SYCAMORE — Mohawk was given a stiff test in the first half by Buckeye
Central in a Northern 10 Athletic Conference football game Friday night in
Sycamore, leading by just one score at the break.
But the Warriors pulled away in the second half with some big passing plays,
shutting out a motivated Buckeye Central squad, 30-0.
“I’m happy for our kids and our effort,” Mohawk coach Eric Daniel said. “We
were down seven starters for today and we’re trying to get healthy.”
Buckeye Central (0-8, 0-5 N10) stonewalled Mohawk early, keeping the game
scoreless in the first quarter after forcing the Warriors to turn the ball
over on downs in the red zone.
“We played a really good first half,” Buckeye Central coach Chad Jensen said.
“Our defense played great. That was the best that our defense played all
year. Credit to our defensive coaches. Our defensive staff does a great job
week after week. Our kids played really well and made plays.”
Mohawk (5-3, 3-2 N10) scored its only first-half touchdown thanks to a
fortunate series of events. On the third play of its drive, the Warriors’
Mason Danner took a hand-off from the Buckeye Central 49-yard line and broke free 45 yards, but Danner was stripped inside the 5-yard line by a Buckeye Central defender. The bouncing ball landed in the hands of Mohawk receiver Tyler Hayman, who was trailing the play. Hayman took the ball its final four yards for a touchdown to give the Warriors an 8-0 lead after Jesse Leeth scored a 2-point conversion.
The score remained 8-0 heading into halftime and the Warriors seemed to be
in trouble after punting on their first possession of the second half, but
Buckeye Central running back Jacob Maxhimer lost a fumble on the Bucks’
first play of their ensuing drive, giving Mohawk the ball on the Buckeye
Central 33 yard line.
“That was huge,” Daniel said. “We’ve had our issues, but we’ve taken care of
the ball this season and that turnover set the tone for us for the second
half. Our quarterback, Landon Snyder, has done a great job of taking care of
the ball this season.”
Four plays later, Snyder found Danner on a perfect screen pass and Danner
muscled the ball 24 yards into the end zone. Another Leeth conversion gave
the Warriors a 16-0 lead.
“It’s hard to be down on a kid who fumbles when he gives it 1,000 percent,” Jensen said. “I told him after he got back to the sideline that he was getting the
ball the first play of the next drive. He’s our senior fullback and he’s a great kid that works hard. He loves the contact.”
Maxhimer finished with 88 yards on 20 rushes in the game.
Mohawk again scored quickly on its next drive, this time with some trickery.
On the first play of the drive, the Warriors pulled off a double
reverse, and Hayman threw the ball 38 yards to Trey Combs to
take the ball into the Bucks’ red zone.
“That reverse pass, that’s a credit to our offensive coaches,” Daniel said.
“We’ve kind of held that in our back pocket. We felt like we needed
something to get us a spark and get us over the hump a little bit, change
the field a bit. It was something we knew we could flip the field quick and
flip the field position a little bit even if we couldn’t finish the drive.”
Fortunately for Daniel, Mohawk finished the drive two plays later when Snyder found Skyler Williams on the right sideline. Williams dashed into the end zone for a 16-yard score to put the Warriors up 24-0.
Danner capped off the scoring early in the fourth quarter with a 2-yard
rushing touchdown. Danner finished the game with nine rushes for 100 yards and a touchdown, plus two receptions for 39 yards and a touchdown.
Mohawk outgained Buckeye Central 498 to 107 in total yards, but also was
penalized 10 times for 100 yards.
“We’re not perfect but we’re churning in the right direction,” Daniel said.
“I’m pretty excited for our kids with the way we¹re performing compared to
where we were at a couple weeks ago.”
Mohawk hosts Wynford at 7 p.m. Friday.