MARION (Crawford County Now) — Galion was the more opportunistic team, capitalizing on several of Marion Harding’s six turnovers. The result was a 28-20 Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference win at Grant Middle School Field on Friday night.
The Presidents scored three first-quarter touchdowns to go ahead 20-7, but four lost fumbles and a pair of interceptions proved costly.
“I didn’t say much to the team, because I didn’t have a whole lot to say,” Harding head coach CJ Westler said. “I was talking to some of the coaches and said that is the definition of a losing program. We lost that game time and time again.
“We lose games. I’m done with the ‘good game’ stuff. The expectation is not to go out and try hard. The expectation is to go out, and to execute and to win.”
Galion (8-1, 5-1) got in the end zone first on a Jacob Chambers 31-yard touchdown pass from Ayden Schmidt four minutes into the game, before Harding answered with three touchdowns in a span of 5 and 1/2 minutes.
“Hats off to Marion Harding, their staff and players. Some of it was just one-on-one jump balls. Number 2 (Ray J. Scott-Harbolt) had a helluva game and put us in the hole,” Galion head coach Matt Dick said.
“Our offense did enough, and they didn’t score in the second half, so our defense figured things out. It was kind of a wake-up call. I hope we take it and grow from it.”
Of the close games, Dick offered this assessment.
“I don’t think my heart and my health need it. I may have to start eating healthy and exercise because that was a lot for me. I hope we take it and grow from it.”
In that second half the Presidents managed just 4 first downs and 44 total yards. Four of their turnovers took place after halftime.
Harding falls to 3-6 overall and 2-4 in the conference and hosts league leader Shelby to close its season.
Mattic Simmers had a 17-yard run, Landen Keller a 1-yard blast and Jaden Jordan a 15-yard scamper for touchdowns — and suddenly the underdog Prexies found themselves with a 20-14 halftime lead.
“Our kids found a way to win ugly. We had a similar thing at Ontario where we won ugly. It’s hard to win ugly, and lots of times you lose when you play ugly,” Dick said.
“Our kids. Their family, their grit. They found a way to win tonight.”
Chambers accounted for the second Tiger touchdown, a 6-yard strike from Schmidt. He totaled 5 catches for 61 yards.
Scott-Harbolt led Harding with 78 yards on 6 receptions and set up two Harding touchdowns. Sophomore quarterback Jaden Jordan hit on 15-of-19 passes for 198 yards.
“We threw the ball up a little too much, I thought. Our kids make plays on defense. That’s a point of emphasis,” Dick said.
Zach Sallee led a tenacious Galion defense that held Harding scoreless for the final three quarters. He had three sacks for a season total of 12 and numerous quarterback pressures.
“Camden Kuehlman, in my opinion, he’s a top 3 or 4 guy in our conference. He’s that legit. He’s battled some ankle injuries on and off since Shelby.
“Tonight we weren’t sure we were going to play him. He played a little bit at linebacker and nose tonight … you could just see he’s got a different gear than everybody else.”
Kuehlman’s scoop and score on a Harding fumble at midfield proved the game winner with 2:42 remaining.
The Tigers took a 21-20 lead when Kurt Hay caught a 12-yard touchdown from Schmidt with just under 8 minutes in the game.
It came after an 8-play, 45-yard drive in which Stuckman ripped off runs of 11, 5, 16 and 3 yards.
Galion’s run game produced 100 yards, led by Stuckman’s 75 yards on 20 carries.
Kane Hay had an interception at the Tigers 26 yard line to close the first half.
For Harding, senior tackle JJ Starks stood out on defense with multiple stops and several tackles for loss.
Westler lamented the struggles his program has faced.
“We played really well the first half. The second half the turnovers. We had some tempo in the first half and wanted to get to it in the second half, but we struggled to get a first down,” he said.
“We had a fumble late in the third quarter and two fumbles in the fourth quarter, and an interception right before halftime. They’re a good football team and you’re not going to beat a team like that when you make mistake after mistake after mistake.”
Heading into week 10, Galion finds itself in an enviable position as it hosts Clear Fork. The Tigers are ranked third in the OHSAA computer rankings in Division IV, Region 14.
“I always say going 1-0 in this league is really, really challenging and I mean that. We’re a bunch of little guys that are really, really fast. Everything we do, though it hasn’t all clicked yet.
“Clear Fork has played a lot of opponents really, really tough. We will need to get a little cleaner performance next week, cleaning up false starts and alignments and stuff like that.”
Box score
Score by quarters
Galion 7 7 0 14 — 28
Marion Harding 20 0 0 0 — 20
Scoring summary
First quarter
G — Jacob Chambers 31 pass from Ayden Schmidt (Braylen Beachy kick), 8:10.
MH — Mattic Simmer 17 run (kick failed), 6:12.
MH — Landen Keller 1 run (Brayden Coleman kick), 5:21.
MH — Jaden Jordan 15 run (Coleman kick), :34.
Second quarter
G — Chambers 6 pass from Schmidt (Beachy kick), 1:12.
Fourth quarter
G — Kurt Hay 12 pass from Schmidt (Beachy kick) 7:53.
G — Camden Kuehlman 50 fumble recovery (Beachy kick), 2:42.
Individual statistics
Passing
Galion: Ayden Schmidt 9-16-1 99; Marion Harding: Jaden Jordan 15-19-2 198.
Rushing
Galion: Braxton Stuckman 20-75, Ayden Schmidt 13-22, Jacob Chambers 1-2, Kurt Hay 1-1; Marion Harding: Landen Keller 9-42, Mattic Simmers 6-30, Jaden Jordan 9-9, JuJu Glover 3-6, Ray J. Scott-Harbolt 2-5..
Receiving
Galion: Jacob Chambers 5-61, Braxton Stuckman2-15, Kurt Hay 1-12, Dom Capretta 1-11; Marion Harding: Ray J. Scott-Harbolt 6-78, Henry Camak 2-43, JuJu Glover 2-32, Jaden Griffith 2-24, Theo Collins 1-12, Jeffrey Wright 1-9.
Team statistics
G MH
First downs 12 11
Rushing 35-100 29-92
Passes 9-16-1 15-19-2
Yards passing 99 198
Total yards 199 290
Fumbles-lost 1-0 4-4
Penalties 7-45 5-50