SYCAMORE — Wynford came into the game Friday night in need of a confidence boost. It got it and then some.
The Royals used a perfectly balanced offensive attack and a stingy front-line defense to top Mohawk 41-21 in a Northern 10 Athletic Conference game.
Anthony Evans ran for 143 yards and Kaiden Blair added 130 as the front line dominated the Warriors in amassing 489 yards of total offense.
“We had to take care of business tonight. Losing sucks and we don’t want to lose,” Royals head coach Cyle Skidmore said.
“We were fired up all week at practice. I always say Monday is the first quarter, Tuesday second quarter, Wednesday is the third quarter, Thursday is the fourth quarter and Friday’s the game.”
Wynford (2-3, 1-1) was coming off a tough road loss to Carey, but stayed focused all week.
“I thought from Monday through Thursday our dudes really took care of business and did things right,” Skidmore said. “We have got to be able to run the ball, but you’ve got to be able to throw the ball nowadays.”
Ashton Warren did that to the tune of 6-of-8 passing for 149 yards and two touchdowns. James Rindfuss had a terrific game with 4 catches for 124 yards and had several pass break-ups and tackles on defense.
“Ashton did a great job tonight of putting the ball on the money. Sometimes when you run the ball as efficiently as we do, the play action is open, and we did some of that tonight.”
Blair, a senior, added an interception to end a Mohawk drive as time expired in the first half. He had two picks on the night.
Mohawk falls to 1-4 overall and 1-1 in the league.
Warriors head coach Eric Daniel didn’t mince words in summing up his squad’s outing.
“They kicked our butts. We got absolutely worked up front. Their running backs were finishing runs and their offensive linemen were finishing blocks. The line of scrimmage was consistently moving backwards for us,” he said.
The Warriors managed just 265 total yards.
“Offensively, we aren’t staying on blocks and finishing runs and that’s what happens,” Daniel added. “It makes it hard to defend when you can’t stop the run.”
Wynford took a 20-7 halftime lead on two passes from Warren to Jake Stover for 21 yards and Rindfuss for 22 yards.
The Mohawk score came on a nifty catch by Kahne Hayman from 33 yards out after the ball was tipped by a Wynford defender.
“I tell our guys up front all the time it starts with you guys. If you guys get pushed around the game’s probably not gonna go your way. But if you bring the fight to them and are violent and physical the whole game, good things will happen for the team,” Skidmore said.
Six players scored touchdowns for the Royals, starting with Blair’s 37-yard run to open the scoring.
“We’ve got multiple guys that can do some things. They’re different in their own way. Just look around at some of the dudes we got. All are special; special to me and to the team.”
Blair gave credit where it is due — his offensive line.
“We definitely won the battle up front every single play which ultimately is the reason we dominated this game.
“A win like this is setting us up for next week. They blocked hard and we all played hard tonight. It’s going to give us momentum in the rest of the year in the N10 and into the playoffs,” Blair said.
Evans and Chandler Elchert both found the endzone to push the Royals lead to 35-7 before Warren took it in on a naked bootleg from 41 yards out that capped the scoring.
Next week Mohawk visits Upper Sandusky, while Wynford hosts archrival Bucyrus.
“We want to get the 26th win in a row versus Bucyrus. It’s a trophy game so we need to focus in this week. We can celebrate the win tonight and get ready to watch film tomorrow and get ready for this week’s practice,” Blair said.
Looking forward to the second half of the season, Daniel knows a better effort will be needed.
“It’s hard for Ben (Bogner) to sit back there and throw when he’s getting popped every play. They physically beat us up. That’s what I’m most disappointed about.
“We were not ready to play and that’s on me and all of us. You can’t play the game of football if you’re not excited and play with enthusiasm. We were flat in pre-game, and it carried over to the game,” Daniel said. “Their kids were amped up and ready to go.”
Bogner threw for 240 yards despite the pressure, with Kaleb Bish catching 9 balls for 91 yards.
Mohawk still has time to turn things around from a 1-4 start.
“We will need a good week of practice and demand a lot out of our kids. We had a couple guys hurt and we can’t hang our heads and think that the game is over or pout or be disengaged. We fought at times and were physical at times. That ain’t gonna cut it against good teams.”
Skidmore is anticipating the annual backyard battle with the Redmen.
“Next week is one of those games we have to win it. Our kids are going to have tunnel vision and we’re going to take care of business.”
The win after a 34-0 loss a week ago was the right medicine for the Royals.
“This is a huge confidence booster for us. That’s the most points we’ve scored in a game and now our kids know we can score and do some special things,” Skidmore said.
Both teams were penalized heavily, with Wynford drawing 8 flags for 75 yards.
“You gotta clean it up. In the tight, close games those can really affect you. If those happen early on, they can put us in a situation that we didn’t really like. We’ll watch film tomorrow and tell them, ‘This is what you have to do. You can’t do this.'”
Mohawk had 65 yards on 6 penalties.
Box score
Score by quarters
Wynford 7 13 15 6 — 41
Mohawk 7 0 7 7 — 21
Scoring summary
First quarter
W — Kaiden Blair 37 run (Collin Hulsmeyer kick), 7:40.
M — Kahne Hayman 33 pass from Ben Bogner (Brant Kirian kick), 5:32.
Second quarter
W — Jake Stover 21 pass from Ashton Warren (Hulsmeyer kick), 8:02.
W — James Rindfuss 22 pass from Warren (Hulsmeyer kick), 1:04.
Third quarter
W — Anthony Evans 17 run (Evans run), 8:39.
W — Chandler Elchert 30 run (Hulsmeyer kick), 5:25.
M — Bogner 5 run (Kirian kick), 1:38.
Fourth quarter
W — Warren 41 run (pa failed), 10:28.
B — Kaleb Bish 15 pass from Bogner (Kirian kick), 9:23.
Individual statistics
Passing
Wynford: Ashton Warren 6-8-2 149; Mohawk Ben Bogner 20-36-2 240.
Rushing
Wynford: Kaiden Blair 19-130, Anthony Evans 21-143, Chandler Elchert 6-35, Ashton Warren 5-32; Mohawk Evan England 5-14, Ben Bogner 6-11.
Receiving
Wynford: James Rindfuss 4-124, Jake Stover 1-21, Anthony Evans 1-4; Mohawk Kaleb Bish 9-91, Kahne Hayman 2-52, Andrew Woodland 2-45, Gavin Barth 4-10, Braylan Mullholand 1-14.
Team statistics
W M
First downs 5 10
Rushing 41-340 11-25
Passes 6-8-2 20-36-2
Yards passing 149 240
Total yards 489 265
Fumbles-lost 2-0 1-0
Penalties 8-75 6-65