NORTH ROBINSON — On Friday night, the Colonel Crawford Eagles hosted the Upper Sandusky Rams at H.J. Gary Field in week four football action which also served as Crawford’s homecoming game.

After the festivities concluded, it was time to get down to business and Crawford dominated from the very beginning of the contest and opened the Northern-10 Athletic Conference portion of their schedule with a convincing, 49-6 victory over Upper. The Eagles move to 3-1 overall on the season while the Rams fall to 2-2.

Upper received the opening kickoff but was forced to punt the ball away after a three and out and only seven yards of offense. The Eagles would have to punt the ball away but fortune would be in their favor. The Rams punt returner muffed the catch and Crawford’s Ethan Suter recovered the ball on the Upper 12-yard line. From there, it took running back Dylan Knisely just one carry to put the home team up; 6-0. Drew Krassow’s extra-point attempt was blocked.

After another three and out for the Rams, they set up to punt the ball away to Jordan Fenner, who was back deep for the black and yellow. Fenner fielded the ball at his own 38-yard line and would take it the distance for a special team’s touchdown. Owin Seevers converted the two-point conversion and Crawford was up 14-0 with 5:53 still remaining in the opening frame.

On their very next possession, quarterback Zye Shipman would find Seevers for a 54-yard touchdown through the air and after Krassow’s PAT attempt was blocked again, it was 20-0 in favor of the Eagles. Before the end of the first quarter, things would just continue to get worse for the visiting Rams as Fenner intercepted a Levi Malone pass to give Crawford the ball heading into the second quarter.

That drive would continue and eventually end with Seevers running the ball in for a six-yard touchdown and with Shipman connecting with Fenner for the two-point conversion, it was 28-0 home team with 11:29 still remaining in the first half. Upper would still struggle to get things going on the offensive side of the ball and would turn the ball over on downs to give Crawford excellent field position. After driving 44 yards on a Shipman to Fenner connection, Tristan Cross put the emphatic stamp on the drive with a one-yard TD and was followed by another two-point conversion from Shipman to Seevers to put the score at 36-0.

Colonel Crawford would strike one last time in the first half as defense created offense as Seevers picked-off Malone and would later be rewarded by Shipman with a 46-yard touchdown reception. Krassow’s extra-point was good and headed into halftime, the Eagles had a very commanding, 43-0 lead.

With the continuous running clock, the third quarter seemed to fly by but not before Cross punched in his second score of the night, this time from eight yards out and as Krassow’s PAT attempt sailed left, it was Eagles now up 49-0.

It would stay that way through the final six minutes of the third quarter and for the better part of 11 minutes in the fourth. While the crowd cheered on for a shutout, Malone played spoiler as he hooked up with Eric Bils from 18-yards out as time expired to finally get the Rams on the board.

The home team used 327 yards of total offense, pesky defense on the line and the secondary and some crafty footwork from Jordan Fenner on special team to upend their opponents under the lights on Friday. Upper managed just 173 yards of offense which included a total of -5 rushing yards while also committing three turnovers; two interceptions and a fumble lost.

Notable stats for the home team in the win were: Shipman- 7/11 passing for 172 yards, 2 TD; Cross- 9 carries, 70 yards, 2 TD; Knisely- 8 carries, 42 yards, TD; Colton Rowland- 7 carries, 30 yards; Seevers- 4 catches, 114 yards, 2 TD, 1 carry, 6 yards, TD, INT; Fenner- 1 catch, 44 yards, punt return TD, INT and Cross- 2 catches, 14 yards.

The Eagles will have a difficult week five opponent when they make the short trip to Wynford to clash with the Royals. Wynford improved to 3-1 overall with a shutout of Buckeye Central (0-4); 34-0. For Upper, they will play host to that same Buckeye Central Bucks squad that fell to Wynford.