NORTH ROBINSON — When Colonel Crawford running back Tristan Cross graduated, coach Ryan Teglovic knew right where to go to replace him.
Lincoln Mollenkopf.
The senior has been nothing short of spectacular early in the 2021 season.
Mollenkopf played just two quarters and the first possession of the third quarter Friday night against Cardington but rushed for 185 yards on 13 carries and scored three touchdowns as the Eagles belted the Pirates, 65-6.
Crawford improved to 3-0 on the season while Cardington fell to 1-2.
Mollenkopf came into the game, averaging more than 10 yards per carry, rushing for 325 yards in 30 carries, easily leading the Northern 10 Athletic Conference. He did nothing to hurt that average Friday night.
The Eagles senior felt that replacing Cross would be a tough challenge.
“Tristan Cross is a stud,” Mollenkopf said. “He’s over there in Findlay right now and doing pretty good. It’s big shoes to fill but I think I’m doing okay so far and ready to take on the role.”
Cardington coach Tod Brininger felt that the Eagles won the football game on the line of scrimmage.
“We knew their physicality was going to be a problem for us and it was,” Brininger said. “They just beat us down. We couldn’t do anything with their offensive or defensive line.
“Our offensive line could not move their defensive line,” he added. “That was simple. They were keeping us contained. We have speed but we couldn’t get it out in open space.”
Still, it was the Pirates that drew first blood in the game, as Ayden Plowman took a handoff on a counter and raced 60 yards for the score and a 6-0 Cardington lead.
From that point on, however, the Eagles’ defense shut the Pirates down. Cardington managed just 65 yards of total offense the rest of the way, and Crawford picked off four Cardington passes on the night.
“They got us on a good play early, a counter, and after that, we were able to stop it and I was pretty happy with that,” Mollenkopf said.
The Eagles also had great field position all night, something that was not lost on Brininger. Over the first three quarters, just two plays were snapped in Crawford territory, and neither play was Cardington’s.
“They had short fields all night, to be honest,” Brininger said. “It seemed like they were always on our side of the 50. They’re a really, really good team. It’s a great wake-up call for us and our league because Northmor runs a lot of the same stuff. I don’t think Northmor is as physical as them, but we’ll see.”
Mollenkopf opened the scoring with a 16-yard run and added a 12-yard run as the Eagles held a 14-6 lead after one quarter.
Crawford scored 31 points in the second period to put the game away.
Mollenkopf scored his third touchdown early in the period, this time from 40 yards out before Carter Valentine grabbed a 34-yard strike from quarterback Kamryn Lohr, giving the Eagles a 28-6 lead.
Matt Clinard scored on a 14-yard run and Jacob Awbrey grabbed a 17-yard pass from Lohr, increasing the lead to 42-6.
On the final play of the first half, Braxton Morgan booted a 25-yard field goal and the Eagles led, 45-6.
Micah Thomas scored on a seven-yard run for the Eagles in the third period, and Crawford scored twice more in the fourth, getting a nine-yard run from senior quarterback Michael Walsh and an 18-yard pass from freshman quarterback Lucas Foy to Brady Hill with six seconds left in the game.
“I’m really happy about how our team performed,” Mollenkopf said. “We got down early, but we rallied back, and we were able to take the lead again and have confidence in ourselves.”
Brininger said that one aspect of the game pleased him.
“One thing I’m proud of our team, we never gave up,” he said. “We kept hitting and we kept flying around, kept trying to deal punishment. They did, too, so it was a good, hard game. They just physically dominated us.”
Box score
Colonel Crawford 65, Cardington 6
Score by quarters
Cardington 6 0 6 0 — 6
Colonel Crawford 14 31 7 13 — 65
Scoring summary
First quarter
C — Ayden Plowman 60 run (run failed), 9:34.
CC — Lincoln Mollenkopf 16 run (Braxton Morgan kick), 4:40.
CC — Mollenkopf 12 run (Morgan kick)
Second quarter
CC — Mollenkopf 40 run (Morgan kick), 8:57.
CC — Carter Valentine 34 pass from Kamryn Lohr (Morgan kick), 7:28.
CC — Matt Clinard 14 run (Morgan kick), 5:30.
CC — Jacob Awbrey 17 pass from Lohr (Morgan kick), 4:31.
CC — Morgan 25 field goal, :00.
Third quarter
CC — Micah Thomas 7 run (Morgan kick), 9:22.
Fourth quarter
CC — Michael 9 run (Morgan kick), 11:45.
CC — Brady Hill 18 pass from Lucas Foy (Morgan kick), :06.
Individual statistics
Passing
Cardington: Nate Hickman 4-9-2 27; Kaiden Beach 0-4-1 0; Journey Williamson 0-7-1 0. Colonel Crawford: Kamryn Lohr 4-10-0 73; Lucas Foy 1-1-0 18; Michael Walsh 0-1-0 0.
Rushing
Cardington: Ayden Plowman 6-59, Kaiden Beach 7-18, Nate Hickman 10-9, Ashton Plowman 4-6, Joe Denney 4-5, Journey Williamson 1-1, Wyatt Wade 2-0. Colonel Crawford: Lincoln Mollenkopf 13-185, Tanner Dyer 5-21, Matt Clinard 2-17, Micah Thomas 4-17, Michael Walsh 3-9, Trevor Voight 1-2, Tyler Smith 1-(-4), Kamryn Lohr 3-(-6).
Receiving
Cardington: Carter Jones 1-15, Ashton Plowman 1-9, Ayden Plowman 2-9. Colonel Crawford: Carter Valentine 4-46, Nolan McKibben 2-27, Brady Hill 1-18.
Team statistics
C CC
First downs 5 12
Rushing 33-98 32-241
Passes 4-20-4 6-14-0
Yards passing 27 132
Total yards 125 373
Fumbles-lost 1-1 2-0
Penalties 7-60 11-115