NEW WASHINGTON -- A game dotted by highs and lows for both teams ended up with Adam Paynter and his Buckeye Central teammates standing at the peak.

The senior kicker booted a 30-yard field goal in overtime, and made a tackle for loss to set up a 4th-and-nine, then finished the dizzying flurry with a pass break-up on the final play to preserve the Bucks' 30-27 overtime victory.

"That's the most exciting game I have ever played in," Paynter said. "We didn't want this to be our last game on this field."

With the win the Bucks should host a playoff game, the opponent yet to be determined.

"Last week he had an injured leg and we had to go for two," Buckeye Central coach Jason Ratliff said. "But he went out there this week and made that kick under pressure."

The Bucks got out to a two-touchdown lead in the fourth quarter thanks to a scoring catch by, who else, Paynter.

The prior play, Buckeye Central quarterback Tyler Erwin took a 17-yard loss on a sack. The next play Erwin was almost sacked again, but broke a tackle, spun to his right sprinting away from trouble and then launched a pass to the back of the end zone which Paynter caught and just did tap his toes inbounds for the score. The 34-yard touchdown came on fourth-and-30 and gave the Bucks a 21-13 advantage.

"You just have to go play by play in tight games like this," Erwin said. "You get in the huddle and your teammates say keep your head up. I think it helped me on that play. I just kept my feet chopping when they almost got to me."

Midway through the fourth it looked as though Buckeye Central put the game away when Erwin scored on a 3-yard run, his second rushing touchdown of the game to make it 27-13, but the Eagles were not done.

Quarter back Nate Klingenberger hit Tyler Smith on a beautiful screen for 52 yards, flipping the field. Three incompletions later, the Eagles had their own fourth-down touchdown from 34 yards as Klingenberger hit Tyler Orewiler on a leaping catch over two defenders.

"We hit that screen to Smith and sometimes that's all you need is something like that," Colonel Crawford coach Ryan Teglovic said. "You have players and you want them to make plays for you."

The Eagles players didn't stop there.

Zach Picou recovered an onside kick and the Eagles marched 12 plays for another score as Smith scored on a 1-yard run with 1:01 remaining.

On Buckeye Central's first play in nearly six minutes, Erwin tried to hit Justin Herrnstein, but Orewiler made the pick and returned it 34 yards to the Buckeye Central 36.

A few plays later, with just 7.9 seconds on the clock, it looked as though Klingenberger hit Alex Hetzel but he was called out of bounds as time expired and the game went into overtime.

"I was going to kick no matter what," Paynter said. It was feeling better this week."

Paynter caught five passes for 100 yards, Erwin threw for 211 yards on 12-of-18 passing with a touchdown passing, two rushing and two interceptions. Michael Adkins rushed for 83 yards and a score.

"I am proud of those kids. We kept our composure and kept fighting back," Teglovic said.

For the Eagles, Tyler Smith rushed for 76 yards and a score, C.J. Smith rushed for 75 yards and a score and Klingenberger passed for 127 yards on 7-of-20 passing for a two scores, one to Hetzel (two catches 22 yards and one to Orewiler (two catches 39 yards).

Henry S. Conte - Courtesy of the Bucyrus Telegraph Forum

MOUNT BLANCHARD – NCC Silver Division stakes are now at a pinnacle due to the collective efforts of the Colonel Crawford Eagles with their win over the Riverdale Falcons, 40-7. The Eagles had 466 total yards of offense from both the field and the air. Spencer Tackett had a 9 yard run TD in the first quarter. C.J. Smith had nine carries for 117 yards with 20 yard TD to his credit.  Tyler Smith had 8 carriers for 108 yards and punched in a 2 yard score just before halftime.  Quarterback, Nate Klingenberger, connected with Alec Hetzel for a 39 yard TD pass and with Jordan Shell for a 64 yard pass TD.  Klingenberger was 11 for 15 for a total of 180 passing yards.  Defensively, Shell had a big night with 2 of the 3 interceptions. 

Colonel Crawford heads north to Buckeye Central on Friday in the Battle of 602, but more importantly, for a chance to win the NCC Silver Division Championship.  Each is  coming into the game with a 4-2 NCC record.  Both teams are not mathematically eliminated from clinching a playoff berth as well. Kick off is at 7:00pm. 

For the second week in a row, Wynford took away the momentum from a competitor nipping at its heels.

Last week, the Royals stymied Upper Sandusky. The same went for Colonel Crawford on Friday night as Wynford posted a 32-14 victory.

The Eagles had a big first half against the Royals, taking a 7-6 lead in the first quarter off of a C.J. Smith 65-yard run. Alec Hetzel then came up with a big interception to set up the Eagles' next scoring drive for the 14-6 advantage.

That's when the Royals struck back. Zach Chatlain tied things up on an 8-yard run and the two-point conversion. Before the end of the half, Wynford's Gage Roe came up with a big play to give the Royals an extra boost heading into halftime. Roe's interception allowed Wynford to score again with 28 seconds left in the half, making it 20-14.

"That was really big," Royals coach Travis Moyer said. "We were fortunate to go down and put a score on the board. Getting a touchdown right before the half or after the half is big in terms of momentum. Gage made a great defensive play for us, and we got a stop when we needed it."

It didn't take long for Wynford to up the ante in the third quarter. Seth Rall scored on a 40-yard run to give his team a 26-14 lead at the 7:35 mark.

"Our kids played hard and I'm very proud of them," Eagles coach Ryan Teglovic said. "The reality is we played a great football team and we are proud of our kids for their effort tonight."

Colonel Crawford quarterback Nate Klingenberger went 10-of-16 for 99 yards. C.J. Smith led the Eagles in rushing with 90 yards on nine carries and a touchdown.

"(Nate) has the ability to hurt you with his arm. They made some plays," Moyer said. "They've got very skilled athletic players, and we knew that."

Chatlain had a big game for Wynford with 210 yards rushing on 21 carries, including two touchdowns, plus 8-of-14 for 117 yards passing and a touchdown.

"They are so multi-formational, more so than even in years past," Teglovic said. "They just come at you in a lot of different formations, but in all those formations they still do those base plays, so they put a lot of stress on your defense in terms of you can't do a lot of things against them. You have to stay pretty base and stand in there and play football because of the variety of things they do on offense."

Joey Chandler - Courtesy of the Bucyrus Telegraph Forum

Last year: Wynford 27-20.

Last week: Wynford beat Upper Sandusky 40-8; Colonel Crawford knocked off Bucyrus 41-28.

Analysis: The two teams have played each other for as long as their respective football programs have been in existence. Last year, Colonel Crawford came close to ending Wynford's long regular-season winning streak. The Royals, as usual, are pressing for an NCC title and would like to cement their current position of first place in Division V, Region 19, to secure home field in the first round of the playoffs.

The Eagles are back to full strength with quarterback Nate Klingenberger making his second start of the year last week against Bucyrus. Colonel Crawford has a potent rushing offense -- third in the NCC -- fueled by the Smith-and-Smith tandem. Tyler Smith has rushed for 868 yards and seven scores, while C.J. Smith has 519 yards and eight TDs.

For Wynford, quarterback Zach Chatlain has thrown for 1,047 yards on 76-of-111 accuracy with 16 touchdowns. His prime target is Seth Rall, who has been on the receiving end of 26 passes for 346 yards and five TDs.

The skinny: The Eagles proved last year that they have the mental makeup to go toe-to-toe with the Royals, and the game is in North Robinson this year. However, Wynford has been defying the odds in keeping the win streak alive. And the Royals have the No. 1 ranked defense in the NCC, allowing only 146 yards per contest. C.C. will have to rely on its offense, which has compiled 316 yards per game, and avoid turnovers if it hopes to upend the Royals. Colonel Crawford is 16th in Division VI, Region 23. The Eagles will also try to keep their hopes alive for a shot at the NCC Silver Division title and improve their chances for the post season.

BUCYRUS -- Homecoming queen Allie Hawkins and her court could not have asked for a more entertaining game.

Hawkins would have preferred that her Bucyrus Redmen had won, but the Colonel Crawford Eagles had other ideas.

Colonel Crawford (4-3, 3-1 in the North Central Conference) built a 35-21 halftime lead, then held on to defeat the Redmen, 41-28.

"Anybody here tonight saw our team play as hard as we have all year," Bucyrus coach Jake Bruner said. "Take away two pass interference calls and a fumble and it's a different game for us."

"Their record didn't mean anything to us," Colonel Crawford coach Ryan Teglovic said. "That is a good football team, they have good coaches and good players."

As has become their calling card, the Redmen scored first. Bucyrus went 85 yards on eight plays -- highlighted by a 54-yard strike from Seth Chandler to Mark Williams. Michael Purcell carried it the last 7 yards for a 7-0 lead.

The Eagles wasted no time in answering. The visitors needed just four plays -- aided by the two pass interference calls Bruner alluded to -- for C.J. Smith to run the final 13 yards and tie the game at 7-7.

"We got Colonel Crawford at full strength tonight," Bruner said. "Not even (last week's opponent) Galion can say that. They have everybody back."

The early exchange was a precursor of the first half, as the teams piled up an Arena Football-like 56 points before the break.

"Especially after we gave up the first score, the offense came right back," Teglovic said.

"That made me feel good. The offense kept us in the game."

Bucyrus (0-7, 0-4) came right back in four plays, with Mark Williams running a 20-yard end around for the score and a 14-7 lead.

True to form, the Eagles marched 71 yards in eight plays to tie it again on a 1-yard run by quarterback Nate Klingenberger to make it 14-14 after one quarter.

A bad snap on a punt gave Colonel Crawford the ball on the Bucyrus 13 and Tyler Smith ran in from there on the first play for a 20-14 Colonel Crawford lead.

Then came the fumble of Bruner's nightmares. The Redmen seemed poised to answer, but put it on the ground at the Crawford 44. The Eagles again converted, this time on a 13-yard Klingenberger to Jordan Shell pass and a 28-14 lead.

Still, Bucyrus was resilient if not error-free. Chandler completed a 71-yard drive with a 20-yard scoring pass to Alex Straub to cut the deficit to 28-21. But Colonel Crawford tacked on one more before half on a 6-yard run by C.J. Smith and the Eagles took a 35-21 lead to the locker room.

The second half was nearly a 180-degree turnaround offensively.

"Big plays and penalties did us in tonight," Bruner said. "That's all there is to it."

"Teams make adjustments at halftime," Teglovic said. "You never know how things will go."

Bucyrus got within one score with an impressive 14-play, 89-yard drive culminating in a 1-yard Chandler run.

Colonel Crawford then put the game away early in the fourth quarter, going 64 yards in six plays, all on the ground. C.J. Smith took it the final 25 yards to set the final score.

"They saw us back off in pass coverage," Bruner said. "They ran the buck sweep and ran it effectively."

The Redmen got the ball to the Eagles' 7-yard line late in the quarter, but the drive ended with an interception in the end zone.

C.J. Smith finished with 144 yards on 11 carries and two scores. Tyler Smith had 116 yards on 16 carries and two scores. Klingenberger hit eight of 16 passes for 132 yards. Tyler Orewiler caught three for 65 yards

Dan Messerschimdt - Courtesy of the Bucyrus Telegraph Forum

BUCYRUS -- Homecoming at Bucyrus Friday night has a bit of a double meaning for Redmen coach Jake Bruner, an alumnus of Colonel Crawford.

Year in and year out, it's always a heated battle between the two programs, and this year is shaping up to be no different.

"They are a good football team," Eagles coach Ryan Teglovic said of the struggling Redmen, 0-6. "I expect them to come out and compete very well. Not only are they a good team, but they always play us competitively. It's a backyard rivalry and people are going to be excited about it. It's their homecoming, and Bruner went to Colonel Crawford, so the game has a special feel for him. I expect it to be a hard-fought game."

This marks the second week since the return of the Eagles starting quarterback, sophomore Nate Klingenberger, coming back from a preseason injury.

"He has got a tremendous arm," Bruner said. "He played last year against us as a freshman and came back last week and it is evident things are going to change a lot for them. They are going to throw the ball a lot more now. They can do a lot of running and throwing, which makes them really balanced."

Just like Colonel Crawford had its fair share of struggles due to lack of personnel at the beginning of the season, but have since bounced back to 3-3 through six games, Bucyrus is dealing with a few problems of its own.

The Redmen continue to struggle with injuries and are still looking for the first win of the season.

"We are in a tough situation," Bruner said. "We've lost three very close games, and then of course we played three tough opponents in Hillsdale, Ontario and Galion. For us now it's just we are fighting ourselves a bit, too."

And despite the situation, Teglovic isn't taking Bucyrus lightly.

"They have playmakers on both sides of the ball, and if you look at some of the things they've done offensively, they've had some success. They've moved the ball against good football teams. That is a solid team that is going to win some football games."

Joey Chandler - Courtesy of the Bucyrus telegraph Forum

NORTH ROBINSON -- Galion's David Nay combines power and speed from his running back position, and not even Mother Nature could slow him down Friday night.

The junior tailback, averaging more than 200 yards through 5 games, ran over and around Colonel Crawford for 246 yards, leading the Tigers to a 36-6 win on a rain-soaked Gray Field.

Nay had touchdown runs of 1, 34, and 53 yards, and he tacked on 2 PAT's for 22 points. Tigers Coach Chris Hawkins was proud of his lead runner.

"Considering the field conditions, David handled his game very well," Hawkins said. "What's nice about having him in our backfield is if a lineman misses an assignment or we don't block perfectly, he can make people miss or run over them, and that makes him very dangerous."

Galion (5-1, 3-0) racked up 416 total yards, settling for Nay or quarterback Dareian Watkins runs instead of throwing in the rain. Watkins added 69 yards toward the 371 rushing yards, and he completed one pass to Dalton Whitaker for a score.

The Tigers certainly aren't a one-dimensional team, and their defense picked off three Eagles passes and forced four fumbles, recovering one. Colonel Crawford Coach Ryan Teglovic knew his team had to play flawlessly to have a chance against Galion.

"They're a good team, and they force the issue with you," Teglovic said. "It was very important for us to execute well, and against a real good team everything is amplified. I felt like our effort was tremendous and we played doggone hard, but the execution was just not there all the time."

The scoring happened in the second and fourth quarters, with Galion putting up 3 touchdown and 3 two-point conversions in the second period to gain a 24-0 lead. The Eagles answered with a 7-play, 57-yard drive after a Tyler Orewiler kick return into Galion territory. CJ Smith bullied in from 10 yards out to cut the deficit to 24-6.

The Eagles (3-3, 2-1) had an opportunity to slice the lead on their first two possessions of the second half. Their first drive stalled inside Galion territory, and, after forcing the Tigers into a three-and-out, a short Galion punt gave Crawford excellent field position inside the Tigers 45.

However, Galion defensive back Terry Hensley picked off Eagles QB Nate Klingenberger on the first play of the drive to stop their momentum.

Nay capped off his productive night with two long TD runs in the fourth quarter.

Klingenberger finished the night 7 of 20 for 110 yards in his first game of the year after an injury.

"Nate's going to be OK," Teglovic said. "It's his first snaps on a Friday night in a long time, and to throw him into a big game like this, that's a tough thing."

Despite the win, Hawkins was cautious not to overemphasize the big margin of victory.

"Crawford is a real good team, but I thought we did some things that we could certainly do better. We fumbled the ball five times, and everyone knows that it's a pet peeve of mine. We have to get better and prepare for Riverdale next week, and we have to be playing our best football every week."

Jeff Smith - Courtesy of the Bucyrus Telegraph Forum

LUCAS -- The answer to a question thrown around in the Lucas press box Friday night is this:

No, Colonel Crawford backs C.J. and Tyler Smith are not related, even if they pick up ground like they come from the same blood line.

The Smiths combined for 375 yards rushing in a 41-14 victory over the Cubs.

"Both those guys are running the ball very well, and our offensive line did a great job tonight," Eagles coach Ryan Teglovic said. "Across the board, our kids and coaches staff executed well in the second half."

The first half found two rushing-dominated offenses in a back-and-forth scoring affair.

Tyler Smith broke free on the second play of the game for a 77-yard touchdown run, which was answered by the Cubs' Nick Swainhart with a 2-yard score just three minutes later. By the beginning of the second quarter, the game was knotted at 14, but Smith scored again to give the Eagles a 20-14 halftime lead.

"Their kids played hard," Teglovic said. "They are a very physical football team and hit us. The coaches had them ready to play."

In the second half, Colonel Crawford took advantage of Lucas turnovers. The Eagles scored the lone touchdown of the third quarter after taking over when the Cubs fell short on a fourth-down conversion. Tyler Orewiler completed a 38-yard pass to Alec Hetzel, making it 26-14.

After going up 32-14 in the fourth, Colonel Crawford recovered a Lucas fumble to set up a three-play scoring drive ending with C.J. Smith's second touchdown of the fourth quarter.

"You can't give a good football team the ball back and give them extra shots, and defensively I didn't think we did a good job of the basics of tackling," Cubs coach Scott Spitler said.

Swainhart led Lucas with 106 yards on 22 carries, while Levi Harris had 83 yards on 14 carries.

For Crawford, Tyler Smith rushed for 175 yards on 24 carries, and C.J. Smith had 143 yards on nine carries.

Joey Chandler - Courtesy of the Bucyrus Telegraph Forum

The Freshmen team won against Bucyrus Thursday 20-14 in a very exciting game!  Both teams came into this game undefeated.  The Eagles are now 3-0 and will play Galion away next Thursday. 

NORTH ROBINSON -- Crestline came into North Robinson riding high at 3-0, but left bruised, battered and beaten.

Colonel Crawford defended its home field on Homecoming night Friday with a 56-0 drubbing to even its record at 2-2.

Tyler Smith set a school record with 266 yards rushing -- besting the 264 single-game mark set by Mitch Phillips two years ago -- and scored three times, including an 80-yard jaunt on Colonel Crawford's second play of the game. That set the tone for the evening.

"I am glad Tyler got the record because he and Mitch Phillips are both the same type of kid. They are both two of the hardest workers we have ever had," Colonel Crawford coach Ryan Teglovic said. "Both of them are in a class by themselves. We are happy that the offensive line did this, too."

Smith gave all the credit to the five hogs in front of him.

"It was all my offensive line, they opened the holes. Without them I wouldn't have gotten a single yard," he said.

Modesty aside, Smith did a nifty job of making cuts in and out, fooling the Crestline defense and breaking through tacklers.

"This isn't my record," Smith said. "It goes all to the five guys in front of me. I always looked up to Phillips. I never thought I would be at his level."

While the Eagles offense was hitting on all cylinders, the Crestline offense sputtered on all of its drives.

A pickup of five yards was almost always met with a loss of five on a penalty, a holding call, a fumbled snap or a dropped pass.

"We have had penalties before, but penalties haven't killed us like they did tonight," Crestline coach Keith Strickler said. "Part of that was how good and aggressive Colonel Crawford was. Our quarterback took a beating."

Nick Reynolds, who had a coming-out party last week rendered ineffective, and didn't play a down in the second half. He rushed for 43 yards and threw two interceptions -- one of which was returned by Zach Picou 49 yards for a score.

In terms of penalties, both teams were less than stellar. Crestline was penalized nine times for 80 yards, and the Eagles racked up 11 penalties for 95 yards.

"We were down to our fourth quarterback at the end of the game. Bryce Biglin and Seth Miller hadn't even taken reps, but they said they would take the ball because they knew the plays," Strickler said. By the end of the game, Crestline was deep into its reserves and canceled today's JV contest. "We were not expecting that at all. They beat us at the line of scrimmage. We took a beating."

C.J. Smith had a big game for the Eagles, picking up 100 yards on 10 carries and scoring three times, though he was overshadowed by Tyler Smith.

"It definitely makes me want to do better, to run harder," C.J. Smith said of seeing Tyler Smith's performance. "Our line came ready to play. We had a good week and we took it to them."

Colonel Crawford racked up 459 yards rushing -- a 10.2 yard-per-carry average. Crestline rushed for 84 yards.

The game was in hand early as Tyler Smith's 80-yard run and a 35-yard scoring run bookended C.J. Smith's 5-yard TD run to make it 21-0 at the end of the first quarter. It was 35-0 at the half thanks to Picou's 49-yard pick-six and a 32-yard run by C.J. Smith.

Tyler Smith scored on the Eagles' first play of the second half, a 53-yard run right up the middle to set the record. C.J. Smith scored on a five-yard run midway through the third and Patrick Hutchinson added a late 1-yard score.

"I thought we hit well. This is the hardest we played all year," Teglovic said. "We hit hard. I felt like we were flying to the ball. We just need to clean up the penalties."

Henry Conte - Courtesy of Bucyrus Telegraph Fourm

The Eagles earned their first W of the year with a combined team effort.  It was a slow start as the New London Wildcats scored the first two touchdowns. The Eagles didn't back away from the Wildcat momentum as Zach Picou had a 3 yard run into the endzone in the second quarter making it 14-6. Yes, they blocked our PAT, but we'll look past that as in the third quarter after a Tyler Orewiler to Alec Hetzel 65 yard TD play, the Eagles made up for it with a two point conversion by Tyler Smith.  Keeping with the theme of big plays, T.O. sent Hetzel 90 yards to finally take the lead in the third quarter making it 21-17.  The Eagles scored again in the fouth quarter with Mean Machine Picou taking it in.  To make things interesting, the Wildcats scored making it 28-25.  The defense held the 'Cats and with 30 seconds left on the clock the Eagles took a knee to end the game.  The Eagles had 11 first downs, 111 rushing yards, and 174 passing yards for a total of 285 yards of offense.  The Eagles only had 1 penalty to their 6 to only account for 5 yards lost. The Eagles will begin NCC play next Friday against the Bulldogs of Crestline.  Be sure to attend Homecoming festivities in the upcoming week.  Congrats Eagles on your exciting WIN! 

The up-and-comers played Buckeye Central Saturday morning and won 20-0.  This is the third shut-out in a row.  No opponent has yet to score on the JV team.  They play Crestline next Saturday at the Hudson Stadium.  Gooooo Eagles!!

BY: DAN MESSERSCHMIDT - COURTESY OF THE BUCYRUS TELEGRAPH FORUM
NORTH ROBINSON -- One player stood between Colonel Crawford and a season-opening victory -- Mount Gilead senior quarterback Justin Carver.

Carver passed for 173 yards and ran for 137 more to lead the Indians to a 14-6 win over the Eagles.

"He's a really good player," Colonel Crawford coach Ryan Teglovic said. "We knew that coming in. He's a three-year starter. He's big and strong and he runs well."

Mount Gilead coach Steve Ringer preferred to think of it as more than a one-man show.

"Justin ran well but the offensive line stepped up tonight," Ringer said. "I was happy with the team effort."

Despite a 343-189 disparity in total yardage, the Eagles' defense nearly did enough to get the win.

The first quarter was scoreless due, in large part, to a timely turnover.

Mount Gilead had a second-and-goal at the Crawford one when the Eagles' Seth Wanamaker fell on a fumble at the three to keep the Indians out of the end zone.

The Eagles then drove 97 yards in 12 plays -- including a 55-yard run by Tyler Smith -- to take the early lead. C.J. Smith took it the final six yards to put Crawford up, 6-0.

"I felt like our kids played hard," Teglovic said. "I'm proud of the effort of all the kids."

The Eagles just weren't able to hold onto the momentum swing. Sophomore Logan Sager was making his first varsity start at quarterback and Teglovic limited the playbook. Still, the running game was effective, with Tyler Smith piling up 163 yards on 25 carries, and C.J. Smith had 20 more on seven tries and a touchdown.

"We struggled last year with turnovers and letting long drives happen," Ringer said. "We have to learn to have short memories."

The Indians heeded the coach's admonition on the ensuing possession by mounting a nine-play, 61-yard drive to take the lead for good. Carver bulled in from the one and Nick Gress' extra point kick, though just barely clearing the crossbar, gave Mount Gilead a 7-6 lead.

From there the defenses took over. Colonel Crawford had just four possessions in the second half and managed only two first downs. The Indians moved the ball well between the 20s but could only muster one more score.

The Eagles threatened to retake the lead when Tyler Smith ripped off a 54-yard run to the Mount Gilead 25. But four plays netted minus two yards and Crawford turned the ball over on downs at the 27.

Mount Gilead then went on a 73-yard, 11-play, clock-eating drive capped with a 17-yard run by Carver. That made it 14-6 with just 2:36 remaining.

"I don't know that we always played well," Teglovic said. "But give their kids credit. They played hard too. We just didn't have enough tonight."

Carver's favorite passing target, Payton Vanderkooi, caught seven balls for 83 yards. Gress had three catches for 48 yards.

"Our plan was to be able to get (Carver) out of the pocket and give him the option to run or pass," Ringer said.

"We wanted to make the defense choose which they wanted to stop. We made plays when we had to in the second half."

BY: DAN MESSERSCHMIDT COURTESY OF THE TELEGRAPH FORUM
Like most of his fellow coaches in the new-look North Central Conference, Colonel Crawford's Ryan Teglovic is approaching the 2011 season with a mixture of excitement and trepidation.

But Teglovic feels that the big school-small school alignment and the presence of newcomers Galion and Upper Sandusky will both be positives for the NCC.

"It's definitely a good thing for the small schools," said Teglovic, whose Eagles are in the small-school division. "Lucas and Crestline only have 60 to 80 boys in the school. Galion, Ontario and Bucyrus are too big for them to compete with, especially in football. It's a good set-up."

Colonel Crawford is seen by the media as challenging Buckeye Central for the first-ever small division championship. And with good reason.

Teglovic has 65 players in the program, a number that rivals his brethren in the big school division and possibly the most in the school's history.

"(Assistant coach) Mike Caulley has been at Colonel Crawford for over 30 years," Teglovic said. "This is the most players that he can recall."

An off-field injury to projected starting sophomore quarterback Nate Klingenberger (6-foot-3, 190 pounds) will alter the plan for the first few games, but the Eagles hope to hold the fort until Klingenberger is back.

Senior Tyler Orewiler (5-11, 175), a second-team all NCC pick a year ago, is back at wide receiver. Senior Jordan Shell (5-8, 165) and junior Alec Hetzel (6-0, 175) also saw time at wide-out and both can back up Klingenberger at quarterback. Ian Kochheiser, a 6-0, 175 junior, will line up at tight end.

The running backs -- key to Teglovic's Wing-T offense -- are seniors Zach Picou (5-11, 195) and Tyler Smith (6-0, 175) along with junior C.J. Smith (6-0, 180).

They will be running behind a formidable offensive line. Seniors Andy Rehm (6-3, 260) and Adam Stuckert (6-0, 210) are the tackles, while senior Casey Hout (5-11, 230) and junior Andy Kimmerline (6-1, 205) are at the guard spots and junior Coty Coffman (5-9, 220) is the center.

Picou and Hout -- both all-league picks -- anchor the defense at linebacker, joined by junior Spencer Tackett (5-11, 230). Juniors Clay Jury (6-3, 220) and Jesse Sellman (6-3, 200) are at defensive end. Stuckert, along with senior Seth Wannamaker (6-0, 185) and junior Gage Taylor will also see duty on the defensive line. Hetzel, Shell, Tyler Smith and Orewiler will handle the defensive backfield with help from sophomore Connor McCreary (5-8, 160).

With this group, Teglovic will try to improve on last year's 5-5 record, 4-3 in the NCC. The new divisional make-up might help, but it is not the only ingredient.
"We play Upper Sandusky non-league, so the only big school we don't play is Ontario," Teglovic said. "The NCC had three playoff teams last year. We added two other teams. This is a good league with a lot of good football teams.

"We're seeing improvement in our program," Teglovic added. "Now it's time to go out and get a paycheck on Friday night."