GRANDVIEW HEIGHTS — A couple of series made all the difference as No. 1 seed Grandview Heights stopped Colonel Crawford on a pair of key drives. The Bobcats held on for a 13-6 victory in a Division VI, Region 23 regional quarterfinal contest here Friday night.

“Our defense stepped up and made plays when they had to make plays,” Grandview Heights coach Jason Peters said. “Whether it was the goal line stand to end the first half or holding them to a field goal and then stopping them on fourth and one there at the end of the game to give us a chance to put it away.”

No. 9 Colonel Crawford (9-3) was held to two Joseph Zizzo field goals, a 29-yarder in the first quarter and a 20-yard kick with 8:20 remaining in the game.

Henry Ohlinger, a 207-pound junior who is getting Division I college attention, rambled for 46 yards to put the hosts ahead 7-3 after one quarter.

“I’m gonna say he’s one of a kind,” Peters said. “I’ve coached a long time, and I’ve never had a kid like that at running back. He’s special. He just plays the game as hard as humanly possible and does special things anytime he touches the ball.”

Ohlinger rushed for 142 yards on 18 carries and added a second TD with 10 minutes on the first half clock. Eagles junior linebacker Walker Cramer blocked the PAT kick, but the Bobcats had a 13-3 lead.

Colonel Crawford drove the ball from the GH 39-yard line to the two. A 30-yard pass from Brayden Holt to Lucas Foy put the ball at the nine.

Connor McMichael gained six yards and a short pass to Parker Weithman had the Eagles knocking at the door. But a fourth and goal resulted in a fumbled toss and the Eagles with a 10-point halftime deficit.

“They’re a fantastic team and are very well coached. They have not just one guy. I know everybody wants to talk about zero (Ohlinger), but they got a lot of different weapons and speed is the name of the game for them,” Colonel Crawford head coach Jake Bruner said.

“Give credit to 44 (Braddock Lusher) and 11 (Cooper Bauer). They were really good. That’s a good football team. They’ve taken their lumps and it’s their time.”

Grandview Heights (11-0) takes on No. 4 Fort Frye next week at a neutral site to be determined Sunday by the OHSAA. The Cadets edged Waterford, 29-26.

Bruner said he made several requests of his squad prior to kickoff.

“I asked our kids to be physical tonight. They were. I asked our kids to play hurt tonight, and they did. I can’t say enough about our seniors. We have eight of them and seven of them played tonight. It’s been a year where it’s just been one thing after another,” Bruner said.

“But guys kept playing hurt and guys would step in.”

Still the Eagles mustered up 309 yards of total offense and 17 first downs. But finding the end zone proved impossible.

Bruner was missing several starters due to injury.

“We lost an all-Ohio kid in game one and every week somebody else got hurt. Guys stepped in. We’re without a lot of kids tonight. We haven’t had John DeGray since Carey. Lucas Foy is toughing it out. Roen Thew, a sophomore, Kaden Bruner. I can go down the list of guys who’ve played hurt. Holt’s played hurt and there’s more than that.”

Both starting tackles were out for the Eagles.

“That says a lot about the character of these kids. We fought tooth and nail the entire game,” Bruner said.

“Probably we didn’t get the right call on fourth down right before halftime. That’s my fault. I probably should have done a better job at different things.”

Penalties stalled one Grandview Heights drive and gave the Eagles another chance in the fourth quarter.

McMichael, who finished with 77 yards rushing, ripped off runs of 7 and 8 yards, then Peyton Baker found Brady Hill for 9 to get a first down at the GH 32.

Dom Dean and McMichael bulled their way to the two, but the Eagles had to settle for another Zizzo field goal with 8:20 to play.

“I can’t say enough about our defense,” Peters said. “A lot of those kids play both ways and they don’t come off the field. When the offense needed first downs (9 total) we got first downs.

“We didn’t hurt ourselves. But a lot of credit to them for having a game plan for trying to keep things close. They did a great job of that.

“Colonel Crawford is physical and probably the best team we’ve faced all year,” he said. “They’re gonna play wire to wire. We let them hang around, and it got interesting.”

The Eagles had a final chance starting at its 38 with 3 and 1/2 minutes remaining. Foy snared a four-yard pass and Weithman a six-yarder.

But again, the Bobcats defense rose up.

Danny Main and Duncan Peters stopped an Eagle run at the 48 and took possession to run out the clock.

Foy, a senior, had 68 receiving yards and Weithman, a sophomore, added 56.

“We have a lot of freshmen and sophomores that played with these juniors who have been part of this program for a long time. It’s going to be fun and exciting … but I don’t want to take it anyway from our seniors,” Bruner said.

As seventh graders they won one game.

“They were the seven guys in the field, they led our guys. There was no star in that group. All they did was work their freaking tails off and fight, claw and scratch for everything they got.”

Box score

Score by quarters

Colonel Crawford          3            0           0         3   — 6

Grandview Heights       7            6           0         0   — 13

Scoring summary

First quarter

CC — Joseph Zizzo 29 field goal, 6:25.

GH — Henry Ohlinger 46 run (Ryan Livingston-Sanders kick), :38.

Second quarter

GH — Ohlinger 4 run (kick blocked), 10:00.

Fourth quarter

CC — Zizzo 20 field goal, 8:20.

Individual statistics

Passing

Colonel Crawford: Brayden Holt 15-25-0, Peyton Baker 4-7-1 33; Grandview Heights Jack Clifford 0-4-0 0.

Rushing

Colonel Crawford: Connor McMichael 23-77, Dom Dean 3-33, Brayden Holt 1-15, Roen Thew 1-(-1); Grandview Heights Henry Ohlinger 18-142, Owen Nugent 3-31, Braddock Lusher 2-18, Cooper Bauer 2-10, Mario Ionno 1-4, Jack Clifford 1-(-5).

Receiving

Colonel Crawford: Lucas Foy 5-68, Parker Weithman 7-56, Connor McMichael 2-21, Dom Dean 2-14, Roen Thew 1-13, Brady Hill 1-9, Logan Goddard 1-4; Grandview Heights None.

Team statistics

CC              GH

First downs                  17                 9

Rushing                     28-124        27-200

Passes                        19-32-1         0-4-0

Yards passing              185                 0

Total yards                  309              200

Fumbles-lost               1-0               1-0

Penalties                     4-25             6-45