Crawford Wins 1st District Title In 54 Years With Route Of Mohawk
It’s been a long wait in between district championships for the Colonel Crawford baseball program, but the Eagles 54-year drought would come to an end with an 8-1 victory over Mohawk in the Division IV Galion District Championship.
Crawford pushed a run across the plate in the top of the first to give starter Gavin Feichner the lead which the junior fireballer says helped him ease into the game. The Eagles then scored a pair of runs in the second for a 3-0 advantage before busting things wide open with a monster offensive half of the third.
Five Crawford runners would cross home plate in the top of the third aided by some costly Warriors throwing errors, giving the Eagles a comfortable 8-0 cushion. Feichtner would allow just one run on a fourth-inning Blake Harper RBI single, one of only two hits he surrendered the entire night, striking out 13 Mohawk batters in seven innings of action.
The district champion Eagles, who only won 4 games all of last season, improved to 22-7 with the decisive victory and will now advance to face Antwerp in the Hamler Regional semifinals on May 30 at 2 pm. Mohawk finishes up as district runners up at 19-7.
Mohawk Advances Past Flames To Sectional Final
For the first time since 2016, the top-seeded Mohawk baseball team will compete for a District Championship after shutting out #4 Buckeye Central 4-0 in the Division IV semifinals at Heise Park in Galion.
Both starting pitchers put on impressive displays with Bucks righty Brady Biglin striking out 12 while allowing 4 runs on 7 hits. He gave up a run in the first on a Tanner Osborn RBI single, then settled in until a series of fifth inning mishaps saw a trio of Warriors runs cross the plate.
Senior standout Cole Widmer kept Buckeye Central off balance throughout the contest, throwing seven scoreless innings for Mohawk with a nasty curveball to complement his heater. Widmer allowed just 4 hits while striking out 10, as he improved to 6-1 on the hill with an ERA of 0.61.
Sophomore 3rd baseman Trey Combs scored a pair of Warriors runs, finishing 2-3 from the dish with a double.
The Bucks wrap-up their season at 10-18 with their first appearance at districts since 2012.
#1 Mohawk (19-6) will next battle #2 Colonel Crawford (21-7) for the Galion District title.
Mohawk Advances Past Flames To Sectional Final
Opening night of the girls basketball state tournament saw Mohawk run away from Mansfield Christian into the Shelby sectional title game with a 45-20 win over the Flames.
A hard-fought 1st quarter would have the 9th-seeded Lady Warriors out in front by a score of 5-2 before extending their advantage to 19-8 by the break. Mohawk continued to shut down #11 Mansfield Christian at the offensive end of the floor in the second half as they extended their lead to 30-13 by the end of the third and cruised to a 25-point victory.
Aubrie Harper led the way for the Lady Warriors (6-17) with a game-high 13 points with Marah Gillig adding nine. Elle Schmitz was the Flames top scorer with 7, Ashley Maiyer contributed with four.
Crawford Ends Mohawk’s Perfect Season
For the first time this season, state-raked Mohawk tasted defeat in a 53-43 loss to Colonel Crawford in front of their home fans.
The sizzling Eagles entered Sycamore riding an 8-game win streak and captured momentum from the opening frame. Crawford held a 14-5 cushion entering the second quarter where the Eagles extended their lead to a commanding 29-13 edge.
Led by Jordan Fenner’s game-high 17 points and Gavin Feichtner’s dozen, the Eagles took a 39-24 advantage into the final frame where the Warriors made a blazing charge to within five but never got any closer. Crawford’s stingy defense only allowed five Mohawk players to get in the scorebook, with Zach Hayman the lone Warrior in double-figures scoring 14 points.
Mohawk (12-1, 8-1) remains in the drivers seat for the Northern 10 Conference title, though the Eagles (11-3, 7-3) may be playing the best brand of round ball in the leagues as winners of nine straight.
Mohawk Survives Rams For Outright N10 Lead
A critical Northern 10 Conference showdown between unbeaten Mohawk and 3-time defending league champion Upper Sandusky wasn’t decided until the final whistle when the now 11-0 Warriors walked off their home floor with a hard-fought 59-58 victory.
Following a back and forth opening half that saw the Rams on top 15-11 after the first and Mohawk ahead 28-25 at the break, the Warriors then controlled most of the second half action. Fueled by a boisterous crowd, Mohawk would build a double-digit edge in the third stanza before Upper Sandusky battled back to make it 46-40 heading into the contest’s final quarter.
The Warriors would again put the Rams in a 10-point hole but junior guard Cameron McCreary, who scored 12 of his team-best 19 points in the fourth, helped trim the deficit down to a single possession. Mohawk would do just enough damage from the free throw line down the stretch, however, to hold off a devastating come back to remain perfect on the season.
Zach Hayman led all scorers with 24 points for the Warriors with teammate Kaden Hammer adding a dozen and Chirs Klopp chipping in with seven. Along with McCreary, Trevor Clifford was the only other Ram to hit double-figures with 10 followed by Mason vent who dropped nine.
Leipsic Topples Top-Seeded Mohawk 40-14
The Division VII AP Poll champion Mohawk football team entered the postseason as the top overall seed in the tournament but caught a tough opening round matchup against a veteran Leipsic squad. The Warriors controlled much of the first half action but would be buried by a strong second half Vikings wave who walked off Mohawk’s turf with a 40-14 victory.
After falling behind 7-0 with Leipsic scoring on the game’s opening drive, Mohawk produced the next two touchdowns on a 2-yard Jesse Leeth scoring run followed by a 6-yard Keith Jenkins keeper that found paydirt. The Vikings would put together a critical scoring possession just before the end of the half, however, that tied the contest at 14-14 heading into the break.
The second half would be completely dominated by the Vikings, who received a mammoth performance from senior signal caller Dylan Schroeder. The 4-year starter completed 17 of his 22 pass attempts for 245 yards and 3 TD’s with most of his aerial damage coming in the final two quarters of play, also adding a pair of scoring runs.
Mohawk (10-1) finishes their season as Northern 10 Conference champions while Leipsic (10-1) advances to face McComb (10-1) in the Regional Semifinals. The Panthers handed the Vikings their only defeat of the season back on Sep 28, 38-7.
Hillsdale Knocks Out Mohawk For Regional Championship
The incredible tournament run for the Hillsdale softball team continued in the Division IV Akron Regional Championship with the Lady Falcons soaring to the Final Four with a 3-0 win over Mohawk.
Hillsdale struck first with an RBI double from senior pitcher Sydney Long in the bottom half of the first and that’s all the run support the Ohio Dominican recruit would need. The Lady Warriors loaded the bases in the top half of the second, but Long pitched her way out of the jam and was virtually spotless the rest of the way.
The Lady Falcons put up runs in their offensive portion of the second and third innings for a 3-0 edge and Long did the rest, going the distance and surrendering just two hits while striking out 14 Mohawk batters on the day to clinch the regional title. Long and the Hillsdale defense still hasn’t allowed a single run during their postseason run, outscoring their opponents by a combined score of 37-0.
The Lady Warriors wrap-up their season at 19-8 in Mindy Walton’s first season as head coach while #1 Hillsdale (25-2) will advance to play #10 Bradford (23-3) on Friday at 10 am in the State Semifinals at Akron Firestone Stadium.
Mohawk Walks Off On East Canton At Softball Regionals
The Mohawk softball team is headed to the Division IV Akron Regional Championship with a thriller walk-off win over East Canton on Thursday.
The game was scoreless headed into the third where Cassy Wolfe put the Hornets on top with a 2-run blast. Lexi Betz tacked on an RBI single with 2-outs in the fifth to extend EC’s edge to 3-0 but Tess Weinandy match their score with an RBI double in the bottom half of the frame.
Mohawk then pulled even at 3-3 in the sixth on a clutch 2-out RBI single by McKenna Hurley but Betz answered with her second RBI in the seventh to grab the lead back at 4-3, finishing 4-4 from the plate on the day. The clutch hitting continued in the bottom of the seventh for the Lady Warriors as Autumn Buder tied the game with a sacrifice RBI to advance Sydnee Leeth. That set the table for a walk-off single to center from the bat of Madi Chester to punch Mohawk’s ticket to the title game.
The Lady Warriors (19-7) will face state #1 Hillsdale (24-2) Saturday at 3 pm with a trip to the state final four on the line at Akron Firestone Stadium.
Mohawk Fends Off Lucas For District Crown
Seeking their second consecutive Division IV Shelby District Championship, the 2nd-seeded Lucas softball squad fell into an early hole against red-hot Mohawk in the district title match.
The Lady Cubs got on the board first with a score in the opening frame, but seven unanswered Warriors runs, plating three scores each in the second and fourth innings, gave 4th-seeded Mohawk a comfortable 7-1 lead heading into the sixth.
The Cubs would rally with a pair of runs in their offensive half of the sixth and score two more in the seventh with their all-time home run leader Liz Yirga at the plate with a runner on third, but a deep blast to center field fell just short of tying the game and Mohawk took the title with a 7-5 victory.
The Warriors (18-7) will advance to face East Canton in the Akron Regional Semifinals while Lucas finishes their season at 15-7 with basically the entire team returning next season.