HOLMES TOWNSHIP — Colonel Crawford traveled to Wynford Friday night for its final test before the playoffs begin next week. The Eagles passed the test with flying colors.

Wynford stopped the Eagles’ initial drive with a pass interception deep in Royals’ territory, but Crawford came back and scored touchdowns on its next five possessions and added a pass interception score in a 42-6 win over the Royals.

With the win, the Eagles improved to 8-2 overall and 5-2 in the Northern 10 Athletic Conference. Crawford has qualified for the playoffs, and the Eagles will host 7-3 Centerburg next week according to playoff guru Joe Eitel.

“Anytime you play a week 10 rival game; you have to go to Wynford, and I think we’ve won here three times since 1996,” Colonel Crawford coach Jake Bruner said.

“Anytime you go here, their kids are good, and they play hard, they’re well-coached so we knew, early on especially, it would be a dog fight,” he added.

Wynford finished its season at 3-7 overall, 2-5 in the conference.

“As the season went on, our guys gave an effort and tried to get better,” Wynford coach Cyle Skidmore said. “Tonight, Colonel Crawford, they were just the better team tonight. They gave a little more effort than we did. They’re in the playoffs and they are going to do things right.”

After that pass interception ended the Eagles first possession, Crawford went on a roll quickly.

Tailback Connor McMichael raced 34 yards for a score and then added a 19-yard run as Crawford held a 14-0 lead after the first quarter.

Teammate Dom Dean barreled over from a yard out early in the second quarter as the Eagles increased the lead to 21-0 then McMichael added an eight-yard run to give the Eagles a 28-0 lead.

Defensive back Logan Goddard intercepted a pass and bolted 60 yards for a touchdown and McMichael scored his fourth touchdown of the half on a 24-yard pass from quarterback Brayden Holt to take a 42-0 lead into the locker room at the half.

“We were a little bit sloppy at times just because we had some different guys in there and different things, and we were trying to rest everybody up a little bit, but, at the end, I was really proud of how hard we played, the effort our kids gave and coming into a tough situation and deal with some adversity when you are playing a rivalry,” Bruner said.

The game entered a running clock in the second half, which slowed down possessions for both teams. But the Royals did get on the board in the final quarter on a three-yard run by halfback Anthony Evans.

“Their running game is really, really good,” Bruner said. “They’re the third-best running team in the league. Evans and Locker are both really good and they have a nice, strong line there. When we could get them into those situations there and they throw the ball up into the air. I thought we got a little pressure on their quarterback. I thought that was the difference tonight.”

Evans led the Royals with 64 rushing yards in 16 carries. McMichael paced the Eagles with 104 yards in seven totes.

“We just struggled,” Skidmore said. “We’ve been very consistent, but we made a lot of mistakes. They didn’t do that; they capitalized on our mistakes. It just went their way tonight.

“We want to run the ball; we would like to do that,” Skidmore added. “At times, I thought we had to throw the ball. We gave our best shot, but it just didn’t go our way tonight.”

Box score

Score by quarters

Colonel Crawford     14         28          0         0   — 42

Wynford                        0            0          0         6   —  6

Scoring summary

First quarter

CC — Connor McMichael 34 run (Joseph Zizzo kick), 7:57.

CC — McMichael 19 run (Zizzo kick), 1:34.

Second quarter

CC — Dom Dean 1 run (Zizzo kick), 9:35.

CC — McMichael 8 run (Zizzo kick), 7:21.

CC — Logan Goddard 60 interception return (Zizzo kick), 5:18.

CC — McMichael 24 pass from Brayden Holt (Zizzo kick), :21.

Fourth quarter

W — Anthony Evans 3 run (run failed), 7:51.

Individual statistics

Passing

Colonel Crawford: Peyton Baker 2-4-0 62, Holt 3-5-1 39, Gabe Stratton 1-3-0 10; Wynford: Landon Miller 3-10-3 35.

Rushing

Colonel Crawford: Connor McMichael 7-104, Dom Dean 4-24, Roen Thew 1-14, Avery Powers 2-0; Wynford Evans 16-64, Bryce Locker 11-37, Landon Miller 5-(-9), Rakim Deaver 1-(-1).

Receiving

Colonel Crawford: Parker Weithman 2-49, Connor McMichael 2-30, Dom Dean 1-20, David Rike 1-10, Roen Thew 1-2; Wynford: Anthony Evans 2-30, Bryce Locker 1-5.

Team statistics

CC               W

First downs                   8                 7

Rushing                     17-167         33-91

Passes                        7-11-1         3-10-3

Yards passing              111                35

Total yards                  278              126

Fumbles-lost                0-0               1-0

Penalties                       9-75             4-25