CAREY (Crawford County Now) — A couple of big plays was all the ammunition that Carey needed, blanking Colonel Crawford 16-0, in Northern 10 Athletic Conference battle here Friday night.
The Blue Devils (3-0, 3-2) scored in the closing seconds of the first two quarters — first on a Tripp Phoenix 78-yard run down the left sideline and the other on a 50-yard post from Phoenix to Logan Summit with 15 seconds left in the first half.
“I thought our kids played really hard tonight,” Eagles head coach Jake Bruner said. “On our first possession we went a hundred yards.”
Colonel Crawford (1-2, 2-3) struggled with penalties, especially in the first half. A 14-play drive ended with an incomplete pass and Carey took over at its 22-yard line.
From there Phoenix kept the ball and scored with 1:05 in the quarter.
“I think our kids did a great job of handling adversity here. They’ve had a tough schedule. We lost 17 seniors,” Bruner said. “Carey’s got a great team and a great program, and we knew it would be a battle.”
On the next series CC drove to the Carey 7 on a 45-yard flea flicker from Parker Weithman to Roen Thew. But two penalties, a block in the back and an offensive facemask on the same play, pushed the ball back to the 20 resulting in Lucca Troiano missing right on a 37-yard field goal attempt.
Carey (3-0, 3-2) controlled the line of scrimmage, rushing for 241 yards. Mace Puckett rushed for 101 yards and Phoenix added 92 on the ground and 64 through the air.
The visitors had 9 penalties for 78 yards, and the hosts drew 5 flags for 40 yards.
“I thought defensively we played excellent tonight,” Carey head coach Jonathon Mershman said.
“They drove the ball on that first drive, but we found a way to get a stop. A couple of other times they got in our red zone. Biggest thing was when they had an explosive play we didn’t let it go to the house.”
Carey’s inside-outside running combination is an effective one.
“Mace does a great job getting attention and that allows Tripp to do his thing,” Mershman said.
“On offense we got the two big plays and that was the difference. We were solid on special teams and got an onside kick recovery (following a 37-yard Benson Kloepfer field goal). We played really well as a team.”
Freshman Lane Baldridge recovered the onside kick.
The field goal capped a 13-play, 53-yard drive that took more than 7 minutes.
“Tripp Phoenix is a heck of an athlete. We missed him on the edge one time right before half. We had some turnovers we didn’t get tonight for obvious reasons,” Bruner said.
Defensive end Louis Watkins had several tackles for loss, a pass broken up and recovered a fumble for Carey. Patrick Troiano had a pair of TFLs for the Eagles.
Lucas visits Colonel Crawford next Friday night. Carey travels to Tiffin Calvert, followed by games against Seneca East and Hopewell-Loudon.
“We have an opportunity to make the playoffs. We’ve played some really good football teams — a Division IV team, Hopewell-Loudon is picked to win the Division VII championship, and Carey is a heck of a program,” Bruner said.
“We’ve got some tough games left and we’ll take them one game at a time.”
Score by quarters
Colonel Crawford 0 0 0 0 — 0
Carey 7 6 3 0 — 16
Scoring summary
First quarter
C — Tripp Phoenix 78 run (Benson Kloepfer kick), 1:05.
Second quarter
C — Logan Summit 50 pass from Phoenix (kick failed), :15.
Third quarter
C — Kloepfer 37 field goal, 3:01.
Individual statistics
Passing
Colonel Crawford: Roen Thew 10-18-0 86. Parker Weithman 1-2-0 45; Carey: Tripp Phoenix 4-6-0 64.
Rushing
Colonel Crawford: Roen Thew 17-20, Avery Powers 5-14; Carey: Mace Puckett 20-101, Tripp Phoenix 8-92, Bekkem Sherman 4-27, Logan Summit 5-16, Louis Watkins 2-5.
Receiving
Colonel Crawford: Roen Thew 1-45, Avery Powers 2-39, Parker Weithman 5-25, Randall Saum 3-22; Carey: Logan Summit 2-52, Brayden Williams 1-8, Louis Watkins 1-4.
Team statistics
CC C
First downs 7 11
Rushing 22-34 43-241
Passes 11-20-0 4-6-0
Yards passing 131 64
Total yards 165 305
Fumbles-lost 3-1 1-1
Penalties 9-78 5-40