HOLMES TOWNSHIP — The Colonel Crawford Eagles still have three games remaining in the Northern 10 Athletic Conference.
Yet the Eagles already have a title: conference champions.
Crawford clinched a share of the N10 title with an impressive 83-38 win over Wynford Friday night.
The Eagles remained unblemished on the season at 13-0 and 17-0, while Wynford fell to 2-10 in the league, 3-12 overall.
But impressive play has been the norm all season for a team that hasn’t really been tested most of the season.
“I’m just proud of our guys,” Colonel Crawford coach David Sheldon said. “I think the impressive thing, to already get a piece of it, there are still four league games to go. To do it that early, because we only have three (league games remaining) and we have the bye in the last week. To win it with four to go, we talked about the focus and concentration in that locker room, one game at a time.”
Sheldon said that his team plays so well together.
“To secure a league championship this early, it’s a great team in there and they play so well together,” he added. “Each one knows their job out there. They do their own job, and they don’t try to do what they’re not told to do.”
Wynford coach Steve Mohr watched as four Eagles reached double figures but he felt that Crawford’s defense was the difference.
“We know they can score but they were able to take us out of anything we tried to do offensively,” Mohr said. “Their pressure bothered us. I felt pretty good after the first quarter, but they just ramped up their pressure and went to a little half-court trap, and they did a really good job of rotating people to our open guys. We got guys, against their pressure, of getting guys where we wanted to, but they did a good job of rotating up and taking that away, and we didn’t adjust beyond that.”
Dustin Brady scored seven points in the first quarter and Jaron Filliater added six as the Royals held a 13-12 lead late in the period. But Mason Studer and Drayton Burkhart each dropped 3-point shots as the Eagles held a 22-15 lead after one period.
From that point, the Royals made just eight of 28 shots the rest of the way.
“Defensively, after the first quarter, we really locked them down,” Sheldon said. “They had 15 and came out and had a great first quarter and that’s impressive second, third, and fourth (quarters). It was nice, with a double weekend, the whole fourth quarter we got to sit the big three and get them rest because we have a very good team tomorrow. Our goal is to win it by ourselves in the MAC. We have to get back at it tomorrow morning; this is a very good, explosive Seneca East team.”
Crawford knocked down 12 3s by four different players. Studer and Burkhart led the way with 18 points each. Burkhart dropped six of eight 3s for the game. Carter Valentine added 17 points and Chase Walker scored 12.
“I think the impressive thing is that this group has gotten better; the second time we’ve played these teams we’ve shown the growth we’ve made,” Sheldon said. “Tonight, Drayton Burkhart hits big 3s all night and Nolan McKibben has done that all year. That’s the thing that helps us; we have other options and that helps.
“We’ve won a league championship, but goal number two is to win a sectional championship, which is just a few weeks away.”
Crawford held a 41-22 lead at the break and led 69-36 entering the final period. None of the Eagles big three of Studer, Valentine, and Walker, played in the fourth period.
“We had four guys in doubles and Feichtner with eight,” Sheldon said. “We share the basketball. We talk a lot about making the extra pass to get a great shot, not a good shot. And that’s what this team does. It’s a special group.”
Filliater led the Royals with 17 points and Brady added nine. Mohr said that his team had to play perfectly, and they didn’t.
“They played very well, and we didn’t, and we knew we would have to be at our absolute best to have a chance tonight and we weren’t at our best,” Mohr said. “That’s it in a nutshell.
“They shoot the ball; they shoot it well,” Mohr added. “They’ve shot it well all year long. We weren’t very good defensively. This is nothing against them, but it’s pretty easy hitting shots when you’re up 15 or 20, playing free and easy and they took that seven-point lead up to 15 and we had to get stops and we didn’t.
“They’re every bit as good as advertised.”
Box score
Colonel Crawford 83, Wynford 38
Colonel Crawford 22 19 28 14 — 83
Wynford 15 7 14 2 — 38
Colonel Crawford (17-0, 13-0 N10): Shots 32-51; 3-pt. shots 12 (Drayton Burkhart 6, Mason Studer 3, Carson Feichtner 2, Carter Valentine); Free throws 7-10; Rebounds 27; Turnovers 4. Scoring: Mason Studer 6 3 18, Derek Horsley 0 2 2, Brock Ritzhaupt 2 0 4, Carter Valentine 8 0 17, Mason McKibben 2 0 4, Drayton Burkhart 6 0 18, Chase Walker 5 2 12, Carson Feichtner 3 0 8.
Wynford (3-12, 2-11 N10): Shots 15-40; 3-pt shots 1 (Dustin Brady); Free throws 7-13; Rebounds 19; Turnovers 19. Scoring: Dustin Brady 4 0 9, James Schifer 0 2 2, Gavin Burris 3 2 8, Jaron Filliater 7 3 17, Toby Butterfield 1 0 2.
JV: Colonel Crawford 59-35.