HOLMES TOWNSHIP — Football teams make adjustments at halftime. Mohawk did that effectively on both sides of the ball and overcame an 8-0 deficit to defeat Wynford 12-8 in a Northern 10 Athletic Conference game Friday night.

Warriors head coach Eric Daniel said his club made a couple of changes at intermission.

“They were getting us on the edge, so we just widened our guys (on defense) a little bit. We did a good job of spilling trap and taking that away. We needed to take away toss and buck and we adjusted at halftime and started elongating plays.”

On offense, it was a similar theme.

“We had some stuff we kind of saved for the second half,” Daniel said. “We wanted to see what coverages they were giving us. We missed a couple of times.”

Wynford opened the game driving 70 yards and were stopped at the Warriors 4 on fourth down after an 18-play drive. After a three-and-out by Mohawk, the hosts got into the endzone.

Kohan Keith, who rushed for 96 yards on 20 carries, blasted in from the one and added the conversion run for an 8-0 lead.

In that first quarter Wynford ran 23 plays to Mohawk’s four and stretched the margin to 43-15 at halftime.

“We had some open throws (in the first half). With as good as they are up front you have to chuck it,” Daniel said. “It’s tough to run on ’em. They scrape really hard, and they come downhill. We anchored in after that first quarter where they had us pinned.”

Zaiden Fry was utilized more out of the Wing-T in the second half and it paid dividends for the Warriors.

“You have to let him eat, man. You have to get him the ball as many ways as you can,” Daniel said. “You let special players make special plays. We told him before the game you’re going to have to take over at some point and he did.”

Fry scored both Mohawk touchdowns from 39 and 2 yards in the second half. He had 79 yards receiving and 77 rushing to account for 156 of his team’s 228 total yards.

“But our O-line was protecting really well and other guys stepped up catching scramble drills. The last 12 quarters our guys have been persevering.”

Wynford appeared ready to score again as Keith ripped off a 31-yard gain to the Warriors 35-yard-line. But a sack by inside linebacker Brayden Chester stopped the drive on fourth and 5 at the 30.

Royals head coach Cyle Skidmore knew his team had an opportunity that slipped away.

“We didn’t come out ready to go and they outplayed us in the second half. I knew Mohawk is a tough team, they always are. They love football and they know how to play football.”

Linebacker Kaiden Blair recovered a Mohawk fumble at the Wynford 14 on the opening drive of the second half. But the Royals were unable to move the ball and punted from their end zone.

Senior defensive back Bryce Hannam recovered a Wynford fumble later in the third quarter, setting up Fry’s first touchdown.

“I saw their guys getting off the ball and making plays. I could tell they wanted to win the game,” Skidmore said.

“Fry is a good athlete. You can put him anywhere and he’s gonna make plays. We wanted to control the line of scrimmage and get a push. I thought we did a really good job of running the ball at times. Second half just wasn’t our time.”

Wynford (0-5, 0-2) visits rival Bucyrus and Mohawk (2-3, 2-0) hosts Upper Sandusky next Friday night.

“That’s a huge win for us. That’s an 0-5 team that has played some really good football. They almost beat Otsego. They almost beat Pleasant. They’re right there,” Daniel said of the Royals.

“We’re down 12 or 13 starters from the beginning of the year and we’ve got young guys who are stepping up and that’s a testament to our leaders and our kids,” Daniel said.

“We’ve had four away games. It’s a grind. We’re excited to be home for a couple of weeks.”

The Rams can throw the ball so Mohawk will need to adjust its defense from the run-oriented approach that Wynford presented.

“Yes, totally different outlook. They’ve got a really good football team. There’s a lot of parity in the N10. There’s a lot of dogfights going on,” Daniel said.

The Royals now turn their attention to rival Bucyrus.

“That’s the game you look forward to every year. That Copper Kettle, our kids are always excited for that game. This one is a hard one to take, but nothing’s going to change. We’re going to keep working and push to win,” Skidmore said.

“I told them I love you. We’re gonna be here tomorrow morning and we’re going to grind, get better and win. We just gotta get better.”

Box score

Score by quarters

Mohawk       0           0          6          6   — 12

Wynford       8           0          0          0   — 8

Scoring summary

First quarter

W — Kohan Keith 1 run (Keith run), :25.

Third quarter

M — Zaiden Fry 39 run (pass failed), 3:18.

Fourth quarter

M — Fry 2 run (pass failed), 11:50.

Individual statistics

Passing

Mohawk: Ben Bogner 9-20-0 143; Wynford: Ashton Warren 2-8 1-13.

Rushing

Mohawk: Zaiden Fry 11-77, Bogner 10-8; Wynford: Kohan Keith 20-96, Anthony Evans 19-76, Ashton Warren 7-2, Kaiden Blair 6-16.

Receiving

Mohawk: Zaiden Fry 3-79, Brayden Chester 2-19, Bryce Hamman 1-4, Ethan Gatchel 2-25, Kaleb Bish 1-9; Wynford: Sam Collene 1-9, Kaden Blair 1-4.

Team statistics

M                W

First downs                 10                14

Rushing                     21-85        53-191

Passes                        9-20-0       2-8-1

Yards passing            143                13

Total yards                 228              204

Fumbles-lost              1-1               1-1