COLONEL CRAWFORD 31, SENECA EAST 0
By Kyle Holsinger
NORTH ROBINSON — Colonel Crawford’s Connor McMichal rushed for 369 yards and four touchdowns on 24 attempts to carry the Eagles over Seneca East in a Northern 10 Athletic Conference matchup at home Friday night, 31-0.
“I think his [MicMichal’s] performance is a team effort because not only the blocking was there but our ability to throw the ball scared them enough to watch the RPOs and the deep game.” Colonel Crawford coach Jake Bruner said. “We only picked a couple times to go deep.”
What McMichal had to say...
McMichal credited his line as well for his success last night. “My own line paved the way for me all night,” McMichal said. “They remind me of Mega Knight from Clash Royale. They make holes from everything.”
The first quarter...
Things did not go well for the Tigers from the start as quarterback Nicholas Parks threw an interception to Eagle defender Carson Rader to give Colonel Crawford the ball at the Seneca East 26-yard line.
The Tigers were able to hold the Eagles to a turnover-on-downs though to keep them off the scoreboard. Colonel Crawford held the Tigers to a three-and-out—setting up a 66-yard TD drive.
The drive started with McMichal skipping over a defender on his way to a 14-yard gain. After an eight-yard rush, McMichal then went untouched up the middle for a 44-yard score. Eagles senior kicker Joseph Zizzo’s point-after was good: CC 7, SE 0 midway through the first quarter.
The Eagles got the ball back at their own 27-yard line after forcing Seneca East to punt. That’s when CC senior QB Peyton Baker threw a bomb down the middle of the field for wideout Parker Weithman for 52 yards. Two plays later, McMichal barreled through Tigers on his way to a 20-yard TD run. Zizzo’s kick was good: Eagles 14, Tigers 0 with 2:07 left in the first quarter.
Seneca East put together a decent drive then. Parks picked up a first down on a nine-yard keeper on fourth-and-one to move the chains. A defensive pass interference on the Eagles kept the drive alive, and SE’s Jackson Gayheart picked up another first down on a 10-yard dash to get the Tigers into the red zone for the first time.
On 2nd-and-18, Seneca East’s Parks pitched it right to Gayheart, who then threw a halfback pass that was intercepted by the Eagles’ senior defensive back David Rike.
On the next play, Colonel Crawford’s senior QB Brayden Holt dropped back to pass only to be sacked for a 9-yard loss by Tiger linebacker Elijah Cline.
McMichal and the offensive line picked up 16 yards on a rush the next play to make it third down and a manageable three yards to go. After a six-yard run to pick up the first down, McMichal picked up a 73-yard TD as he stiff-armed defenders for his third rushing TD of the contest. It was 21-0 in favor of the Gold & Black with 7:20 remaining in the first half.
The Eagles forced Seneca East to punt again—starting their next drive at their own 17-yard line. Two plays later, McMichal ran right then cut left for a 41-yard trek into Tiger territory.
Three plays later, McMichael ran right then cut left again, this time for 25 yards to get down to the SE 10.
A holding penalty resulted in Colonel Crawford having a 3rd-and-22 scenario that saw Holt throw an interception to the Tigers’ Gunner Polachek.
The very next play, SE’s Parks threw a deep interception himself to Weithman. The teams went into halftime with the Eagles still leading 21-0. McMichal had 275 rushing yards and three TDs on 12 carries at the break.
Colonel Crawford came out and scored on a 13-play, 80-yard scoring drive that lasted 6:38. McMichal started it runs of 21, 16, and five yards respectively.
A few plays later, McMichal’s 12-yard run put CC in the red zone. He scored from two-yards out on third-and-goal with 5:22 to go in the third period.
Seneca East showed some life and picked up a first down when Gayheart picked up 14 yards on a pitch. On 4th-and-6, Parks hit freshman wideout Jamison Ruffing for a 10-yard reception.
The Eagles’ defense forced another fourth down only to have Parks throw a short pass left to Polachek that went for 22 yards to get the Orange & Black in the red zone for the second time. The third time was a charm for Colonel Crawford as far as fourth down conversions go because they were able to force the Tigers to turn the ball over on downs on 4th-and-6 at the Eagle 16.
After swapping punts, Colonel Crawford went on a 14-play, 85-yard scoring drive that lasted just over eight minutes. McMichal moved the sticks on a nine-yard scamper on third down. The next play, Eagle running back Madden Tesso fought off defenders for a 24-yard run.
The Eagles picked up another first down when Roen Thew ran for 6 yards on 3rd-and-1. Tesso earned eight yards on a carry on 3rd-and-4 to get CC into the red zone.
After Tesso was tackled for a loss by Gayheart, Colonel Crawford’s Zizzo nailed a 31-yard field goal to cap off the scoring: CC 31, SE 0 with 1:27 left in the game.
The Eagles (7-0 overall, 4-0 N10) rushed for 425 yards and threw for 73 yards for 498 total offensive yards in the game.
The Tigers (4-3, 2-2) had 95 rushing yards and 56 passing yards for 151 total yards.
