NORTH ROBINSON — Colonel Crawford coach Jake Bruner said he has a lot of respect for Richmond Heights — as a school and as a football team.

Bruner said that the Spartans were one of the few teams that would travel to North Robinson to play the Eagles in Week 2, something several other schools refused to do.

“Give Richmond Heights a lot of credit,” Bruner said. “There were seven teams in Ohio we called that had a week two openings, And their coaches said, ‘coach, we will not play you.’”

“I didn’t know Richmond Heights had a team; we were about to play a team from Michigan or Pennsylvania,” Bruner added. “We talked to both of them. Richmond Heights called us and said we need a Week 2 away.”

So, the Spartans traveled a long way from Cuyahoga County to face a Crawford team that has had a lot of success in recent years.

Richmond Heights, on the other hand, is just starting a program. The Spartans have just 23 players and three seniors.

The talent disparity was stark, as the Eagles dropped the Spartans, 48-0, Thursday night. But Bruner came away impressed with what the Spartans are doing.

“I went down (after the game) and talked to their team because they are trying to build a program the right way and get kids out,” Bruner said. “Those kids play hard. I told them that we have a lot of kids that have played football for a long time. Coach (Shaun) Lodge is doing a great job there.

“To come all this way and play us on a Thursday night and for our guys to have a game meant a lot for us and, hopefully, they will get a lot out of it, too,” he added.

Lodge, who is the school’s principal, said that he only started the program about three months ago.

“I’m the principal of the school and I took over the football team in June,” Lodge said. “We’re two or three months into this thing. We are way behind. We’re just trying to play the game the right way, how to approach the game the right way. And it’s just going to take time.”

Lodge said that the Spartans didn’t have any scrimmages either, so this trek to North Robinson was the first live football the team has played this season.

“The kids have bought in; they know that as well,” Lodge said. “They come to practice, they come to school every day. This is just going to be one day at a time. We’re just going to keep doing it.”

The game itself was no contest. Spartan fumbles gave the Eagles scoring drives of five, eight and one yard in the first half.

Connor McMichael led the scoring parade on the second play of the game on a 60-yard run.

Roen Thew added scoring runs of five and eight yards gave the Eagles a 21-0 lead. Lucas Foy grabbed a 43-yard scoring pass from Peyton Baker and Brayden Holt scored on a one-yard run as Crawford held a 35-0 lead after one period.

In the second, Foy grabbed a 22-yard scoring pass from Baker and Dom Dean scored on a one-yard run as the Eagles held a 48-0 lead at the half.

The second half not only had a running clock but eight-minute quarters. As a result, the Eagles never ran a play in the third quarter and the Spartans never got the ball in the fourth. Only 15 total plays were run in the second half.

The Eagles finished with 302 total yards for the game, rushing for 176 yards and passing for 126 more.

Richmond Heights, on the other hand, rushed for minus-49 yards and passed for 21. The total yards were minus-28.

Bruner told the kids that, while the Eagles were more talented than the Spartans, things will change dramatically down the road.

“We know the next two are going to be really tough,” Bruner said. “We have to go to East Knox, which is a Carey-type atmosphere. We don’t look ahead, that is our thought process.

“Mohawk is after that, and they have a great team,” Bruner added. “Mohawk has been very good all the way through, It’s coming, and we’re going to have to be better and better and improve every day.”

Box score

Score by quarters   

Richmond Heights          0          0           0           0   — 0

Colonel Crawford        35         13           0           0   — 48

Scoring summary

First quarter

CC — Connor McMichael 60 run (Joseph Zizzo kick), 11:38.

CC — Roen Thew 5 run (Zizzo kick), 10:02.

CC — Thew 8 run (Zizzo kick), 8:54.

CC — Lucas Foy 43 pass from Peyton Baker (Zizzo kick), 4:40.

CC — Brayden Holt 1 run (Zizzo kick), 2:56.

Second quarter

CC — Foy 22 pass from Baker (kick failed), 11:53.

CC — Dom Dean 1 run (Zizzo kick), 10:58.

Individual statistics

Passing

Richmond Heights: Jordan Lewis 2-8-0 21; Colonel Crawford: Peyton Baker 5-6-0 89, Brayden Holt 2-3-0 37, Gabe Stratton 0-1-0 0.

Rushing

Richmond Heights: Amir Avak 2-(-2), Me’Kye Smith 1-(-2), Darwin Williams 2-(-3), Gary Russell 4-(-7), Jordan Lewis 9-(-35); Colonel Crawford: Connor McMichael 3-70, Avery Powers 5-40, Dom Dean 5-26, Roen Thew 3-22, Madden Tesso 2-13, Kyle Smith 1-7, Tristan Dyer 1-0, Lucas Foy 1-0, Brayden Holt 3-(-2).

Receiving

Richmond Heights: Shelton Steward 1-25, Gary Russell 1-(-4); Colonel Crawford: Lucas Foy 4-96, Kaden Bruner 1-13, John DeGray 1-10, Parker Weithman 1-7.

Team statistics 

RH              CC

First downs                       1                8

Rushing                      18-(-49)        24-176

Passes                           2-9-0        7-10-0

Yards passing                 21            126

Total yards                    -28           302

Fumbles-lost                 4-3            1-0

Punts                            3-24.3        0-0

Penalties                      6-40          8-80