NORTH ROBINSON — In a Northern 10 Athletic Conference matchup on Saturday evening, Colonel Crawford stayed undefeated with a 70-45 win over the visiting Wynford Royals.
Leading 27-9 after the opening quarter, the Eagles were in command early.
“I thought we got off to a great start. Our defensive pressure caused the offensive output for us; we wanted to turn up the speed,” said Colonel Crawford coach David Sheldon. “We scored 27 points in the first quarter, caused turnovers, and got easy shots. It was good to get off to a good start after a big win over a very good Mohawk team last night (Friday). It was great to see Nolan McKibben step up and knock down shots tonight. Everybody talks about other guys, but McKibben stepped up and hit some big shots.”
Leading 38-17 at the break, Wynford was able to double their scoring output by the fourth. The score stood at 61-34 heading into the final period.
“We gave up 17 points in the third, one thing we was not real happy with,” Sheldon added.
Leading the way for the Eagles was junior Carter Valentine and his 16 points. Also, helping push the pace for Crawford was junior duo of Mason Studer and Nolan McKibben, who scored 13 and 12 points, respectively.
Despite dealing with all of the issues caused by the pandemic this year, Sheldon is pleased that Colonel Crawford is off to a great start to the season.
“I told our guys I’m so proud of them. We lost two All-Ohio players, two one-thousand point scorers, and to get out to this kind of start it is a credit to the guys in that locker room,” Sheldon added.
Wynford was led by senior Dustin Brady and his 12 points.
“We are obviously not the team I thought we would be at this point in the season, so we have to reevaluate and be patient. I think if we can learn from these mistakes and fix the things opponents take advantage of, we will improve,” said Wynford coach Steve Mohr. “We are playing our third game and they’re playing their seventh. It is what it is, but I’m happy we get to play. They’re just really good defensively, we have to respect the gameplan they came out with. We settled down in the second half, that is a moral victory.
“We are a team that has gone through stretches of bad basketball; tonight it was in the first quarter. Last night (Friday), it was the end of the second and into the third quarter.”
Colonel Crawford stays undefeated on the season at 7-0 and 5-0 in Northern 10 Athletic Conference play. The Eagles will be in action again Wednesday, when they take on Clyde.
Wynford continues to get acclimated and falls to 0-3 overall and 0-2 in the Northern 10. Off for the Christmas break, the Royals will play Margaretta on Monday, Dec. 28.
