GALION (Crawford County Now) — Galion made the most of Carey’s mistakes as the Tigers roared out to a 20-7 halftime lead and cruised to a 41-14 non-league win at Unckrich Stadium Friday night.
The Blue Devils turned the ball over four times, including three fumbles, with two of those leading to Galion touchdowns.
“Their speed overall is lightning quick, and they have good athletes,” Carey head coach Jonathan Mershman said. “They did a nice job, and we didn’t take advantage of the opportunities that we had. There were a couple of plays that could have helped us out.”
Galion moves to 2-0 with the victory and Carey slips to 0-2.
The Tigers struck twice in the first quarter with Kurt Hay catching a 34-yard pass from quarterback Ayden Schmidt. After a three-and-out, Galion got the ball back and Camden Kuehlman ripped off a 44-yard run for a 13-0 lead.
The hosts amassed 361 total yards, with 241 coming on the ground.
Head coach Matt Dick said his team played well against a tough opponent but hasn’t found a perfect formula.
“We still need to clean up some execution. The past two weeks we’re missing by inches. In big-time games those are going to really, really matter. So we are going to have to get better at that execution,” he said.
“I like the O-line blocking. I thought we did that well. We just need to work on being gap sound. On some of those deep balls, we missed a couple of those in the first half. Little things we need work on.”
Carey got on the board with a Logan Summit 7-yard pass from Kyler Boes early in the second quarter before Schmidt found the end zone on a sneak.
Sam Evans, Jacob Chambers and Zach Sallee recovered Blue Devil fumbles, while Kane Hay had an interception for Galion.
“We got to ride the wave a little bit better, emotional wise,” Mershman said. “Things are going bad and they start snowballing on us. We got to ride those high waves a little bit longer and things got worse and worse.”
Galion added a 38-yard run by Schmidt before he found Hay on a 17-yard pass for a 34-7 advantage.
“Ayden’s done an amazing job as a leader, the fake punt, all the runs. He did a lot for us tonight and we’ve always kind of had a quarterback that does a lot for us — and he’s the next one,” Dick said.
“He took over last year and he’s worked really hard in the off season. He’s a kid who runs track and Chambers and those guys. And pound-for-pound he’s one of the strongest kids I’ve ever coached.”
On a fourth-and-four Schmidt picked up 9 yards on the fake punt that led to his second touchdown.
“Hats off to Carey. They’re a tough football team and they play hard. They’ve always got these big, rangy 6-2, 220-pound kids and they made it tough for us,” Dick said.
Mace Puckett ran for 117 of Carey’s 119 rushing yards. Carey is without senior Eli Steen, who was lost for the season in week one with a knee injury.
“Their defense is a swarming, fast, fast defense. Their team speed is lightning quick. But we had our chances,” Mershman said.
“We can’t spot them 13 points and expect good results. I’ve got to do a better job of coaching them up. We need to win the turnover battle.
“I’ve got to find a way to connect with these kids and do better. We’ll get it together. Life isn’t over right now; we’re gonna battle and figure it out.”
Kale Early ripped off a 54-yard score just 47 seconds into the final quarter. The other Blue Devils TD was a 4-yard run by junior Dalen Walter late in the contest.
“We had some opportunities early in the passing game and didn’t take advantage of those. Then they started playing an over-the-top safety and blitzing off the edges.”
Last season Carey started 0-3 and 1-4 and made the playoffs and Mershman realizes that’s possible again.
“We found a way to scrap our way to five victories and got in as a 12-seed and made some noise,” he said.
“I don’t want to be doing that year in and year out. We’re going to be right back in it. Don’t sleep on the Blue Devils just yet.”
Carey hosts Lima Central Catholic while Galion travels to Norwalk in their final non-conference games.
“This group of guys, we want them to live in that dash. It’s about that process. It’s a really fun group of kids to coach and to be around,” Dick said.
“On Monday we’re not worried about Friday, or Wednesday not worried about Thursday. Just getting them to live in the moment.
“We want to get a little tougher every day in practice and fix something with our execution. It’s the same mission. Go 1-0 and find a way to win.”
Box score
Score by quarters
Carey 0 7 0 7 — 14
Galion 13 7 14 7 — 41
Scoring summary
First quarter
G — Kurt Hay 34 pass from Ayden Schmidt (Braylen Beachy kick), 11:06.
G — Camden Kuehlman 44 run (kick failed), 8:57.
Second quarter
C — Logan Summit 7 pass from Kyler Boes (Benson Kloepfer kick), 10:20.
G — Schmidt 1 run (Beachy kick), 3:28.
Third quarter
G — Schmidt 38 run (Beachy kick), 9:00.
G — Kane Hay 17 pass from Schmidt (Beachy kick), 3:18.
Fourth quarter
G — Kale Early 54 run (Beachy kick) 11:13.
C — Dalen Walter 4 run (Kloepfer kick), 3:38.
Individual statistics
Passing
Carey: Kyler Boes 3-7-0 27, Tripp Phoenix 1-6-0 8; Galion: Ayden Schmidt 9-16-0 120.
Rushing
Carey: Mace Puckett 17-117, Dash Puckett 10-45, Brayden Williams 1-7, Tripp Phoenix 7-4, Dalen Walter 2-9, Ryan Burgei 1-6, Owen Henry 1-5, Kyler Boes 2-2; Galion: Camden Kuehlman 9-85, Ayden Schmidt 8-71, Kyle Early 1-54, Sam Evans 5-11, Caden Dick 2-6, Kurt Hay 4-5.
Receiving
Carey: Kyler Boes 1-11, Tripp Phoenix 1-10, Mace Puckett 1-9, Carter Bame 1-5: Galion: Kurt Hay 2-47, Kane Hay 2-22, Jacob Chambers 2-17, Trey Longwell 1-15, Cameron Kuehlman 1-10, Jameson Glew 1-9.
Team statistics
C G
First downs 14 17
Rushing 41-195 29-241
Passes 4-13-0 9-16-0
Yards passing 35 120
Total yards 230 362
Fumbles-lost 3-3 2-1
Penalties 2-22 3-20