SYCAMORE — For the first two quarters, Mohawk went to star wide receiver Kahne Hayman, who grabbed three passes for 136 yards and a score as the Warriors held a 14-6 lead at the half.

But when Hayman went down with an injury in the third quarter, the Warriors and offensive coordinator Zach Hawkins went back to an old friend, Northern 10 Athletic Conference Player of the Year, quarterback Ben Bogner.

Bogner, who had minus-five rushing yards in six carries in the first half, rushed for 104 yards in 26 carries in the second half as the Warriors downed McComb, 20-13, in the quarterfinal round of the Division VII, Region 26 playoff Friday night.

Mohawk (10-2), which entered the tournament as the fourth seed, will face top-seeded Columbus Grove (12-0) in the semifinal. The game site is yet to be determined. McComb ends its season with an 8-4 record.

How good was Bogner late in the game?

Leading by just seven points, the Warriors got the ball on their own 35 with just four minutes left in the game.

From there, Mohawk ran nine plays and moved the ball to the McComb 28 before giving it back to the Panthers with only 30 seconds left in the game. Of those nine plays, Bogner carried the ball the final eight and gained all 37 yards, essentially running out the clock.

Mohawk coach Eric Daniel said that “one play here or there was the difference. It was fantastic,” before referring reporters to offensive coordinator Zach Hawkins. “He did a great job,” Daniel said of Hawkins.

Hawkins said that the injury to his athletic and talented wide receiver is not clear at this point.

“Right now, we don’t know much,” Hawkins said of Hayman’s injury. “Something with the shoulder. We’ll probably know a lot more (Saturday), but, right now, we don’t know much.”

Hayman was the difference in the first half. On Mohawk’s first play of the game, Bogner found the wideout and hit him in stride for a 68-yard touchdown and a 7-0 lead.

At one point in the first quarter, the Panthers had run 19 plays to the Warriors’ one, but the Warriors held a 7-0 lead after one frame.

McComb cut the lead to one midway through the second period when halfback Braydon Shoop broke two tackles at the line of scrimmage and raced 57 yards for the score. Mohawk led, 7-6.

The Warriors got back on the board on their next possession as Bogner found wide receiver Kaleb Bish from 58 yards out. Bogner threw for 213 yards in the first half as Mohawk held a 14-6 lead at the break.

The Warriors did have one more chance to score in the first half when Bogner hit Hayman for 36 yards to the Panthers 14. Hayman made a spectacular diving catch on the play. Mohawk got the ball to the McComb one, but was called for an unsportsmanlike penalty after the third down play and failed to score.

Hawkins said that he just let Hayman be who he is.

“There were a couple of times, we called plays, and we just let him go be Kahne,” Hawkins said. “We tell him all the time, one-on-one is one-on-none with him. He showed that tonight. He made plays for us and stepped up huge.”

Mohawk increased the lead to 20-7 in the third period, moving the ball 65 yards on seven plays to the McComb three. From there, Bogner finished off the march.

“Our personnel gets a little different and things, and we know Ben is one of our senior leaders,” Hawkins said. “We’ve done it multiple games in a row where we’re trying to close out a game and we put the ball in Ben’s hands. He seems to get it done.”

McComb closed the lead to 20-13 midway through the fourth quarter, moving 56 yards to the Mohawk one. From there, Grant Schroeder finished the drive with a one-yard run.

Hawkins said that the Panthers defensive line did a great job on the Mohawk run game throughout the night.

“They have a couple of really nice interior defenders on the line, offensive and defensive,” Hawkins said. “Our defense stepped up and made some stands. They would get some first downs, but we held many times. To hold that team to 13 points is extremely impressive

“I was also extremely impressed with our offensive line,” he added. “What McComb does on defense is not like anything we’re used to facing. They crash everything down and bring those outside linebackers in. It’s just a little bit different than what we’ve seen all year. Our kids made the adjustment and got it done when we needed them to.”

Box score

Score by quarters   

McComb             0             6            0           7   — 13

Mohawk             7              7            6           0  — 20

Scoring summary

First quarter

M — Kahne Hayman 68 pass from Ben Bogner (Owen Patrizi kick), 8:57.

Second quarter

Mc — Brayden Shoop 57 run (kick failed), 11:45.

M — Kaleb Bish 58 pass from Bogner (Patrizi kick), 10:33.

Third quarter

M — Bogner 3 run (kick failed), 9:03.

Fourth quarter

Mc — Grady Schroeder 1 run (Luke Kern kick), 4:19.

Individual statistics

Passing

McComb: Grady Schroeder 4-11-0 12; Mohawk: Ben Bogner 5-13-0 215.

Rushing

McComb: Brayden Shoop 17-80, Grady Schroeder 22-44, Gracin Romero 4-4; Mohawk: Ben Bogner 32-99, Kahne Hayman 1-9, Kaden Bish 5-4.

Receiving

McComb: Octavian Gonzales 2-13, Gracin Romero 1-1, Haiden Ebright 1-(-1); Mohawk: Kahne Hayman 3-136, Kaden Bish 2-77.

Team statistics 

Mc                M

First downs                        11                 11

Rushing                         43-128         38-112

Passes                             4-11-0          5-13-0

Yards passing                  12               213

Total yards                      140              325

Fumbles-lost                   2-0               0-0

Punts                              4-33.5         1-45.0

Penalties                          7-55            4-65