NEW WASHINGTON — One team was preparing for the playoffs. The other was playing for pride and saying farewell to seven seniors Friday night.

Both teams accomplished their goals as Colonel Crawford topped Buckeye Central 45-6 in the final week of the regular season and a Northern 10 Athletic Conference game.

“Our guys were maybe little shaky at first. That second drive offensively, I didn’t feel very good about that. Buckeye — those kids played awfully hard. The have really good players. I told the (Derex) Dean kid, he throws the ball so well on the RPOs. They’ve got a lot of nice receivers,” Eagles head coach Jake Bruner said.

“A credit to their kids. They could have come in here and not played hard. The (Landon) Sherwood kid is really, really good at linebacker.”

Colonel Crawford (9-1, 6-1) was third in this week’s OHSAA computer ratings in Division VI, Region 22. The final rankings and playoff pairings will be announced Sunday.

The Eagles poured on the offense with 407 rushing yards, led by Connor McMichael’s 178-yard, three-touchdown performance. Micah Thomas added two short runs (5 and 8 yards) and 131 rushing yards.

The visitors built a 31-0 halftime lead.

Buckeye Central was limited to 146 total yards. Dean hit on 15-of-34 passing attempts for 146 yards.

“We ask our kids to play hard and they did that. What else can you ask of them?” Bucks head coach Chad Jensen said. “The biggest compliment I get from other coaches is our kids play hard every game.”

Buckeye Central (3-7, 1-6) stopped Colonel Crawford on three straight plays and forced a punt in the first quarter and held them on downs a couple of other times.

“There were times where we played really well. But eventually when they’ve got three times the amount of kids on their sidelines as we do, it’s going to wear us down. They didn’t give up,” Jensen said.

“We had some moments on offense and defense. Crawford has a lot of great players.”

Sophomore Peyton Baker took some snaps at quarterback for the Eagles and tossed a 35-yard pass to starting signal caller Trevor Vogt.

“Defensively, we gave up some downs. We kept them in front of us and didn’t give up the big play and kept enough pressure on Dean. The Jensen kid and the Phillips kid do a good job,” Bruner said.

“Our goal was to come here and get number 9 and we did. We wanted to get the younger kids in. Those guys practice every day and make us better. We like our younger kids and some of them are playing on the varsity right now.”

With the playoffs looming, the Eagles look forward to Week 11.

“Obviously, we’re going to get a home game and if we’re lucky enough to win that one it looks like we’ll get another one. We’re probably not gonna know for 3 days and it’s gonna kill all of us. Everyone will be texting me what they think is going to happen. I think we got out of here healthy tonight,” Bruner said.

Colonel Crawford only played four home games, so Bruner said a home playoff game is welcome.

“Our older kids, a core group of maybe 5 to 7 kids that have played for us the last couple years in different roles. Now those roles are a little heightened, so it’s a combination of youth and some guys with experience. We have come a long way from Week 1 when we went down to Hannibal River.

“They’ve answered the bell with everything we’ve asked them to do. I’ve criticized this group about leadership. Trevor Vogt has taken a lot of criticism from me, but he’s done a really good job and Micah Thomas has also. And the Lane Rikes, the Tyler Smiths. Boy, those guys have done a great job.”

Jensen said farewell to seven seniors, including his son Heath.

“This is a special group. My son and other kids — I’ve coached them in basketball, baseball, and football since they were little. I’ve seen them grow up. It’s really bittersweet to watch those kids play that last game.”

Seniors Jensen, Derex Dean, Isaac Hiler, Bren Jones, Sherwood, Jon Stander, and Jacob Hiler were recognized prior to the game on Senior Night.

“We competed every game and played hard. Our league is obviously tough and as a small school it’s tough for us. A lot of our juniors are regular players and sophomores played a lot and they’re returning with a lot of experience,” Jensen said.

Box score

Score by quarters

Colonel Crawford       7          24         14         0   — 45

Buckeye Central         0            0           0         6   —   6

Scoring summary

First quarter

CC — Micah Thomas 5 run (Braxton Morton kick), 7:10.

Second quarter

CC — Thomas 8 run (Morton kick), 8:30.

CC — Connor McMichael 40 run (Morton kick), 6:48.

CC — McMichael 6 run (Morton kick), 1:38.

CC — Morton 32 field goal, :16.

Third quarter

CC — Trevor Vogt 59 run (Morton kick), 9:46.

CC — McMichael 65 run (Morton kick), 1:31.

M — Bogner 5 run (Kirian kick), 1:38.

Fourth quarter

BC — Isaac Hiler 1 run (kick failed), 5:51.

Individual statistics

Passing

Colonel Crawford: Trevor Vogt 3-3 0 9, Peyton Baker 1-3-0 35; Buckeye Central: Derex Dean 15-34-0 146.

Rushing

Colonel Crawford: Connor McMichael 8-178, Micah Thomas 13-131, Trevor Vogt 7-76, Madden Tesso 3-9, Jack Agee 1-8, Brady Fox 1-5; Buckeye Central: Derex Dean 7-32, Dom Dean 2-9, Heath Jensen 1-2, Isaac Hiler 4-1.

Receiving

Colonel Crawford: Trevor Vogt 1 35, Ryan McMichael 2-8, Roen 1-1; Buckeye Central: Heath Jensen 8-74, Jack Phillips 3-42, Dom Dean 1-19, Isaac Hiler 2-1.

Team statistics

CC             BC

First downs                   9                10

Rushing                    33-407         14-44

Passes                        4-6-0          15-34-0

Yards passing              44               146

Total yards                 451               190

Fumbles-lost              0-0               1-0

Penalties                     2-10            5-30