NORTH ROBINSON — On a night of big plays, Colonel Crawford defensive back Caleb Lohr made the biggest, perhaps the biggest for Colonel Crawford in many years.

After the Eagles lost a 14-point lead with less than three minutes left, sending the game into overtime, Liberty Center opened the extra period with the football.

Lohr then made the play of the night.

On third-and-six from the 16, Liberty Center quarterback Camden Krugh tried to hit a receiver in the right flat, but Lohr stepped in front and made a diving interception to give the Eagles an opportunity to win.

Crawford running back Tristan Cross made Liberty Center pay.

Cross rushed for 195 yards on 22 carries and scored from a yard out in the overtime frame to carry the Eagles to a 34-28 win in the second round of the Division VI, Region 18 tournament in North Robinson.

With the win, the Eagles (8-0) advanced to the regional semifinal for just the second time in school history. They will host Sherwood Fairview (8-0) next Saturday night. Fairview advanced with a 38-36 win over Northwood (7-1).

Lohr said that the interception was perhaps the biggest play he has ever made.

“I’ve never been to the playoffs, so it was pretty special,” Lohr said.

The CC defensive back said that he was trying to bait Liberty Center quarterback Krugh, who brought the Tigers back late in the game with his ability to throw the football.

“We were playing six, so I knew I had the flat,” Lohr said. “I was jumping a little too soon, so they said bait the quarterback. So that’s what I did, and I jumped it.”

Colonel Crawford coach Ryan Teglovic said that the win was special.

“We’ve been a part of a lot of big wins in this program and this year we’ve had some huge ones,” Teglovic said. “But this one is pretty special, the way our guys fought. Liberty Center fought back and took it into overtime. Then our kids made plays.”

It was a win that almost didn’t happen, however.

The Eagles held a 28-14 lead with 3:27 left in the game after Cade Hamilton raced around the left end for a score.

But Liberty Center came back. Krugh fired an eight-yard scoring pass to Riley Chapa with 2:13 left, then completed a perfect on-side kick to get the ball back.

From that point, Krugh hit Evan Conrad from eight yards out to tie the game at 28-28 with 1:05 left.

Teglovic said that his team’s ability to keep its composure after the Tigers came back was key.

“We have a lot of seniors on this football team and they have worked really hard,” Teglovic said. “Since COVID shut us down in the spring, they have been doing zoom calls and worked out on their own. All of our guys have worked extremely hard to get to this point. We’re going to the regional semifinals. Hats off to our guys.”

The Eagles controlled the line of scrimmage on both sides of the football for most of the game.

Liberty Center scored first on a five-yard run by tailback Max Phillips before the Eagles came back and tied the game on a one-yard run.

At the break, the game was tied at 7-7.

The Eagles took a 21-7 lead on a 60-yard Brock Ritzhaupt run and a 76-yard Cross run early in the fourth quarter.

Phillips scored a 23-yard run midway through the final frame for the Tigers, setting up the wild final three minutes of the game.

“We played pretty solid football most of the way,” Teglovic said. “We did have the one turnover which was a tough one. But outside of that, we played solid. We made big plays when we had to.”

Crawford piled up 274 yards on the ground.

“We knew they were going to run some sort of bear front, we’ve seen it,” Teglovic said. “They were going to bring defensive backs up on our tight ends, they try to eat up your tight end blocks. We knew what to expect out of that. Our kids felt comfortable running the football this week. We worked hard on that in practice, so I thought we worked well on that.”

Liberty Center entered the game having scored 111 points in its first two playoff games, most of that offense coming on the ground. But the Eagles limited the Tiger ground game to just 156 yards in 40 carries, less than four yards per tote.

“Our rush defense was really good,” Teglovic said. “Max Phillips is one of the best running backs in the state and I thought we did a really doggone good job against him. Offensively, we made some big plays. Tristan (Cross) made a couple of big runs. Brock made a huge run and made some passes when we needed them. It was just a solid game all the way around.”

Box score

Score by quarters

Liberty Center           7          0         0         21      0 — 28

Colonel Crawford     7          0         14          7      6 — 34

Scoring summary

First quarter

LC — Max Phillips 5 run (Asa Killum kick), 9:38.

CC — Tristan Cross 1 run (Tyler Christman kick), 1:21.

Third quarter

CC — Brock Ritzhaupt 60 run (Christman kick), 10:31.

CC — Cross 76 run (Christman kick), 4:57.

Fourth quarter

LC — Phillips 23 run (Killum kick), 8:23.

CC — Cade Hamilton 9 run (Christman kick), 3:27.

LC — Riley Chapa 8 pass from Camden Krugh (Killum kick), 2:13.

LC — Evan Conrad 8 pass from Krugh (Killum kick), 1:05.

Overtime

CC — Cross 1 run.

Individual statistics

Passing

Liberty Center: Camden Krugh 12-23-0 155. Colonel Crawford: Brock Ritzhaupt 8-17-0 105.

Rushing

Liberty Center: Max Phillips 20-74, Karter Kern 13-70, Krugh 7-12. Colonel Crawford: Tristan Cross 22-195, Cade Hamilton 6-28, Ritzhaupt 4-51.

Receiving

Liberty Center: Riley Chapa 3-24, Dylan Matthews 4-24, Trey Patterson 3-33, Evan Conrad 2-33, Kern 1-25. Colonel Crawford: Carter Valentine 2-41, Chase Walker 2-31, Seth Carman 2-22, Cross 2-11.

Team statistics

LC             CC

First downs                   15               9

Rushing                     40-156        32-274

Passes                      12-23-0        4-17-0

Yards passing              156             105

Total yards                  312              379

Punts                         6-32.7           4-37.5

Penalties                    7-55              5-65