SYCAMORE (Crawford County Now) — Mohawk started slowly and was locked in a 14-14 tie at halftime with Wynford. But a big third quarter, aided by running back Kaden Bish, propelled the Warriors to a 50-14 win over the Royals in a Northern 10 Athletic Conference game Friday night.

Wynford opened the scoring when Brayden Campbell capped a 14-play, 72-yard drive with a quarterback sneak with 3:33 to go in the first quarter.

Bish would answer back with an 8-yard run, his first of five touchdowns on the night as the Royals held on to a 7-6 lead.

“Everything you worry about as a coach was us in that first half. We did not show up ready to play, and ultimately that’s on us,” Mohawk head coach Eric Daniel.

A bad snap on the first drive seemed to get the hosts off track somewhat.

“Very clearly we’re capable of more. We challenged them in that locker room at halftime and got on them. They didn’t pout; they responded. We got a lot of lessons to learn from that,” he said.

Respond they did.

Bish added scoring runs of 51, 8, 48 and 9 yards as he tallied 182 yards on just 10 carries, doing most of his damage in the second half.

Bish, according to his coach, is quiet — until he steps on the field.

“He might say three words during the week. But he told us, ‘I want the ball’ probably 25 times tonight. He wanted it and when he’s running like that through tackles, it’s hard not to feed him,” Daniel said.

“He is turning into a very special player and someone we continue to lean on. Our guys up front did a good job. We moved the ball, even in the first half, but we just couldn’t get off the field defensively.”

Brant Kirian caught a 37-yard pass from Andon Clouse and Owen Patrizi took a 20-yard throw to the endzone.

Clouse hit on 10-of-11 passes for 193 yards, with Kirian catching four for 91 yards.

“We cannot start like that against the remaining teams on our schedule,” Daniel said.

“When we play like we did in the second half, we’re an extremely tough team to beat. When we play like we did in the first half, there’s a lot of teams that can beat us.”

Wynford defensive end Jake Stover recovered a Mohawk fumble just before halftime to ensure the tie.

“I thought our kids did a good job at the start. They came out and wanted to win the football game and they went to war as a team and as a family,” Royals head coach Cyle Skidmore said.

Wynford mixed up its running and passing plays well in that first half and rushed for 155 yards and threw for 91 yards total in the game.

“We prepared all week, and we had some really good practices every day. We just didn’t perform in the second half,” he said. “They were fired up and they wanted to win at their place.”

Mohawk improves to 6-1, 3-1, while Wynford falls to 1-6, 0-4.

“He’s (Bish) a good athlete and he got the ball in space and made plays. They came out ready to go in the second half and were ready to go and we weren’t.”

Wynford hosts archrival Bucyrus Friday night.

“I already told the kids keep our focus on next week. We all know what next week means as a program and how we’ve got to perform,” Skidmore said.

“We have to evaluate ourselves and get better and make next week count.”

Bryce Locker rushed 19 times for 80 yards for the Royals. Campbell connected on 8-of-16 passing for 91 yards.

Mohawk visits Upper Sandusky in league play.

“That was just night and day. I don’t know if I’ve seen two halves more different in my life in any football game ever. It was just astonishing,” Daniel said.

“Credit to Wynford and their kids. They played their freaking butts off. We were reeling a bit in the first half. But we played with some fire and intensity in the second half that, quite frankly, we were very much lacking in the first half.”

Finding the switch in the second half is a result of playing for one another, he said.

“You play harder. You hit harder. You tackle better.”

Box score

Score by quarters

Wynford       7          7          0         0 — 14

Mohawk       6          8        28         8 — 50

Scoring summary 

First quarter

W — Brayden Campbell 1 run (Victor Arellano kick), 3:33.

M — Kaden Bish 8 run (kick failed), :22.

Second quarter

W — Jake Stover 9 pass from Campbell (Arellano kick), 6:15.

M — Brant Kirian 37 pass from Andon Clouse (Owen Patrizi run), 4:11.

Third quarter

M — Bish 51 run (Patrizi run), 9:27.

M — Bish 8 run (Patrizi pass from Clouse), 7:04.

M — Patrizi 20 pass from Clouse (run failed), 3:57.

M — Bish 48 run (pass failed), 1:13.

Fourth quarter

M — Bish 9 run (Bish run), 6:37.

Individual statistics

Passing

Wynford: Brayden Campbell 8-16-0 91; Mohawk: Andon Clouse 10-11-0 193.

Rushing

Wynford: Bryce Locker 19-80, Deegan Lutz 14-37, Brayden Campbell 7-32, Zaiden Zier 2-6; Mohawk: Kaden Bish 10-182, Andon Clouse 13-39.

Receiving

Wynford: Jake Stover 3-31, Bryce Locker 1-18, Eli Cooper 1-17, Deegan Lutz 1-12, Braylon Wells 1-7, Gage Massey 1-6; Mohawk: Brant Kirian 4-91, Levi Tiell 4-69, Owen Patrizi 2-33.

Team statistics

W                 M

First downs                     11                   14

Rushing                         42-155         23-221

Passes                            8-16-0        10-11-0

Yards passing               91                193

Total yards                    246              414

Fumbles-lost                1-2               0-0

Penalties                    5-55           2-10