ATTICA (Crawford County Now) — Sophomore Isaac Stockmaster was the unlikely hero of a rain-soaked battle here Friday night. The 230-pound lineman drilled two field goals as the Tigers defeated Colonel Crawford 12-10 in a Northern 10 Athletic Conference game.

“I work on it in the off season and have to balance it out with offensive line and other things,” he said. “We ran our Wildcat formation and knew it would be a dogfight on the ground.”

The first kick was school-record 41-yarder as time expired in the first half. He added a 24-yard boot with 4:04 remaining to effectively win the game.

“I was trying to block out all the noise and just focus on what I could control myself,” Stockmaster said.

He credited long snapper Bentley Gayheart and holder Gunner Polachek, along with the Tigers O-line.

With the win Seneca East (5-2, 7-2) clinched a playoff spot, sitting in sixth place in Division VI, Region 22, according to unofficial Harbin Rankings. Official OHSAA ratings are released Tuesday afternoon.

“He’s got ice in his veins. We knew he could make it for the record. The second one a Crawford kid was coming off the edge, but he kept his focus and knocked that sucker through,” Tigers head coach Ed Phillips said.

“There’s nothing but guts in this football team; nothing but guts. They’re (Colonel) Crawford) the same way. We had a lot of things to fight through. But what a bunch of tough kids I’ve got, both players and coaches to the very last play.”

Both teams sloshed through a first-half driving rain unable to score until Stockmaster’s first field goal cleared the goal post cross bar.

Roen Thew and Carson Rader had fumble recoveries for the Eagles, and Colton McConnell did likewise for the Tigers as both teams struggled to hold onto the ball in the early going.

Colonel Crawford (3-4, 4-5) scored on its first play from scrimmage in the third quarter. Thew, who returned at quarterback and played with a hand injury, found his favorite target Parker Weithman open for a 60-yard score.

That put the visitors ahead 7-3 before Jackson Gayheart capped a 70-yard, 11-play Seneca East drive with a 9-yard burst making it 9-7 as the extra point sailed wide right.

“The weather, that’s Ohio and everybody had to play in it,” Colonel Crawford head coach Jake Bruner.

“I’m just proud of our guys and who our losses are to. We’ve played with everybody on our schedule. Disappointed in the outcome, but not disappointed in the kids.

“When you have a quarterback playing with a cast on his hand, that’ll be a chapter in my book one day. What a game he had.”

Thew ran for 96 yards on 22 carries and completed 10 passes for 170 yards.

“That’s been our season with injuries, and we played with a lot of our top kids out in those games against Hopewell-Loudon, Fairfield Union and Seneca East and Mohawk,” Bruner said.

“It’s been a tough kind of year to swallow, kind of like this game. But I’m super proud of these kids and what they’ve done.”

The Eagles close the season at Bucyrus next week.

Seneca East turned to 220-pound senior running back Jackson Gayheart, who ran for 104 yards on 29 carries.

“He and the O-line kind of took over and we thought we could run it and be a physical football team and we certainly were tonight,” Phillips said.

Gayheart and backfield mate Eli Cline (8 rushes for 33 yards) pushed the ball to the CC 6-yard line. From there Stockmaster hit his FG. The Eagles then drove to the SE 17, but a last-second field goal attempt from 35 yards out was blocked.

The win puts the Tigers in prime position for a Week 11 game. They host Upper Sandusky next Friday night.

“This win means the world and this team deserves a chance to win 8 games. To be at this point feels fantastic. I couldn’t be happier,” Phillips said.

The win is the Tigers first over the Eagles since 2019. Their only losses were 30-22 to top-seed and unbeaten Hopewell-Loudon and 8-7 to Carey.

“And to win it at the end on a blocked field goal, I’m on cloud nine. A lot of times I’m exhausted after games like this. Attica should be on cloud nine.”

Box score

Score by quarters

Colonel Crawford        0            0          7         3 — 10

Seneca East                  0            3          6          3 — 16

Scoring summary

Second quarter

SE — Isaac Stockmaster 41 field goal, :00.

Third quarter

CC — Parker Weithman 80 pass from Roen Thew (Lucca Troiano kick), 11:50.

SE — Jackson Gayheart 9 run (kick failed), 3:26.

Fourth quarter

CC — Troiano 20 field goal, 9:46.

SE — Stockmaster 24 field goal, 4:04.

Individual statistics

Passing

Colonel Crawford: Roen Thew 10-18-0 170. Parker Weithman 0-1-0 0; Seneca East; Branson Robinson 10-16-0 80.

Rushing

Crawford: Roen Thew 22-96, Avery Powers 11 -38, Gabe Stratton 1-3; Seneca East Jackosn Gayheart 29-104, Eli Kline 8-33, Branson Robinson 5-30, Levi Dawson 1-6.

Receiving

Colonel Crawford: Parker Weithman 6-99, Carson Rader 1-36, Avery Powers 1-20, Tyler Lash 1-11, Gabe Stratton 1-4; Seneca East: Jackson Gayheart 3-46, Jarrett Bame 3-16, Jaron Depinet 1-9, Eli Cline 2-8, Jamison Ruffing 1-1.

Team statistics

CC              SE

First downs                   9                15

Rushing                     34-137         43-173

Passes                       10-19-0         10-16-0

Yards passing             170                80

Total yards                 307               253

Fumbles-lost              2-1               2-2

Punts                          4-35.2          4-41.7

Penalties                     2-15             2-15