BELLEVUE — A pair of former Northern Ohio League rivals met here Friday night in the first round of the Division IV, Region 14 football playoffs.
Bellevue got the measure of Galion 40-9 by shutting down the Tigers offense, while piling up 412 yards of their own and taking advantage of several big plays.
“Defensively I thought they (Bellevue) were really physical. When I watched film, it wasn’t like they did some great defense or anything like that. It comes back to blocking and tackling and that type of stuff,” Galion head coach Matt Dick said.
The Redmen did enough, while striking on a Tyler Ray 52-yard pass from Ashton Martin in the second quarter that put them up 20-3 at halftime. After a Gabe Ivy 42-yard scoring jaunt cut the lead to 20-9 in the third quarter, Martin found twin brother Jackson Martin from 13 yards out to give the hosts control.
Martin was filling in at QB due to injuries. He normally plays split end, said Redmen head coach Ed Nasonti, in his 32nd year at the school.
“Hats off to that kid for making some big-time throws,” Dick said. “You gotta give them a lot of credit for that.”
The Tigers end their season at 6-5 while the Redmen move to 7-4 and travel to No. 1-ranked Cleveland Glenville Friday night. The Tarblooders downed Napoleon 46-8.
Ivy was held to 83 yards on 21 carries, after being the second leading rusher in the Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference.
Ray caught just three passes, but they accounted for 160 yards. Seth Bova had 3 rushes for 59 yards and two scores, including a 51-yarder with 5:23 left to play.
“At halftime, my adjustment was, ‘Hey guys, this guy right here. We gotta block him,'” Dick said.
“We did a better job in the second half and had a turnover and stuff. It wasn’t all on Braxton (Prosser). The pick we threw that was a bad call on me. You got to give them credit. They’re a seasoned football team. It was a real even match-up. We just didn’t finish and that’s why the score looks like it did tonight.”
The sophomore signal-caller hit on 16-of-29 passing attempts for 111 yards, with junior Elijah Chafin snagging a season high 7 for 67 yards.
“We missed some drives. In the first half there were a lot of arm tackles. Gabe usually runs through those,” Dick said. “I thought the guard was pulling faster. In the second half he hit the holes and good things were happening. We went down and scored, but they answered right back and swung the momentum.”
Nasonti said it was a good showing by his club.
“When you load up the box like they did and try to stop the run, we were able to break some big plays. Brody (Horn) was one-on-one with the linebacker there,” he said.
Horn, a 172-pound sophomore, ran 20 times for 107 yards and two scores.
“We ran a wheel route for the other score. In the second half they kind of thinned it out and we were able to get the running game going.
“We went into the playoffs with our third-string quarterback and had some anxiety over that, but he did a good job,” Nasonti said. “I got a little nervous when he threw a bounce pass on the first play of the game; probably jitters.
“He’s a good athlete, a heck of a basketball player and a good kid,” he said of the 6-foot-4 Martin. “It’s been one of those years where we’ve had to overcome a lot of that stuff. I’m happy for the kids to get one playoff game done and advance.”
Crisp tackling in the open field was something Bellevue displayed throughout the contest.
“We’ve done a good job of that all year. We’ve been really physical, our conference (Sandusky Bay) is really tough, and we struggled through it. There’s not been one game where we’ve been disappointed in our kids’ effort. They adapted well and they play hard,” Nasonti said.
Dick enjoyed this group, and will lose several key seniors, but knows the cupboard is far from bare.
“I focused on just how grateful I am for this team and these kids and all the stuff we have been through this year. It’s a really, really special group. I’m going to miss time with them.
“The season is over and I’m grateful for after all the adversity we had there was many times we could have tanked and gone 2-8 or worse, but these kids kept battling. We had maybe four seniors dressed. We were losing kids every week for the past 4-5 weeks. It was next man up and I’m just proud of how they finished the season.”
A good junior class gives Dick plenty to build on for next season.
“We got skilled athletes besides Ivy in Landyn Campbell, Logan Shifley, Braxton, he’s only a sophomore. His knowledge has gone through the roof during the season. We should have a chance to compete for a lot of good things.”
Several key linemen return, including 290-pound tackle Holden Hunter, Ethan Horning, Alex Griffith, and Ollen Anderson.
One area of improvement for Galion is physicality.
“We’re going to run into a team that wants to play physical, and we are in trouble when that happens. We got to get in the weight room and pay the price and go compete for an MOAC title,” he said.
Box score
Score by quarters
Galion 3 0 6 0 — 9
Bellevue 8 12 6 14 — 40
Scoring summary
First quarter
G — Jackson Hart 31 field goal, 6:15.
B — Seth Bova 3 run (Jackson Martin pass from Ashton Martin), 5:02.
Second quarter
B — Brody Horn 1 run (pass failed), 8:20.
B — Tyler Ray 52 pass from A. Martin (pass failed), 3:50.
Third quarter
G — Gabe Ivy 42 run (kick blocked), 9:16.
B — J. Martin 13 pass from A. Martin (pass failed), 6:37.
Fourth quarter
B — Horn 23 run (J. Martin pass from A. Martin), 9:54.
B — Bova 51 run (pass failed), 5:23.
Individual statistics
Passing
Galion: Braxton Prosser 16-29-0 111; Bellevue: Ashton Martin 6-13-0 246.
Rushing
Galion: Gabe Ivy 21-83, Braxton Prosser 17-78, Carson Frankhouse 4-13, Holden Hunter 1-3, Logan Shifley 2-(-1); Bellevue: Brody Horn 20-107, Seth Bova 3-59.
Receiving
Galion: Elijah Chafin 7-67, Carson Frankhouse 2-18, Landyn Prosser 2-11, Cooper Kent 1-7, Logan Shifley 2-5, Gabe Ivy 2-3, Braxton Prosser 1-(-1); Bellevue: Tyler Ray 3-160, Ethan Smith 1-74, Jackson Martin 1-13, Kollen McLaughlin 1-9.
Team statistics
G B
First downs 21 14
Rushing 45-176 23-166
Passes 5-10-1 8-22-1
Yards passing 286 246
Total yards 224 412
Fumbles-lost 0-0 0-0
Penalties 3-25 2-25