TIFFIN — For the entire game, Tiffin Calvert coach Steve Reser preached patience to his team.

And, when Mohawk placekicker Brayden Chester booted a 26-yard field goal on the final play of the first half, giving the Warriors a 3-0 lead at the break, the Senecas didn’t panic.

Calvert took control of the line of scrimmage in the final two quarters and took advantage of two key Mohawk turnovers to run away with a 26-9 win in the opener for both teams Thursday night.

“One of our goals was not lose the game in the first quarter,” Reser said. “We knew the game was going to be a little bit of a battle; Mohawk has a very good football team, very well coached. We didn’t want to come out and do what we did last year, and that was lose the game in the first quarter.

“We wanted to keep our composure, keep running, keep wearing them down,” he added. “And I think our kids just had the energy and we were able to take it over.”

Mohawk held the Senecas to just four first downs and 54 rushing yards in the first two periods, but, led by tailback Jacob Rombach, Calvert finished with 14 first downs and 179 yards on the ground.

“(Rombach) did a nice job,” Mohawk coach Eric Daniel said. “He really wore on us more. It’s hard to stop a runner on a short field especially when they’re going downhill.”

Both coaches agreed that one play turned the game around midway through the third period.

After a Calvert punt was downed at the Mohawk three-yard line, the Warriors lost a fumble on their own one. One play later, Rombach scored, and Calvert led, 6-3, a lead they never relinquished.

“We needed a big play at that point in the game,” Reser said. “It was a see-saw battle maybe going back and forth. There wasn’t a lot of action, maybe a little bit of movement in field position but we were able to take advantage of that, and that was one of the turning points.”

“That killed our momentum,” Daniel said. “It’s tough to overcome. It’s tough to overcome two turnovers inside the 10.”

Rombach scored again, this time from 37 yards out, late in the third period and Calvert held a 14-3 lead into the fourth period.

“Our team has worked really hard, and we got better in the second half of the season,” Reser said. “The bottom line, we still have a lot of juniors and sophomores who are still trying to figure things out.

“Just to hold them to three points in the first half was great anyway and then to come out and blank them in the second half and get our offense going and use our weapons, I’m really proud of our guys.”

Mohawk trimmed the lead to 14-9 early in the fourth period when quarterback Ben Bogner found a wide-open Chester from 31-yards out.

But the Senecas used two short fields midway through the period to put the game away. Cal Warnament capped the first possession with a four-yard run and Billy Clouse scored from two yards out on the latter.

Rombach rushed for just 20 yards in four carries in the first half but finished with 118 yards in 16 carries for the game.

“That’s an 8-2, 9-1 football team, minimum,” Daniel said of the Senecas. “You can’t give 8-2, 9-1 football teams multiple short fields. It’s not a key to winning. We didn’t take care of the football enough. We had guys get open behind them multiple times and didn’t capitalize on them until late. We told the boys, that’s what happens when you lose the turnover battle and big players aren’t making big plays.”

Daniel also thought the Warriors left plays on the field.

“We felt like we left at least two or three scores in plays that we needed to make,” Daniel said. “You’re not going to beat good teams if you don’t make those plays. We still think we can be a really good football team but you’re not going to beat a good team when you play like we did.”

Box score

Score by quarters   

Mohawk      0           3           0           6   —  9

Calvert         0           0         14         12  — 26

Scoring summary

Second quarter

M — Brayden Chester 26 field goal, :00.

Third quarter

TC — Jacob Rombach 1 run (pass failed), 5:54.

TC — Rombach 37 run (Cal Warnament kick), 1:44.

Fourth quarter

M — Chester 31 pass from Ben Bogner (pass failed), 10:38.

TC — Warnament 4 run (pass failed), 7:14.

TC — Billy Clouse 2 run (kick failed), 3:15.

Individual statistics

Passing

Mohawk: Bryce Hannam 5-17-1 54, Ben Bogner 7-16-1 87, Zaiden Fry 0-1-0 0. Calvert: Harry Shultz 10-18-1 124.

Rushing

Mohawk: Zaiden Fry 5-50, Ben Bogner 7-35, Trevor Johnson 4-15, Bryce Hannam 8-11, Jace Margraf 2-1, Brayden Chester 1-(-21). Calvert: Jacob Rombach 16-118, Cal Warnament 10-57, Harry Shultz 8-25.

Receiving

Mohawk: Zaiden Fry 9-78, Brayden Chester 3-54, Nicholas Golling 1-11. Calvert: Billy Clouse 5-54, Lee Morgan 2-42, Jamison Godfrey 1-10, Cal Warnament 2-8.

Team statistics

M            TC

First downs                     13              14

Rushing                       28-91        33-179

Passes                           12-34-2       10-18-1

Yards passing                139              124

Total yards                     230             303

Fumbles-lost                  2-1              1-0

Penalties                         5-55           4-30