NORTH ROBINSON— Mohawk entered Friday night’s game at Colonel Crawford without five key players, including its top offensive player, Zaiden Fry.

It was a tough time for the Warriors to battle the talented Eagles.

Crawford got out to an extremely quick start, scoring 21 points in the first quarter, en route to a 48-6 win.

With the win, the Eagles improved to 4-2 in the Northern 10 Athletic Conference, 7-2 overall. The Eagles have already clinched a berth in the state playoffs. Mohawk, which still has an outside chance to make the playoffs, fell to 3-3 in the league, 3-6 overall.

Mohawk coach Eric Daniel said that the player losses made things very difficult.

“We were down four of our top five defensive backs and receivers, so we got kids we were trying to coach on the fly,” Daniel said. “And God bless our kids hearts. They are trying their best we’re trying to put them in the best situations that we can.

“We’re trying to simplify some stuff and just trying to get what they’re doing and firing out,” he added. “We need young guys to continue to step up if we were going to compete with Bucyrus next week.”

Colonel Crawford coach Jake Bruner said that the Warriors never stopped playing.

“I thought the kids played really hard,” Bruner said, “especially since Mohawk played really hard. They did some nice things against us.”

Crawford came out swinging quickly, as quarterback Kam Lohr hit wideout Trevor Vogt on a perfect post pattern for a 40-yard touchdown and a 7-0 Crawford lead.

After an exchange of punts, the Warriors fumbled, and the Eagles recovered at the Mohawk 22.

Four runs later, Micah Thomas scored from a yard out and the Eagles led, 14-0.

On the next possession, Matt Clinard blocked a Mohawk punt and Crawford recovered at the Mohawk 14. It took the Eagles just one play to cash in as Lohr found a wide-open Derek Horsley for a 14-yard score and a 21-0 Crawford lead after one.

“We didn’t play well,” Daniel said. “We gave up a blocked punt again, and a turnover down inside the 20. It’s not a good recipe for success.”

Mohawk scored its only points of the game when quarterback Ben Bogner hit Ethan Gatchel for a 22-yard scoring toss, cutting the lead to 21-6.

The Eagles put the game away late in the half when Lohr scored on a 21-yard run before hitting Ryan McMichael on a six-yard scoring toss. At the break, the Eagles held a 34-6 lead.

“We got off to a great start,” Bruner said. “I thought we did a really good job on both sides of the football. We did a good job on both sides of the line of scrimmage.

“They made it difficult for us to run the football early, but we did a much better job as the game wore on,” he added. “I was really happy with our offense.”

Crawford added two more scores in the third quarter.

Tanner Dyer scored on an 18-yard run and Thomas ended the scoring with a six-yard run.

“Crawford is excellent,” Daniel said. “They weren’t fooling us. That loss to Upper, it definitely woke them up. That’s a team that played with a top-3 team in the state; that’s a top-5 team in the state. They’re not good, they’re great. We expect them to make a big run in the playoffs, along with Carey. We knew what we were up against. It was going to be a tough game.”

“We played well tonight, on both sides of the football,” Bruner said. “We had good focus, and we were able to get some key turnovers and we did a lot of things well.”

Box score

Score by quarters

Mohawk                      0           6          0          0   — 6

Colonel Crawford    21         13         14          0   — 48

Scoring summary

First quarter

CC — Trevor Vogt 40 pass from Kam Lohr (Braxton Morton kick), 10:49.

CC — Micah Thomas 1 run (Morton kick), 4:07.

CC — Derek Horsley 14 pass from Lohr (Morton kick), 2:12

Second quarter

M — Ethan Gatchel 22 pass from Ben Bogner (kick blocked), 5:42.

CC — Lohr 21 run (kick failed), 4:18.

CC — Ryan McMichael 19 pass from Lohr (Morton kick), :11.

Third quarter

CC — Tanner Dyer 18 run (Morton kick), 8:01.

CC —Thomas 6 run (Morton kick), 1:29.

Individual statistics

Passing

Mohawk: Bogner 11-21-1 93; Colonel Crawford: Lohr 10-15-0 139.

Rushing

Mohawk: Jace Margraf 8-52, Ben Bogner 10-10, Trevor Johnson 4-3, Brayden Chester 1-6. Colonel Crawford: Tanner Dyer 8-62, Kam Lohr 4-37, Matt Clinard 8-34, Micah Thomas 6-26, Trevor Vogt 2-18, Connor McMichael 3-26, Tyler Smith 2-2.

Receiving

Mohawk: Brayden Chester 4-43, Nicholas Golling 5-30, Ethan Gatchel 2-25, Jace Margraf 1-7; Colonel Crawford: Ryan McMichael 3-46, Trevor Vogt 4-42, Matt Clinard 3-37. Derek Horsley 2-18.

Team statistics

M              CC

First downs                   7                12

Rushing                    23-71         33-205

Passes                       11-21-1       10-15-0

Yards passing            93              139

Total yards               164              344

Fumbles-lost            1-1               1-1

Punts-Avg               6-31.3        2-24.5

Penalties                  2-15           3-25