OLIVESBURG — Losing a high school playoff football game to end a season is difficult. For seniors, it also spells the end of their careers.
Such was the feeling as the Colonel Crawford Eagles stood hugging and crying on the artificial turf at Ashland Crestview High School Friday night. The 14 seniors played their last football game for Colonel Crawford.
The host Cougars converted three Eagles’ turnovers into scores leading to a 28-14 victory in Division VI, Region 22 game. With the win, Crestview (12-0) moves on to play Carey in the regional semifinal on Saturday at Marion Harding.
“We turned the ball over too many times in key situations,” Colonel Crawford coach Ryan Teglovic said. “We gave them the ball I think inside our (25) three times. You can’t do that against good teams and win.”
The first came on the Eagles’ first possession. After forcing a Crestview punt, Colonel Crawford (10-2) fumbled on its second play from scrimmage. The Cougars’ Caden Cunningham scooped it up and raced 25 yards for the first score.
“We knew it was going to come down to turnovers, penalties, field position, special teams and it all played out just like we knew it would,” Crestview coach Steve Haverdill said. “Hats off to our kids. They played extremely hard for 48 minutes.”
The Cougars lost one fumble to three for Colonel Crawford and Crestview punter Owen Barker maintained field position, averaging 37.3 yards on his four kicks.
The momentum swung even further to Crestview’s side when star running back Connor Morse broke up the middle for 66 yards and a score later in the first quarter to give the hosts a 14-0 advantage.
It was one of only two big runs by Morse, who finished with 156 yards on 23 carries. Quarterback Hayden Kuhn threw for 51 yards, hitting on six of 11 passes, good for one touchdown.
“Overall, I thought our defense did a pretty good job,” Teglovic said. “(Morse) is a pretty good running back. I thought consistently we made some good hits at the line of scrimmage. We played the pass pretty well too, for that matter.”
The second fumble resulted in a three-score lead for the Cougars, who got the ball at the CC 20. On the second play, Kuhn connected with Barker for 19 yards and a touchdown for a 21-0 lead with 6:09 left in the first half.
A 67-yard return of the ensuing kickoff by Carter Valentine gave Colonel Crawford its best field position and the Eagles capitalized on it.
It took just five plays — four of them runs by Lincoln Mollenkopf — for Colonel Crawford to break the scoring ice. Mollenkopf took the ball into the end zone from two yards to get his team back to within 21-7 going into halftime.
Mollenkopf finished with 108 yards on 29 carries and two scores to complete an outstanding senior year. But his longest run was 11 yards and, unfortunately, it was not enough on this night.
“That’s called containing a guy like that and that’s what we wanted to do,” Haverdill said of Mollenkopf. “Don’t let him get off any big, long runs — kind of bottle him up. We knew he was going to get his yards. He’s a great back.”
The final score — and dagger — came in the third quarter when the Eagles muffed a punt, giving Crestview the ball at the CC 12. On the third play, Wade Bolin took it to paydirt from five yards to make it 28-7.
Quarterback Kamryn Lohr found Valentine down the right sideline for 47 yards to set up the last score for the Eagles. Two plays later, Mollenkopf scored his second touchdown with 11:14 left in the game to cut the deficit to 28-14.
Colonel Crawford got one more possession in the fourth quarter but ultimately turned it over on downs at the Crestview 36 and the Cougars ran out the clock from there.
Lohr finished by hitting 11 of 20 passes for 164 yards. Valentine caught four balls for 97 yards and Carson Feichtner grabbed three for 35.
“We can throw the football. We’ve said that all year,” Teglovic said. “We’ve thrown the football for over 1000 yards so it’s not like w can’t throw the football. Teams will stack the box on us. We have to be able to do some of these things.”
Anytime they’re a dominant running team, you want to get them into something they’re not used to,” Haverdill said. “We knew if we got up on them early, they’d have to do other things. They’re still a very good passing team too, but it’s not their bread and butter. It’s not ours either.”
It was emotional for Teglovic as well as the players, as his son, offensive lineman, Nick, was one of the seniors. Still, he knows that later they will appreciate the success that the season has been.
“They get the benefit of time and get a little bit of perspective on it, absolutely,” Teglovic said. “They’ll look back. I don’t think there were a lot of people outside our locker room that would have expected us to be here at this point and win 10 games this year. They have a lot to be proud of.
“It’s not just the losing, it’s the finality,” Teglovic added. “It’s the fact that it’s over and we don’t get to hang out together anymore.”
Score by quarters
Colonel Crawford 0 7 0 7 — 14
Crestview 14 7 7 0 — 28
Scoring summary
First quarter
C — Caden Cunningham 25 fumble return (Devin Holloway kick), 7:40.
C — Connor Morse 66 run (Holloway kick), 1:54.
Second quarter
C — Owen Barker 19 pass from Hayden Kuhn (Holloway kick), 6:09.
CC — Lincoln Mollenkopf 2 run (Braxton Morton kick), 3:57.
Third quarter
C — Wade Bolin 5 run (Holloway kick), 6:10.
Fourth quarter
CC — Mollenkopf 6 run (Morton kick), 11:14.
Individual statistics
Passing
Colonel Crawford: Kamryn Lohr 11-20-0 164. Ashland Crestview: Hayden Kuhn 6-11-0 51.
Rushing
Colonel Crawford: Lincoln Mollenkopf 29-108, Matt Clinard 3-15, Kamryn Lohr 8-(-11). Crestview: Connor Morse 32-156, Wade Bolin 5-19, Adison Reymer 1-1, Hayden Kuhn 5-(-7).
Receiving
Colonel Crawford: Carter Valentine 4-97, Carson Feichtner 3-35, Nolan McKibben 1-18, Matt Clinard 2-12. Trevor Voight 1-2. Crestview: Owen Barker 2-25, Gabe Smedley 2-17, Shawn Bailey 1-3.
Team statistics
CC C
First downs 16 10
Rushing 40-111 34-169
Passes 11-20-0 6-11-0
Yards passing 164 51
Total yards 275 220
Fumbles-lost 5-3 3-1
Penalties 3-37 3-28