NORTH ROBINSON (Crawford County Now) — Mohawk is getting healthy at just the right time.

The Warriors turned to their running attack, led by senior Kaden Bish, as they remained undefeated in Northern 10 Athletic Conference play. But they had to hold off a strong Colonel Crawford rally for a 31-27 win Friday night at H.J. Gary Field.

Bish ran for 138 yards and scored three times as Mohawk (6-0, 7-1) enhanced its chances at a share of the league crown and a high seed in the OHSAA playoffs. The Warriors came in ranked 5th in Division VII, Region 26.

“I said I thought it would be a hard-fought game and it was,” head coach Eric Daniel said. “You’re never at ease when you have playmakers on the other side. They beat us over the top several times, which is uncharacteristic of us. We lost some eye discipline in the second half.”

Bish, who had been limited earlier this season, got things going early with a 15-yard touchdown pass from Andon Clouse and then a 12-yard run as Mohawk built a 24-7 halftime lead.

He added an 8-yard run in the second quarter, set up by a 41-yard burst a play earlier.

“He’s running hard. He’s one of our war daddies. We go the way he goes. When he’s running hard and he’s engaged because he’s a captain, he creates a lot of our own luck just through his physicality,” Daniel said.

Colonel Crawford (3-3, 4-4) struggled to move the ball in the first half, amassing only 117 total yards, with 80 of those coming via a Parker Weithman touchdown grab.

“Mohawk’s a great football team. Our kids never gave up. We made some mistakes with penalties and some of our actions,” Eagles head coach Jake Bruner said.

“But I’m proud of our toughness and grit, and the fortitude that our kids had.”

Crawford used a trick play with Weithman taking a handoff from Stratton and then throwing a 72-yard pass to Tyler Lash, who got open in the Warriors secondary early in the third quarter.

That cut the score to 24-14 and following a Mohawk punt the hosts struck again. This time Gabe Stratton connected with Carson Rader from 42 yards to make it a 24-20 contest with 3:02 left in the third quarter. after missing the extra point kick.

“We’ve got 9 seniors and they’re all playing, but we’ve got a lot of young kids. Obviously, they need that leadership and that spark — and they got that tonight,” Bruner said.

Stratton capped off a 10-play drive with a 3-yard burst that gave Colonel Crawford a 27-24 lead with 5:16 left in the game.

Several questionable pass interference calls on both teams took place in the fourth quarter. A PI call and an unsportsmanlike conduct on CC gave Mohawk an opportunity.

Clouse finished a drive with the winning score from a yard out with 1:59 remaining on the clock.

A Chance Collene interception ended the Eagles’ final drive at the Mohawk 10 yard-line after pass completions to Will Saum (3 yards) and Kyle Smith (14 yards) got the ball to the Warriors 29 with under a minute to play.

“We tell our kids that losers pout and winners respond. It was a tough second half and our kids responded,” Daniel said. “We need tough games like that, and we’ve got another one next week.”

With Roen Thew (hand) out, Bruner has used a combination of players at quarterback.

“Brock Lisle, Gabe Stratton and Parker Weithman. They all did some really good things at times. I thought Gabe did a good job in the second half of trying to bring us back. He was gutsy at times,” he said. “When you switch quarterbacks in the middle of the year it’s transition time.”

Colonel Crawford travels to Seneca East while Mohawk hosts county rival Carey next Friday.

“We’re still not totally healthy and had guys starting for the first time tonight,” Daniel said. “I’m incredibly proud of our guys stepping up.”

On the final touchdown drive Daniel said he told his team, “‘We’re going down and scoring.’ You’re not going to do it if you don’t believe it. We scored and we got a turnover. They listened. It’s the sign of a resilient football team.”

With just 7 returning letterwinners, Mohawk may have surprised some, he said.

“There were some question marks. I don’t think anybody guessed that we’d be where we are. That’s a credit to a lot of great young men in our program,” Daniel said.

Box score

Score by quarters

Mohawk                   14   10    0   7 — 31

Colonel Crawford     7    0   13   7 — 27

Scoring summary

First quarter

M — Kaden Bish 15 pass from Andon Clouse (Aden Patrizi kick), 3:27.

M — Bish 12 run (Patrizi kick), 1:06.

CC — Parker Weithman 80 pass from Gabe Stratton (Lucca Troiano kick), :53.

Second quarter

M — Bish 8 run (Patrizi kick), 9:35.

M — Patrizi 36 field goal, :00.

Third quarter

CC — Tyler Lash 72 pass from Parker Weithman (Troiano kick), 9:06.

CC — Carson Rader 42 pass from Stratton (kick fails), 3:02.

Fourth quarter

CC — Stratton 3 run (Troiano kick), 5:16.

M — Andon Clouse 1 run (Patrizi kick), 1:59.

Individual statistics

Passing Mohawk: Andon Clouse 4-16-64-1; Levi Tiell 0-1-0. Crawford: Gabe Stratton 8-16-201-1; Parker Weithman 1-1-72-0.

Rushing Mohawk: Andon Clouse 19-62; Kaden Bish 22-138. Crawford: Gabe Stratton 12-35; Avery Powers 5-7; Lucca Troiano 3-8, Luke Christman 1-10.

Receiving Mohawk: Levi Tiell 1-15; Jagger Ekleberry 1-27; Chance Collene 1-7; Kaden Bish 1-15. Crawford: Parker Weithman 4-138; Kyle Smith 1-14; Tyler Lash 2-76; Carson Rader 1-42; Will Saum 1-3.

Team statistics

M                   CC

First downs                                15                   4

Rushing                                  41-200            21-60

Passes                                      4-17-1             9-17-1

Yards passing                             64                 273

Total yards                                264                333

Fumbles-lost                              2-0                 1-1

Punts-Avg                                5-30.4            2-38.5

Penalties                                  10-100              5-75