CAREY — The adage that whoever wins the battle in the trenches wins the game certainly held true here Friday night.
The Blue Devils did that exceedingly well and, as a result, handled Colonel Crawford 27-7 in a Northern 10 Athletic Conference battle for supremacy. With the win Carey moves to 4-2 overall and 3-0 and in sole possession of first place in the league.
Eagles head coach Jake Bruner pointed out the difference.
“I was really happy with our defense. I don’t know how many fourth-down stops we had and how many close calls we gave them. I thought our defense played really well all night. But our inability to not be able to win the line of scrimmage on offense was really the tale of the game,” he said.
Carey used its muscle to rush for 256 yards on 52 attempts, using seven running backs in the process.
Head coach Jonathon Mershman was pleased with his team’s ability to control things up front.
“That’s typically a lot of what we do. I said to the guys, ‘I don’t know who’s going to have the hot night and who’s going to get the ball. There’s only one ball per play but we do a pretty good job of spreading it out and letting everybody be involved and not relying on just one person.”
Eli Steen led the way bashing his way for 77 yards, with Conner Norden adding 63 and Carter Smiley 62.
“I thought everybody ran hard for us tonight, and the line blocked excellent. I cannot give enough praise to our offensive line,” Mershman said. “Linemen don’t get enough credit and our two tight ends did an excellent job blocking tonight.”
Colonel Crawford suffers its first loss to go to 5-1 overall and 2-1 in the N10.
“The first two picks were as good as a punt on third down. But turning the ball over that much is not good for us,” Bruner said. “Obviously when we got down, we had to do some things we didn’t want to do.
“They’ve got some guys who are pretty good up front, and we were a little poisoned in the first half tonight. Once we calmed down, we handled ourselves a little bit better.”
After a scoreless first quarter Carey found the endzone 225-pound Nathan Brodman plowed in from two yards out.
At halftime the hosts had amassed 177 total yards to just 17 for Colonel Crawford.
“We have grown as a team. The offensive line has gotten better and better and better. We faced two really good teams. Galion and Hopewell. I don’t know how they did tonight, but they’re, what, 4-1 and 5-0,” Mershman said.
“We corrected things, and we have young guys who are seasoned and making plays they didn’t make in week one and week two. We still got growth to do, but we have to keep getting better.”
Steen’s 10-yard run gave Carey the lead back after the Eagles tied it at 7-7.
Junior Brady Hill alertly fell on the second-half kickoff at the Carey 9-yard-line to set up the only Crawford score, a Trevor Vogt run on the next play.
“I’m positive about our team. Our kids are playing their hearts out for us,” Bruner said.
The big, veteran Blue Devils also drew his praise.
“That’s a team with 17 seniors and they had a lot of spit and vinegar from last year and we knew we would get that. I thought our team battled and battled and battled. Maybe that’s not a reflection of the score up there. Our kids kept their poise and kept fighting.”
Crawford drove into Blue Devil territory and Braxton Morton just missed on a 39-yard field goal attempt with 4:52 left in the third quarter.
From there Carey added fourth-quarter scores from Alex Putnam and Gavin Snyder to salt the game away.
Mershman downplayed the revenge factor from last year when the Eagles won the Division VI, Region 22 quarterfinal game 21-14.
“I don’t really think so. Maybe a little bit. I think it’s about us this year and getting better,” he said.
Holding Colonel Crawford to only 79 total yards is quite a fete.
“They’re a really good team. I thought (it was) our team defense and our defensive line. Again, they don’t get a lot of praise. Our front seven did an excellent job. Our ends set the edges, our outside linebackers helped set the edge also and our inside linebackers flowed well,” Mershman.
“We did an excellent job on both sides of the ball up front.”
Carey hosts Mohawk and Colonel Crawford visits Upper Sandusky next Friday night.
“Our kids are pretty good about knowing it’s next game up. We learned a lesson last year losing this game and then lost another game. We’re a young team with just a couple veterans leading us. I like us against anybody, but anybody can beat us on any given night,” Bruner said.
“I think we’ll get better. We’re playing a lot of young guys and a lot of kids and it’s going to pay off for us down the road. I like this team and where they’ve come since the beginning of the year. We lost 17 seniors last year and we had a lot of question marks.”
Box score
Score by quarters
Colonel Crawford 0 0 7 0 — 7
Carey 0 7 6 14 — 27
Scoring summary
Second quarter
C — Nathan Brodman 2 run (Doug Pinkerton, Jr, kick), 5:38.
Third quarter
CC — Trevor Vogt 9 run (Braxton Morton kick), 11:55.
C — Eli Steen 10 run (kick failed), 9:02.
Fourth quarter
C — Alex Putnam 56 pass from Carter Smiley (Steen run), 4:20.
C — Gavin Snyder 3 run (kick failed) 6:55.
Individual statistics
Passing
Colonel Crawford: Trevor Vogt 3-8-3 32; Carey: Carter Smiley 8-13-0 82.
Rushing
Colonel Crawford: Trevor Vogt 12-39, Micah Thomas 7-8, Connon McMichael 3-3, Peyton Baker 1-(-3); Carey: Eli Steen 18-77, Conner Norden 15-63, Carter Smiley 11-62, Austin Niederkohr 5-37, Tripp Phoenix 1-12, Gavin Snyder 1-3, Nathan Brodman 1-2.
Receiving
Colonel Crawford: Lucas Foy 2-17, Ryan McMichael 1-15; Carey: Alex Putnam 4-46, Nathan Brodman 2-21, Dominic Yeater 1-10, Austin Niederkohr 1-6.
Team statistics
CC C
First downs 2 17
Rushing 23-47 52-256
Passes 3-8-3 8-13-0
Yards passing 32 83
Total yards 79 339
Fumbles-lost 1-0 0-0
Penalties 5-45 4-32