HOLMES TOWNSHIP (Crawford County Now) — A potent passing attack provided Upper Sandusky with its first league win as the Rams toppled Wynford 44-20 in a Northern 10 Athletic Conference game Friday night.
Rams junior quarterback Keegan Dunn completed 13-of-19 passes for 248 yards and 4 touchdowns as Upper Sandusky improved to 2-3, 1-1.
Dunn and company struck quickly.
His 80-yard pass to Josh Heilman opened the scoring just 11 seconds into the game. The Royals were forced to punt and this time Dunn found Kasen Gottfried open for an 11-yard scoring strike and the Rams led 14-0.
“Great film breakdown. Our coaches all had us prepared with good scouting and we executed well,” Rams head coach Russell Hall said.
“Keegan is reading better and things like that. He played well. Coming out and getting rolling offensively, that’s a great feeling. It takes the pressure off the defense and puts the other team in a bind.”
A 47-yard field goal by Kobe Beidelschies put US ahead 17-0, but Wynford answered back.
Brayden Campbell found freshman Braylon Wells open on a nifty 62-yard pass to put the Royals on the board with just under a minute in the first quarter.
Campbell threw for 101 yards and added a pair of 1-yard rushing touchdowns for Wynford (1-4, 0-2).
Head coach Cyle Skidmore said he knew the Rams were skilled.
“Like I always say, Upper has really good athletes. They were able to get the ball in their athletes’ hands, and they were really explosive,” he said.
“They scored pretty quick, and we struggled to come back. Once that happens it’s hard to come back from that.”
Wynford trailed 23-14 at halftime and relied on the running of senior Bryce Locker, who logged 27 carries for 106 yards.
Both teams scored in the third quarter.
The visitors struck on a 42-yard pass from Dunn to Heilman, who wound up with 170 yards on just 4 catches.
Campbell’s second rushing TD made it 30-20 after three quarters. The pass for two that would have made it a one-score game failed.
“They bounced back, and I take that as a positive. We didn’t tap out or give up,” Skidmore said.
The Rams added two fourth-quarter scores on Ethan Lewis runs of 31 and 12 yards running out of a wildcat formation.
“We know that Bryce can run and do some special things, but we’ve got to find a way to throw the ball and put him in a better position, too,” Skidmore said.
“Coach (Andy) Amlin, our defensive coordinator, made adjustments. He does a great job getting the kids in the right position.
“Our kids battle. They’re coachable, they listen and try to do things right.”
The Rams had 389 yards in total offense but got 13 flags for 108 yards in penalties.
The win marks the first for the Rams on Royal Field in 22 years and the first for Hall as head coach.
“This is not an easy place to win. You can look under the play clock and there’s a lot of league championships there. History and tradition,” Hall said.
“I challenged the guys at halftime to try and be the first team since 2002 from Upper Sandusky to beat them. That’s quite a streak they had going.”
Wynford visits Carey Friday while Upper Sandusky hosts Seneca East.
Box score
Score by quarters
Upper Sandusky 17 6 7 14 — 44
Wynford 7 7 6 0 — 20
Scoring summary
First quarter
US — Josh Heilman 80 pass from Keegan Dunn (Kobe Beidelschies kick), 11:48.
US — Kasen Gottfried 11 pass from Dunn (Beidelschies kick), 9:05.
US — Beidelschies 47 field goal, 6:28.
W — Braylon Wells 62 pass from Brayden Campbell (Victor Arellano kick), :49.
Second quarter
W — Campbell 1 run (Arellano kick), 5:43.
US — Cane Rupe 3 pass from Dunn (kick failed), :21.
Third quarter
US — Heilman 42 pass from Dunn (Beidelschies kick), 9:21.
W — Campbell 1 run (kick failed), 5:27.
Fourth quarter
US — Ethan Lewis 31 run (Beidelschies kick), 10:09.
US — Lewis 12 run (Beidelschies kick), 8:49.
Individual statistics
Passing
Upper Sandusky: Keegan Dunn 13-19-0 248; Wynford: Brayden Campbell 4-15-1 101.
Rushing
Upper Sandusky: Ethan Lewis 14-125, Keegan Dunn 5-8, Kaden Vogel 1-6, Camden Balduf 1-2; Wynford: Bryce Locker 27-106, Gage Massey 2-26, Zaiden Sier 6-8, Hunter Stiltner 2-6, Brayden Campbell 11-1, Laivyn Reed 1-(-1).
Receiving—
Upper Sandusky: Josh Heilman 4-170, Caine Rupe 4-33, Ezekiel Baldwin 2-22, Kasen Gottfried 1-11, Ethan Lewis 1-6, Lucas Alspach 1-6; Wynford: Braylon Wells 1-62, Jake Stover 1-20, Gage Massey 1-12, Eli Cooper.
Team statistics
US W
First downs 11 13
Rushing 21-141 49-146
Passes 13-19-0 4-16-2
Yards passing 248 101
Total yards 389 247
Fumbles-lost 0-0 0-0
Punts 4-37.0 3-39.0
Penalties 13-108 8-45