CALEDONIA — Two explosive football teams seeking to end the year with winning records and secure playoff spots met in a Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference battle Friday night.
Galion head coach Matt Dick said it’s no secret the Tigers came in wanting to run the football.
“We’re going to run it. It’s what we do. We got a sophomore quarterback. He can sling it. Their quarterback is such a special player,” Dick said.
And run it they did, behind Gabe Ivy’s amazing rushing performance in a 56-49 shootout over River Valley in the regular season finale.
“We’re the polar opposite end. We’re going to be gritty. We’re going to run the ball. I was kind of disappointed we had some drives stopped. Credit to them for making timely stops.”
In all, the teams combined for 1,097 total offensive yards and 54 first downs.
Ivy rushed 34 times for 330 yards and found paydirt three times.
Dick was referring to River Valley’s senior signal-caller Cayden Shidone.
“Hats off to him and their whole offense. He’s a fun kid to watch. They’ve got good receivers.”
Shidone hit on 22-of-40 pass attempts for 402 yards, with his chief target being Grant Butler with 9 catches for 231 yards and a pair of sores.
“Our defense made some stops for us. And right before half we got those points. That makes a huge deal. We had that extra interception,” Dick said. “It bounced off the kid’s helmet.”
Ivy got that one and Logan Shifley secured another pick.
It allowed the Tigers to take a 42-34 lead at halftime thanks to five touchdowns in the second quarter, led by Ivy’s two run and touchdowns by Shifley, Braxton Prosser and Landyn Prosser.
“Gabe is a 145-pound kid. This is small-school football, the MOAC. But the fact (is) that he’s that tough and can do it,” Dick said.
“He is a tough kid, but he comes from the Ivy family. It starts all the way back with his dad. All that grit, growing up with his big brothers and he has a half-brother. It’s part of that blue-collar mentality we have at Galion.”
Galion managed the two Prosser touchdowns with just 24.7 seconds left on the clock.
A contrast in styles was on display as the Vikings knack for throwing the ball around the yard, and Shidone found seven receivers for completions.
“From the fans’ standpoint, it’s entertaining. But you gotta get stops when you can get them. We were able to get a couple of stops in the first half,” River Valley head coach Doug Green said.
“We needed some in the second and they were able to get some and that’s the flip you weren’t able to get. Kids played well. They didn’t quit in the second half; they kept going at it. With our offense, sometimes you just run out of time.”
After a scoreless third quarter, the Tigers scored on a Carson Frankhouse one-yard blast and Shidone countered with one of his own. Each team added another score and Galion held on for the 7-point win and keeps its playoff hopes alive.
“Cayden, a big part of this offense is he is able to see the field, keep plays alive and puts the ball where it needs to be. He understands the concepts of this offense,” Green said.
“We got to learn from this game and still have opportunities to play in the post-season, talk with them tomorrow and see where we land. Hopefully, you get an opportunity to play again and get back to work and get after it.”
River Valley (5-5, 3-4 MOAC) and sits at 14th in Division IV, Region 14. Galion (6-4, 5-2) is 9th in the same region, with the top 16 qualifying for Week 11 playoffs. Pairings will be announced Sunday afternoon by the OHSAA.
According to unofficial — but highly accurate — pairings on joeeitel.com, Galion would play at Bellevue on Friday and River Valley would travel to Sandusky Perkins.
Dick said the Tigers also will prepare for post-season competition with the same mindset in had the first 10 weeks of the season.
“We talked a lot about going 1-0. Every week going 1-0. In the MOAC it’s very hard to go 1-0. And in the MOAC getting that third win to get over the hump.
“When we play clean offensively, we make the right plays. Special teams were great tonight. I’ll take our defensive effort,” he said.
Dick said his team didn’t play well against better MOAC teams, citing losses to Clear Fork and Highland.
“That was an ugly, ugly game at Highland (a 35-21 loss). Six turnovers. That just didn’t work out for us. It was nice to have a good game tonight and we’d like to have one more,” he said.
“It’ll be a top five team, a legit team. Our region is a really, really tough region. We will try to match up and play our best game. That’s what it’s all about.”
Box score
Score by quarters
Galion 7 35 0 14 —56
River Valley 21 13 0 15 — 49
Scoring summary
First quarter
G — Gabe Ivy 31 run (Jackson Hart kick), 9:57.
RV — Grant Butler 16 pass from Cayden Shidone (Carson Klingel kick), 7:58.
RV — Butler 83 pass from Shidone (Klingel kick), 3:34.
RV — Austin Whitley 2 run (Klingel kick), :09.
Second quarter
G — Ivy 27 run (Hart kick), 10:19.
G — Ivy 20 run (Hart kick), 8:31.
RV — Blake Mosher 41 pass from Shidone (Klingel kick), 7:09.
G — Logan Shifley 21 run (Hart kick), 5:04.
RV — Shidone 4 run (kick blocked), 1:50.
G — Braxton Prosser 30 run (Hart kick), :24.
G — Landyn Prosser 13 pass from Braxton Prosser (Hart kick), :03.
Fourth quarter
G — Carson Frankhouse 1 run (Hart kick), 11:09.
RV — Shidone 1 run (Will Garrison pass from Shidone), 8:22.
G — Landon Campbell 3 pass from B. Prosser (Hart kick), 4:19.
RV — Shidone 6 run (Klingel kick), 2:33.
Individual statistics
Passing
Galion: Braxton Prosser 6-7-0 60; River Valley: Cayden Shidone 22-40-2 402.
Rushing
Galion: Gabe Ivy 30-330, Braxton Prosser 9-83, Carson Frankhouse 7-41, Logan Shifley 5-30; River Valley: Cayden Shidone 17-86, Austin Whitley 9-65.
Receiving
Galion: Logan Shifley 1-21, Elijah Chafin 1-18, Landyn Prosser 1-13, Landon Campbell 3-8; River Valley: Grant Butler 9-231, Austin Whitley 5-50, Blake Mosher 2-50, Logan Miracle 3-45, Jake Green 1-18, Brock Mosher 1-5, Luke Rogers 1-3.
Team statistics
G RV
First downs 26 28
Rushing 57-484 26-151
Passes 6-7-0 22-40-2
Yards passing 60 402
Total yards 544 553
Fumbles-lost 0-0 0-0
Penalties 2-25 1-5