped a huge second half for the Eagles, who outscored the Royals, 30-15, after trailing 20-6 at the half.
“I thought we settled down,” Teglovic said of the second half. “(Wynford) is a great offensive team and they have one of the best quarterbacks in the area, maybe even the state. And he has a lot of good receivers on the edge.
“We had to weather the storm in the first half,” Teglovic added. “And, even in the first half, when we were giving up scores, we didn’t give up a lot of big plays. That’s what we talked about. And I thought we did a good job against their running game.”
The disparity of the two halves was stark. Wynford outgained Colonel Crawford, 201 to 132 early, but the Eagles held the advantage in the final two frames, 273 to 210.
And Cross came up big, rushing for 121 yards in 19 carries, and he added two catches for 56 yards late in the game, including a 37-yard scoring pass from Ritzhaupt, setting up the exciting conclusion.
“(Cross is) one of the toughest kids I’ve ever coached and one of the hardest workers,” Teglovic said. “He’s selfless. Even when he was the leading rusher in the N10 last year, it was never about him. It’s always been about the team and trying to get the win. That’s what that kid is all about.”
Helbert said the Eagles made some key defensive adjustments that changed the tenor of the game.
“They played more man coverage, that’s the biggest thing,” Helbert said. “They played more man coverage and we should have gone to more man matchups and got the back out more. They had a hard time covering the back and, unfortunately, we didn’t do that as much as we should have.
“We knew this was going to be a great high school football game and certainly, everyone got their money’s worth,” he added.
Wynford quarterback Dustin Brady was brilliant, completing 25 of 34 passes for 316 yards and a score, while rushing for three scores.
Brady scored on runs of eight yards and one yard in the first quarter to give the Royals a 12-0 lead.
After Cross scored on a one-yard run late in the period, Brady scored on a 24-yard run in the second period and the Royals had their 14-point halftime lead.
On the first play of the second half, Ritzhaupt, who also played very well, hit Chase Walker on a slant, who then rambled 68 yards to the Wynford two.
Cross scored one play later, cutting the Wynford lead to 20-13.
For the game, Ritzhaupt completed 10 of 20 passes for 186 yards and rushed seven times for 65 yards.
Brady scored from a yard out to increase the lead to 27-13, but Ritzhaupt scored on a 33-yard run, cutting the lead to 27-20, entering the final frame.
Wynford held a 35-21 lead early in the fourth period when Brady hit tailback Cody Taylor from 10 yards away, but the Eagles scored twice in the final nine minutes to complete the comeback.
Cross scored on a 37-yard pass from Ritzhaupt before adding a 10-yard run.
“We had to make them work and maybe make a couple of mistakes,” Teglovic said of the Royals. “And we got a big interception. And we got the ball back and made some big plays.”
Wide receiver Lucas Hackworth grabbed nine passes for 155 yards for the Royals and Taylor caught eight passes for 59 yards.
“I’m very proud of our kids’ effort, but the resiliency the Crawford kids showed, coming back the way they did, and they had a gutsy call on the two-point conversion. That was good football,” Helbert said.
“We didn’t get it done and I take full credit for that,” Helbert added. “I need to do a better job as our head coach to put us in a better position to win.”
Box score
Score by quarters
Colonel Crawford 6 0 15 15 — 36
Wynford 12 8 7 8 — 35
Scoring summary
First quarter
W — Dustin Brady 8 run (kick failed), 8:19.
W — Brady 1 run (pass failed), 4:44.
CC — Tristan Cross 1 run (run failed), 2:09.
Second quarter
W — Brady 24 run (James Schiefer pass from Brady), 11:26.
Third quarter
CC — Cross 2 run (Tyler Christman kick), 11:17.
W — Brady 1 run (Trent Greene kick), 6:20.
CC — Brock Ritzhaupt 33 run (Caulen Spangler pass from Ritzhaupt), 1:50.
Fourth quarter
W — Cody Taylor 10 pass from Brady (Leyton Appleby pass from Brady), 10:15.
CC — Cross 37 pass from Ritzhaupt (Christman kick), 9:05.
CC — Cross 10 run (Lincoln Mollenkopf run), 3:24.
Individual statistics
Passing
Colonel Crawford: Brock Ritzhaupt 10-20-0 186. Wynford: Dustin Brady 25-34-1 316.
Rushing
Colonel Crawford: Tristan Cross 19-121, Ritzhaupt 7-65, Cade Hamilton 2-12, Kamryn Lohr 3-15, Lincoln Mollenkopf 3-11. Wynford: Brady 16-69, Cody Taylor 11-37, Lucas Hackworth 1-(-1), Cobey Allen 1-(-10).
Receiving
Colonel Crawford: Chase Walker 4-86, Cross 2-56, Carson Feichtner 2-23, Carter Valentine 1-12, Seth Carman 1-12. Wynford: Hackworth 9-155, James Schiefer 4-58, Taylor 8-49, Allen 2-34, Owen Whitmeyer 1-24, Avery Langenderfer 1-7.
Team statistics
CC W
First downs 16 18
Rushing 33-224 29-95
Passes 10-20-0 25-34-1
Yards passing 186 316
Total yards 410 411