NORTH ROBINSON — Mohawk has struggled the past couple of years, winning just six games and going 2-8 overall and 2-5 in the Northern 10 Athletic Conference last season.

That all changed in resounding fashion at H.J. Gary Field Friday night as the Warriors (3-1, 1-0) jumped on Colonel Crawford early and secured a 35-7 statement win.

“I’ve been saying it for a couple of weeks. I think that Calvert game is the best thing to happen to our kids. It just lit a fire and put them together,” head coach Eric Daniel said of the 28-27 loss in week one.

“It’s a special group. We have the best team chemistry I’ve been a part of — good, bad, it doesn’t matter. Their attitudes never change. When you play for each other and not for yourselves it’s very powerful.”

Kaleb Bish, one of the senior leaders for Mohawk, set the tone with an 80-yard punt return less than four minutes into the game.

“We’re not the most talented group, but we’ve got some good playmakers,” Daniel said. “We’ve got some guys stepping up all over the place, in places you guys may not see like backside blocks, finishing stuff, running routes the right way. This is just the maturation and continued buy-in by our kids.”

There wasn’t much the team did wrong. The numbers weren’t gaudy by any means, just 222 total yards of offense (Crawford had 254).

But it was big plays that made the difference.

Colonel Crawford (3-1, 0-1) head coach Jake Bruner said his team wasn’t ready to play.

“That’s on me. I didn’t call a very good game, and I’ve got to do a better job. I can’t fault our kids’ efforts. They were out there fighting ’til the end and were banged up a little bit. Give credit to Mohawk,” he said.

“This group has been really good all the way through. I remember watching them in the seventh grade. They’ve had some adversity the last couple of years. Give credit to them. Tonight, they outplayed us and definitely outcoached us.”

Kahne Hayman added a 5-yard touchdown run later in the first quarter and Bish caught a pair of passes from quarterback Ben Bogner covering 28 and 32 yards that put the visitors up 28-7 at halftime.

“All the credit to the kids and our coaches,” Daniel said. “They put together a heck of a game plan and they bought into it.”

Hayman’s punt return of 34 yards set up the second score.

“It flipped the field. Special teams are huge, and we’ve got four freshmen on our kickoff and multiple young guys on our punt return,” Daniel said.

After a few down years he believes the program is back on track.

“We talk about how Mohawk football used to be and we’re getting there. Even our young guys are starting to see it. I’m really proud of them.”

Against an explosive Colonel Crawford team that came in averaging more than 450 yards per game, doing the little things made the difference for the Warriors.

“The secondary tackled well, kept everything in front of them. They’ve got some big-time playmakers and that is a great football team. It wouldn’t surprise me to see them go 9-1,” Daniel said.

“We let them take some short stuff for a five-yard gain instead of a 50-yard gain, and to keep them to seven points is a huge credit to Trooper (Carl) Daniel and our defensive staff.”

Brayden Holt, who alternates with Peyton Baker at quarterback, found Conner McMichael on a 65-yard scoring strike down the left sideline for the Eagles’ lone score just 34 seconds before halftime.

“Obviously, the turnovers were an issue for us tonight and there were some penalties. We didn’t block the back side real well, at times we didn’t block the front side real well,” Bruner said.

“We are very versatile, and they were really, really good. I think the Hayman kid is one of the best players in the league. He was hurt and we haven’t seen him since his freshman year. Bish is a great player and give credit to Bogner. They’ve gotten their butts rocked the last couple years and he hasn’t missed a game and is tough as nails. Their younger guys up front blocked really well.”

Hayman ran in from a yard out with 1:27 left to play to finish the game with 39 yards on six carries. Bogner ran 22 times for 53 yards and did an excellent job reading the Eagles’ defense. He added an interception, as did junior Mason Schimpf.

Bish led Mohawk with four catches for 78 yards and two touchdowns.

McMichael ran 16 times for 70 yards and Payne DeGray had two catches for 43 yards.

Defensive ends DeGray recorded three sacks and Tyce Lisle picked off Bogner in the fourth quarter, his first interception of the season.

Bogner had plenty of time to throw the ball.

“Our offensive line … unbelievable, man. They do everything together. They condition together. All five guys get together and when they’re communicating, they can do anything. They’ve seen every stunt in practice. I could not be more impressed with those guys up front.”

Getting a conference win at Colonel Crawford is significant.

“They’ve had our number the last few years. We beat them three years in a row (2017-2019) and then they kicked our butts. We weren’t healthy, but more importantly than being healthy, they don’t know your heart. We said show them your heart. They’re fighting for respect and relevance. They play harder than any team I’ve coached in a long time.”

Crawford hosts Buckeye Central and Mohawk welcomes Bucyrus next week.

“Next week for us is about watching film and we’ve got to get better. We’ve got to worry about us. We ran wrong routes tonight. We made bad throws. We didn’t pass protect right and didn’t run block right at times.

“Our defense, besides giving up a couple big plays, really sunk in and played a little better in the next half. Every time we got them where we wanted them, they came up with a big play,” Bruner said.

“I give a lot of respect to Coach Daniel and what he’s done. I told him before the game I knew we were in for a war here.”

Box score

Score by quarters

Mohawk                    14          14           0        7   — 35

Colonel Crawford      0            7           0         7   — 7

Scoring summary

First quarter

M — Kaleb Bish 80 punt return (Brant Kirian kick), 8:19

M — Kahne Hayman 5 run (Kirian kick), 2:43.

Second quarter

M — Kaleb Bish 28 pass from Ben Bogner (Kirian kick), 8:30.

M — Kaleb Bish 32 pass from Bogner (Kirian kick), 1:01.

CC — Connor McMichael 65 pass from Brayden Holt (Joseph Zizzo kick), :34.

Fourth quarter

M — Hayman 1 run (Kirian kick), 1:27.

Individual statistics

Passing

Mohawk Ben B0gner 8-15-1 115; Colonel Crawford: Brayden Holt 6-8-1 86, Peyton Baker 4-9-1 52.

Rushing

Mohawk Ben Bogner 22-53, Kahne Hayman 6-39, Kaden Bish 4-18, Braxton Frisch 1-(-3); Colonel Crawford: Conner McMichael 16-70, Dom Dean 6-38, Brayden Holt 4-17, Peyton Baker 1-(-2), Avery Powers 1-(-3), Roen Thew 2-(-4).

Receiving

Mohawk: Kaleb Bish 4-78, Kahne Hayman 2-27, Andon Clouse 1-9, Kaden Bish 1-1; Colonel Crawford: Connor McMichael 2-74, Payne DeGray 2-43, Kaden Bruner 2-12, Brady Hill 1-7, Parker Weithman 1-6, Lucas Foy 2-(-4).

Team statistics

M               CC

First downs                   9                 8

Rushing                     33-107         30-116

Passes                          8-15-1        10-17-2

Yards passing               115               138

Total yards                  222               254

Fumbles-lost              0-0                0-0

Penalties                     4-25             2-25