NORTH ROBINSON — Go for one or two?
That was the question that faced Sherwood Fairview coach Doug Rakes. The answer was quite obvious to him, but he wanted affirmation from a higher body.
His football team.
“I’m kinder that kind of guy,” Rakes said. “But I did see what the kids wanted to do. So, I asked them, and it was 100 percent. They all wanted to go for two.”
With 1:14 left in the game and the Apaches trailing by one, Rakes went to the air, and the play was there. Quarterback Doug Rakes hit Caleb Frank in the end zone and the Apaches edged Colonel Crawford, 35-34, in the Division VI, Region 22 regional semifinal game Saturday night.
With the win, Fairview (9-0) will host Columbus Grove in the regional final Saturday. Grove (9-0) downed Archbold (8-1), 34-20.
As for the Eagles, they finished one of the most successful seasons in school history at 8-1.
It was a game that the Eagles’ ground attack controlled most of the way. Tristan Cross gained 279 yards on 40 carries and halfback Cade Hamilton added 159 yards in 26 totes. As a team, the Eagles amassed 436 yards on the ground and 481 overall.
Rakes said his team made defensive adjustments at the half but felt the Eagles were more than a worthy opponent.
“We went in at halftime, and, before we went into that, hats off to Colonel Crawford,” Rakes said. “You know, on film, we knew they were big and physical, and the film didn’t do them justice. We got here and they have road graters up there. And they have backs that can get it done. So, hats off to them, their program. It was a heck of an effort by them.”
But Rakes said that a small adjustment slowed down the Eagles a little.
“That’s the story of the night,” Rakes said. “We go into halftime and it’s looking bleak. We weren’t stopping them. They were doing what they wanted. We talked as coaches behind the stadium before we went in and discussed a couple of different adjustments.
“One we discussed we hadn’t done all year, we hadn’t worked on it,” Rakes added. “And we were kinda talked out of that. We made a different adjustment, put bigger guys at what most people would call our defensive ends. And those guys did a tremendous job.”
The results of the changes weren’t completely tangible. The Eagles rushed for 298 yards in the first two frames and were held to just 142 in the final two quarters.
“They played us a little bit differently,” Colonel Crawford coach Ryan Teglovic said. “They brought a couple of bigger guys in at the outside linebacker spot and played more if a 5-3 set instead of a 3-4. That was probably the big difference.”
But the Crawford run game was the biggest difference in the game in the first half.
The Eagles scored early and often. Hamilton scored on a 15-yard run on their first possession and Cross scored on a three-yard run. The Eagles led 14-0.
After Fairview scored on a Rakes to Cade Ripke scoring pass, Crawford scored twice more on a five-yard Cross run and a 20-yard Hamilton run.
With 4:45 left in the half, the Eagles led, 27-7.
Fairview scored again on an 18-yard Rakes-to-Ripke pass, cutting the lead to 27-14.
Then the biggest play of the game occurred.
With eight seconds left in the half, the Eagles had the ball on the Fairview eight and had one timeout left.
Teglovic decided to use Cross and the big back bulldozed his way to the goal line. To many, it appeared that Cross got in and a 34-13 Crawford lead. But the officials ruled Cross just short.
Teglovic thought Cross got in.
“It did (look like it) to me. I don’t know if he was in or not. It looked like either he was in or I had a timeout, so it just didn’t go our way,” Teglovic said. “We’ve had a few go our way this year and that one didn’t.”
Fairview came storming back in the second half.
Rakes scored on a 25-yard run in the third period and Keaton Singer scored on a 1-yard run midway through the fourth period to tie the game at 27-27.
The Eagles came right back with an 81-yard march in 10 plays and ate up 4:31 on the clock. Cross finished the march with a two-yard run, giving Colonel Crawford a 34-27 lead.
“I wouldn’t say it slipped away,” Teglovic said. “We played a good football team, and they made a few more plays at the end of the game than we did.
“Our offensive line has played well all year — tough and physical. They played together and, obviously, having two big backs in the backfield that are tough and hard to tackle, that’s extremely hard.”
Rakes completed 29 of 45 passes for 327 yards. Ripke grabbed 10 passes for 136 yards.
“They averaged 50-some points a game,” Teglovic said. “We knew what we had in store for us. We slowed them up at times. It was just a heck of a football game. They’ve been here before and they made some plays down the stretch.”
Box score
Score by quarters
Sherwood Fairview 0 14 6 15 — 35
Colonel Crawford 14 13 0 7 — 34
Scoring summary
First quarter
CC— Cade Hamilton 15 run (kick failed), 7:23.
CC — Tristan Cross 3 run (Cross run), :21.
Second quarter
SF — Cade Ripke 4 pass from Doug Rakes (Caleb Frank kick), 10:25.
CC — Cross 5 run (Tyler Christman kick), 7:19.
CC — Hamilton 20 run (kick failed), 4:45.
SF — Ripke 18 pass from Rakes (Frank kick), 2:49.
Third quarter
SF — Rakes 25 run (Frank kick), :57.
Fourth quarter
SF — Keaton Singer 1 run (kick failed), 7:32.
CC — Cross 2 run (Christman kick), 2:20.
SF — Frank 29 pass from Rakes (Frank pass from Rakes), 1:14.
Individual statistics
Passing
Sherwood Fairview: Doug Rakes 29-45-0 327. Colonel Crawford: Brock Ritzhaupt 6-14-0 51.
Rushing
Sherwood Fairview: Keaton Singer 5-30, Rakes 7-13, Caleb Frank 1-2. Colonel Crawford: Tristan Cross 40-279, Cade Hamilton 26-159, Ritzhaupt 3-(-2).
Receiving
Sherwood Fairview: Cade Ripke 10-136, Frank 5-69, Luke Timbrook 7-58, Singer 6-47, Kaden Blair 1-6. Colonel Crawford: Carter Valentine 2-17, Seth Carman 1-10, Carson Feichtner 1-8, Nolan McKibben 1-7, Chase Walker 1-3.
Team statistics
SF CC
First downs N/A N/A
Rushing 13-45 59-436
Passes 29-45-0 6-14-0
Yards passing 316 45
Total yards 361 481
Penalties 4-44 6-55
Punts 3-42.3 2-43.5