Football Preview | Colonel Crawford looks to slow Columbus Grove in regional semifinal
FINDLAY — Coming off an emotional win over Northern 10 rival and top seed Carey in a Division VI Region 22 quarterfinal last weekend, No. 8 Colonel Crawford now shifts its focus to No. 5 Columbus Grove with a spot in the regional championship on the line.
The teams come in with identical 10-2 records. The Bulldogs lost to Division V playoff team Liberty-Benton (8-4), which ran into undefeated Liberty Center last week, and Division VI Allen East (11-1), which is still playing in Week 13. In the postseason Columbus Grove throttled Black River 42-17 and then followed up by fending off resilient Northwestern 34-22.
Last year Columbus Grove went undefeated in the regular season before losing to Liberty Center in Week 12, and in 2020 the Bulldogs made a run all the way to the state semifinals before running into eventual state champion Coldwater.
"It's a storied program," Colonel Crawford coach Jake Bruner said. "And they're similar to Colonel Crawford, having great track and field, and success in multiple other sports."
Watching film this last week, one thing stood out to Bruner when trying to break down the Bulldogs.
"Their speed," he said. "The coach's son (AJ) Schafer and (Tadd Koch) at middle linebacker was player of the year in their conference, and last year it was (Schafer). Those two guys are big, strong, fast and physical. And they have a sophomore running back (Trenton Barraza) who is extremely fast.
"They remind me a lot of the Travis Moyer heydays at Wynford where they had some big kids, but more kids that seem like they're 6-foot-2, 190 pounds and can run. They're athletic — that's the big thing that stands out to me. They're coached well, they're fundamental, they play great defense, giving up 97 yards a game running the ball. They're just a great football team. When you get to this level that's what you face."
Bulldogs love to pound the rock and play hard-nosed defense
Columbus Grove has 400 rushing attempts for 2,410 yards and 36 touchdowns, averaging six yards per carry, this season. But it's not because quarterback Brenton Renner isn't a capable thrower. He's completing 56.5% of his passes for 1,126 yards, six touchdowns and eight interceptions.
"They're a spread to run team," Bruner said. "They want to run the ball even though they have no problem throwing it. To compare them to Upper Sandusky or Seneca East isn't fair, but they're similar to those teams in the sense of being in shotgun or the pistol, they have a fast running back, and they'll put other guys back there like the Schafer kid. They're different, but similar to those teams from the standpoint of what they do offensively.
"But they're more geared to run the ball."
Barraza has 180 carries for 1,381 yard and 12 touchdowns and Schafer 69 rushes for 358 yards and 12 touchdowns. Landon Best and Landen Schroeder each have four rushing scores, and Josh Gannon, Zach Reynolds, Koch and Renner each have one.
Four different players have logged double-digit receptions this season for the Bulldogs, with Shep Halker leading the way with 30 catches for 500 yards and five touchdowns. Barraza is next with 27 catches for 208 yards and a score, followed by Reynolds (26 catches, 374 yards, one TD) and Schafer (11 catches, 224 yards, two TDs). Schroeder has the only other receiving touchdown.
"We have to contain the big play," Bruner said. "We can't let them run for big yardage, and we've done a good job with that this year. But when you get to this level you can't give up those big plays, and you have to make a few big plays.
"Last week we made more big plays than Carey did. We have to win the line of scrimmage up front, we have to win the turnover battle and we have to do better on special teams. Last week we were better on special teams with field position, the turnovers were the same, and I felt like we were more physical and we won the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball. Those are the keys to the game."
Defensively Columbus Grove has been stifling this season, boasting the top-ranked defense in the Northwest Conference. The Bulldogs are allowing just 97.2 rushing yards and 135.7 yards passing while forcing 2.2 turnovers and holding teams to 11.2 points per game.
Koch leads the way with 119 tackles, 36 solo, five for loss, three sacks, two interceptions and a forced fumble. Schroeder has 94 tackles, 35 solo, nine for loss, two sacks and three interceptions; Schafer 83 tackles, six for loss and three sacks; Dillon Bryan 64 tackles, seven for loss and four sacks; Halker 60 tackles, 36 solo and three interceptions; Antonio Gray 51 tackles, five for loss and two interceptions; Reynolds 50 tackles, 31 solo and four interceptions; and Barraza 39 tackles and four interceptions.
Eagles are confident heading into regional semifinal
After traveling to top seed Carey and taking down the Blue Devils — snapping their 26-game win streak — Colonel Crawford comes into Week 13 with a ton of momentum. And the Eagles aren't looking to let that slow.
"I think they're confident, but they've taken the approach of going one game at a time," Bruner said. "We have great senior leadership. I can't say enough about the chemistry and leadership of our seniors. How they treat each other and how they've handled adversity, a lot of that is because guys like Parker Ketterman have been playing for three years and gone through the playoff run. Also Gabe Thew and Kamryn Lohr. They've seen the ups and downs, the highs and lows. You have to weather the storm.
"And they're playing an opponent this week where they don't know these kids. That's a little different. We knew Carey and we had already played them, so there was that factor. This is a different mindset, but we're trying to be the first Colonel Crawford team to win 11 games, we're trying to be the first team to win this game and that means a lot to the seniors."
Donnell Stadium at the University of Findlay is the site for Saturday evening's regional semifinal. Playing on an unfamiliar field shouldn't faze the Eagles much as that's basically what they had to do for the first half of the season.
"We've taken the road dog mentality this year because our first six games we had one home game," Bruner said. "We took that mentality early to the point where we lose to Carey at home then Upper at home and the kids were like — we want to play on the road. It was a weird situation how it played out, but there's a reason everything happens.
"We have to play at the same level we played last week with, and that's tough to do."
As difficult as it might be to come out with the same intensity week in and week out, Bruner knows his Eagles — the seniors especially — aren't ready to stop anytime soon.
"I think this group is hungry to keep playing," he said. "They enjoy each other, practices have been great. We're had great weather, but it's going to be cold on Saturday.
"It's fun to be around kids that want to keep playing, and you can tell they want to keep playing."
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This article originally appeared on Bucyrus Telegraph-Forum: Colonel Crawford meets Columbus Grove in D-VI regional semifinal
