NORTH ROBINSON — At Colonel Crawford, talented players sometimes must wait their turn to become great.
That was the case for Eagles’ senior running back Lincoln Mollenkopf.
Mollenkopf waited patiently a year ago as Tristan Cross ran the Eagles into the regional final. Mollenkopf had just six carries.
This year, however, Mollenkopf was the focal point of the Eagles’ offense.
Friday night, Mollenkopf rushed for 252 yards in 27 carries and scored three touchdowns as Crawford blasted Seneca East, 45-13.
With the win, the Eagles finished second in the Northern 10 Athletic Conference with a 6-1 record, 9-1 overall. Seneca East finished 4-3 in the conference, 6-4 overall.
Unofficially, Mollenkopf has rushed for 2,168 yards on 213 carries and scored 32 touchdowns, both of which are Colonel Crawford school records.
“(Mollenkopf’s) had a heck of a year,” Colonel Crawford coach Ryan Teglovic said. “We knew he was going to have a great year, he’s a great athlete. Talking about a kid, too, and what’s I’m most proud about, here is a kid who had six carries last year. So, he’s a guy that waited his turn and that’s what we do in our program, you wait your turn, and when you get the opportunity, you take advantage of it. He’s done a great job of that.
“Obviously, the offensive line has done a great job, but he has had a career year, no question about it,” Teglovic added.
Mollenkopf said that waiting his turn was something that you do at Crawford.
“There’s a lot of guys that have been pretty good that have come through Colonel Crawford, and I have a really good offensive line and that’s what it comes down to,” Mollenkopf said.
“I had some good guys in front of me last year and we went 6-0 in the league, and I blocked my way for Tristan Cross last year and I guess it’s my turn this year and I’m appreciative for it,” he added.
Mollenkopf said that he learned a lot playing with Cross.
“Last year, I wouldn’t put my head down like he did, and this year, I learned to put my head down and run through some people,” Mollenkopf said.
Early in the game, the Seneca East defense did a nice of slowing down Mollenkopf, and the game was tied after the first period, 7-7.
Crawford scored first on a 63-yard pass from Kamryn Lohr to Carter Valentine, but the Tigers came back on a 44-yard scoring run from quarterback Gavin Hargis.
Mollenkopf had carried the ball 10 times for 39 yards in the first quarter, but after that, the Eagles senior was unstoppable.
“They’re a good football team and I think Mollenkopf really was the difference for them,” Seneca East coach Ed Phillips said. “We bottled him up sometimes but when he gets an inch, he’s so explosive.
“They played well on both sides of the football,” Phillips added. “When they didn’t have field position in the first half, our defense played pretty well, but when they got into that spot where they could go for it on fourth, they’re hard to stop for four downs.”
Crawford came out storming in the second quarter, getting a one-yard run from Matt Clinard before Mollenkopf scored on runs of 36 and 53 yards.
The Tigers scored right before the end of the half on a five-yard pass from Hargis to Luke Bischoff. At the half, the Eagles held a 28-13 lead.
Crawford put the game away in the third period on a four-yard Mollenkopf run before Lohr hit a wide-open Valentine from 44 yards out, giving the Eagles a 42-13 lead.
In the fourth quarter, Braxton Morton booted a 28-yard field goal.
Despite the lopsided win, Teglovic said he had great respect for the Tigers.
“Seneca East is a good football team,” Teglovic said. “They have great players; they have a great senior class. Hargis is a great football player. Foos and Beckman and they have some guys up front from last year left over, so we were going to have to come in here and fight hard and our guys played well on both sides of the football. We played hard and we got the win.”
Crawford and Seneca East will be playing in the 11th week in the state playoffs, and Phillips said his team can learn from this loss.
“We left some points off the board that, if we could do that, we might have put some pressure on them,” Phillips said. “That was disappointing but it’s also something we’re going to hang our hats on next week because if we make those plays, we have a chance to win in week 11.”
Box score
Seneca East 7 6 0 0 — 13
Colonel Crawford 7 21 14 3 — 45
Scoring summary
First quarter
CC — Carter Valentine 63 pass from Kamryn Lohr (Braxton Morton kick), 3:19.
SE — Gavin Hargis 44 run (Brandon Hines kick), 3:00.
Second quarter
CC — Matt Clinard 1 run (Morton kick), 9:32.
CC — Lincoln Mollenkopf 36 run (Morton kick), 4:45.
CC — Mollenkopf 53 run (Morton kick), 2:11.
SE — Luke Bischoff 5 pass from Hargis (kick failed), :23.
Third quarter
CC — Mollenkopf 4 run (Morton kick), 7:15.
CC — Valentine 44 pass from Lohr (Morton kick), 3:30.
Fourth quarter
CC — Morton 28 field goal.
Individual statistics
Passing
Seneca East: Gavin Hargis 9-15-0 41. Blake Foos 6-17-0 81. Colonel Crawford: Kamryn Lohr 3-7-0 120.
Rushing
Seneca East: Gavin Hargis 14-61, Blake Foos 2-18, Mason Foos 2-8, Jesse Beckman 3-4, Dylan Young 1-5, Alex King 1-4. Colonel Crawford: Lincoln Mollenkopf 27-252, Kamryn Lohr 10-86, Matt Clinard 8-65, Tanner Dyer 3-17.
Receiving
Seneca East: Luke Bischoff 6-74, Mason Foos 3-48, Gavin Hargis 2-19, Jesse Beckman 2-8, Austin Perry 1-8, Alex King 1-6. Colonel Crawford: Carter Valentine 2-107, Nolan McKibben 1-13.
Team statistics
SE CC
First downs 10 15
Rushing 23-100 48-420
Passes 15-32-0 3-7-0
Yards passing 122 120
Total yards 222 540
Fumbles-lost 0-0 1-0
Penalties 4-40 4-32