NORTH ROBINSON — Special teams and turnovers can spell the difference in big games. And that was the difference in Friday night’s Carey-Colonel Crawford battle.
Over the final three quarters, the Blue Devils used a blocked punt, a Colonel Crawford fumble, and a pass interception to get 10 huge points, which proved to be the difference in the game.
Carey slowed down the Eagles’ run game and used the special teams play to gain a big 19-10 win.
The game had huge Northern 10 Athletic Conference ramifications. Mohawk, which entered the night with a one-game lead over Carey, Colonel Crawford, and Seneca East, lost to Upper Sandusky, 13-6.
Mohawk, Seneca East, and Carey are all 4-1 in the conference, with Colonel Crawford and Upper Sandusky sitting one game back at 3-2.
Two of the most physical teams in the conference battled grudgingly for yards most of the night, which made two or three big plays the difference.
“Anytime you can get a blocked punt, and you can get special teams to do anything like we did on our special teams tonight, those are game changers,” Carey coach Jonathon Mershman said.
“We said at the beginning of the year, we had a practice that wasn’t going well,” he added. “And I told them there are two things that steal games. And that is special teams and turnovers. We weren’t having a very good offensive practice. And I said, if we can’t do anything on offense, then we have to get turnovers and we have to play well on special teams.”
Colonel Crawford coach Jake Bruner felt that the big plays hurt his team.
“Give credit to Carey,” Bruner said. “It was a really hard-fought game on both sides of the ball. I was really proud of how our team played. We’re a really young team; we have seven seniors. I thought our kids battled the whole game.”
Early on, it was the Colonel Crawford defense that stepped up.
Neither team scored in the first quarter, but the Eagles’ defense had a lot to do with that. Carey marched 92 yards in 11 plays to the Colonel Crawford five-yard line, but the Eagles stopped the Devils short of the goal line on fourth down, getting the ball back.
It was Crawford which got on the board first. Quarterback Brayden Holt hit tailback Connor McMichael on a 60-yard pass, which moved the ball down to the Carey 5. Two plays later, McMichael capped the drive with a four-yard run and the Eagles held a 7-0 lead.
Carey came right back midway through the second period, and fullback Dash Puckett capped a 72-yard march with a seven-yard run, tying the game at 7-7.
It appeared that the two teams would head to the locker room tied at 7-7, but one of the biggest plays of the game changed momentum.
At the Colonel Crawford 40, the Eagles dropped back to punt, but the Blue Devils blocked it, recovering the ball at the Crawford 15.
Carey gained just four yards on the possession, getting to the Crawford 11, but Nathan Gery booted a 28-yard field goal and Carey held a 10-7 lead at the half.
“It was a big stand there by our defense to hold them to a field goal,” Bruner said. “If they had gotten a touchdown there, it takes the wind out of our sails.
“I thought there were times defensively, where we gave up a play here or there, But I thought they played a really nice game overall.”
In the third period, the Eagles used a 15-play drive themselves, moving 52 yards to the Carey seven. The drive stalled, but Joseph Zizzo kicked a 25-yard field goal, tying the game at 10-10.
But the Blue Devils used a 19-play drive to get deep into Crawford territory. Carey went 75 yards to the Crawford five, but again the march stalled. Gery kicked a 23-yard field goal, and the Devils held a 13-10 lead early in the fourth quarter.
The game turned on Crawford’s next possession.
Crawford had the ball on its own 23, but a fumble, recovered by Carey, gave the Devils the ball on the Crawford 12.
From there, it took Carey just four plays to get into the end zone, as Puckett scored from three yards away. The PAT was missed but Carey held a 19-10 lead with just 3:21 left in the game.
A pass interception on Crawford’s final possession sealed the Carey win.
Mershman thought that his defense played very well. Crawford rushed for 28 yards in 18 carries.
“They played spectacular tonight,” Mershman said of his defense. “I thought we came out and played a physical brand of defense. We cleaned things up again. We’re just getting our feet under us right now and I think we’re understanding how to finish.”
Crawford did make some big plays through the air, throwing for 204 yards.
“Carey is like us, we want to stop the run,” Bruner said. “And they do a great job with their defense of stopping the run. And we were able to run it at times tonight. I probably should have run it a little more at times but they’re just a tough defense. Their game is pressure, and they put so many guys in the box; we felt we could throw it on them, and, honestly, we did.”
Score by quarters
Carey 0 10 0 9 — 19
Colonel Crawford 0 7 3 0 — 10
Scoring summary
Second quarter
CC — Connor McMichael 4 run (Joseph Zizzo kick), 7:53.
C — Dash Puckett 7 run (Nathan Gery kick), 3:34.
C — Gery 28 field goal, :22.
Third quarter
CC — Zizzo 25 field goal, 3:53.
Fourth quarter
C — Gery 23 field goal, 7:09.
C — Puckett 3 run (kick failed), 3:21.
Individual statistics
Passing
Carey: Kyler Boes 3-5-0 39; Colonel Crawford: Peyton Baker 10-15-1 103, Brayden Holt 5-8-0 101.
Rushing
Carey: Eli Steen 20-98, Kyler Boes 8-57, Tripp Phoenix 2-57, Dash Puckett 10-45, Brandon Tanner 7-29, Mace Puckett 2-6; Colonel Crawford: Connor McMichael 13-33, Roen Thew 2-13, Brayden Holt 3-(-18).
Receiving
Carey: Bryce Puckett 1-27, Tripp Phoenix 2-12; Colonel Crawford: Connor McMichael 4-92, Parker Weithman 6-73, Roen Thew 1-19, Kaden Bruner 1-9, John DeGray 1-5, Brady Hill 1-2.
Team statistics
C CC
First downs 14 7
Rushing 48-289 18-28
Passes 3-5-0 15-23-0
Yards passing 39 204
Total yards 328 232
Fumbles-lost 0-0 1-1
Punts 2-26.0 3-32.3
Penalties 6-45 5-32