MACHESNEY PARK — “It was Titan weather,” Boylan fullback Matt McCrudden said.

Why?

“Coach told us. I can’t really remember it.”

A decade or two ago, when Bill Thumm’s Boylan teams played Woody Hayes’ style football, a chill rain that left the field looking like one big mud pie, would make sense as Titan weather. But successor Dan Appino brought the spread to Boylan long ago, giving the Titans an offense as diverse as any team’s in the NIC-10.

MACHESNEY PARK — Harlem likes to start out east or west, then break its runs north.

Boylan keeps it simpler.

“I never try to go east and west. Always north,” Boylan fullback Matt McCrudden said.

Simpler proved better on a muddy field as Boylan steamrolled Harlem 40-14 Friday night in a battle of NIC-10 unbeatens to win its third consecutive conference title.

Harlem (8-1) had trouble with the slick field all night.

“It was highly impossible,” tight end Casey Beck said. “Every time I tried to make a cut, I’d slip.”

BELVIDERE – If Belvidere thought it could expose some weaknesses in Boylan, which played without starting quarterback Zach Lane on Friday, the Titans needed just one quarter to change that.

After a close first half, the Titans scored five touchdowns in the third quarter enroute to a 49-9 NIC-10 football victory against the Bucs at Funderburg Stadium.

Will Sahlstrom started things for the Titans in the second half when he scored on a 48-yard run to make it 21-7.