CAREY — Colonel Crawford headed to Carey on November 1 to put the finishing touches on their 2019 football season.

Despite 20-unanswered points by the visiting Eagles, the hosting Blue Devils still held on for the victory; 28-20. Carey finishes their regular season at 5-5 overall and 5-2 in the Northern-10 Athletic Conference while Crawford ends their year at 4-6 overall and 2-6 in the league.

The home team posted the lone points in the opening frame as Reece Billock rambled in for a five-yard touchdown run, which was followed by a two-point conversion to put Carey up 8-0.

Carey struck again to start the scoring in the second with quarterback Ethan Beringer finding Cade Crawford for a 45-yard aeriel strike. After the extra-point, the Blue Devils appeared in control, leading 15-0. They would be far from finished though in that first half as they made it 22-0 over the Eagles with a 60-yard punt return for a score thanks to Crawford and the added PAT. Carey then stretched their lead to 28-0 thanks to a three-yard touchdown scamper from Landen Kemerley. Colonel Crawford finally found the endzone at the tail-end of the second quarter as Ethan Suter scored on a four-yard run. Drew Krassow’s PAT would miss and the hosts would take a 28-6 advantage into halftime.

The Eagles would not go down without a fight though as Brock Ritzhaupt found Dylan Cooke for a 37-yard passing touchdown in the third and, following a successful two-point conversion, cut the lead to 28-14. Later on in the third frame, Ritzhaupt would add another score, this time via the ground game, as he kept the ball for a 15-yard TD but the two-point conversion failed to bring the score to its’ eventual final of 28-20 as neither team scored in the fourth.

Crawford posted 273 yards of total offense on the evening (131 passing, 142 rushing) while Carey managed 232 yards (153 passing, 79 rushing). Each team committed one turnover in the regular season finale.

Ritzhaupt finished his junior season going 9/23 through the air for 131 yards and the one score while carrying the ball nine times for 22 yards and a TD. Junior Tristan Cross carried the ball a total of 23 times, leading to 112 yards and scored Crawford’s lone two-point conversion.

Other notable offensive stats for the Eagles were: Suter- 6 carries, 8 yards, TD; Jordan Fenner- 7 catches, 75 yards; Cooke- 1 catch, 37 yards, TD and Carson Feichtner- 1 catch, 19 yards.

Wynford (7-3, 6-1) cruised past Bucyrus (5-5, 4-3) by a score of 40-7 to claim a share of the N-10 title with the Seneca East Tigers. Those Tigers (9-1, 6-1) rolled over the Buckeye Central Bucks (0-10, 0-7) on Friday evening; 48-12. The Mohawk Warriors (6-4, 4-3) ended their season on a high note, defeating the Upper Sandusky Rams (2-8, 1-6); 46-7.

Carey finished as the No.8 seed in the Division VI, Region XXII computer rankings and will qualify for week 11 action. The Blue Devils (5-5; 10.7) will face the No. 1 seed in the region, the Collins Western Reserve Roughriders (9-1; 20.2687), in Regional Quaterfinals action, on the road, on Friday, November 8 at 7 p.m.

Also receiving Regional Quarterfinals advancement from the N-10 were the Seneca East Tigers and the Mohawk Warriors.

Seneca East will also represent the conference in DVI, RXXII as the No. 2 seed (19.3556) as they play hosts to the No. 7 seeded Creston Norwayne Bobcats (5-5; 10.95). For Mohawk (10.0), they will be the No. 8 seed in Division VII, Region XXVI action and will be on the road against the No. 1 seeded Leipsic Vikings (9-1; 20.15).

Despite their share of the conference title, the Wynford Royals (7-3) saw their season end with their win over Bucyrus on Friday night as they finished 11th in the Division V, Region XVIII computer rankings (13.7096). In fact, that region was so tough that the undefeated Northwood Rangers (10-0; 18.8755) finished ninth in the computer rankings, thus missing the playoffs. This is the first time since 2001 that an undefeated team has not made the playoffs in their respective region, and in 2019, it happened not only to Northwood but also to the 10-0 Gibsonburg Golden Bears in the Division VI, Region XXIII rankings (9th; 16.2742).