BUCYRUS (Crawford County Now) — For Bucyrus, moving the ball on offense has not been a big problem. Roadblocks to the end zone — many self-inflicted — have been the issue.
It was more of the same on Friday night against visiting Upper Sandusky.
The Redmen tallied 211 yards of offense by halftime to the Rams’ 268. Yet the visitors held a 28-0 lead at intermission. That laid the groundwork for a 49-14 Upper Sandusky victory in a Northern 10 Athletic Conference game.
“We get in our own way,” Bucyrus coach Jon Butchko said. “That’s what happens when you play young, relatively inexperienced guys, patchwork guys or different guys because someone’s unavailable for some reason or another. That kind of stuff happens and, boy, it seems to happen to us a lot.”
The Redmen had two golden opportunities to find the end zone in the first half. In the first quarter, they drove to the Upper Sandusky five, only to have a penalty and subsequent interception derail the drive.
In the second quarter, they got to the Rams’ 34, where Bucyrus had one reception that the receiver fell down and another wide-open pass was dropped. Either play would have possibly gone for a score or at least got deep into the red zone.
“It should have been like 28-14 at the half and it was 28-zip and that’s a whole other situation,” Butchko said.
Upper Sandusky (3-4, 2-2 N10) took full advantage. The Rams scored the first points on a 21-yard run by Ethan Lewis.
“We got a lot of momentum,” Upper Sandusky coach Russell Hall said. “We were able to get up a couple scores, made them throw the ball more than they probably wanted to — to try to go away from their running game a little bit.”
Big plays were the theme for the Rams. The second score came on a 78-yard catch-and-run by Ezekiel Baldwin on a pass from Keegan Dunn. Baldwin touched the ball twice on offense and both went for touchdowns. The other came on a 28-yard run in the third quarter.
Special teams got the third touchdown with an 85-yard punt return from Travis Klaus. Hall was pleased with the punt return TD.
“Upper Sandusky doesn’t have a lot of punt returns for touchdowns in its history,” Hall said. “And now, (Travis Klaus) is on that list.”
The fourth score of the first half came on a Dunn-to-Josh Heilman connection from 22 yards out.
“Hats off to the offense, executing up front, quarterbacks, tailbacks, receivers. They did a nice job as a unit.”
Bucyrus (1-6, 0-4) finally dented the scoreboard with a 21 pass from Isaac Makeever to Da’Shawn Cosey to get within 28-7. But Klaus grabbed a 27-yard strike from Dunn to make it 35-7 Rams after 3.
“We told them you’re going to have to match scores,” Butchko said. “Our problems are what they are defensively, and they’ve got some skill guys. Lewis is a problem. I’m glad he’s graduating. (Dunn) is pretty good for a first-year starter.”
Dunn had a 14-yard run to start the fourth quarter and Baldwin finished the scoring with his 28-yard scamper. In between, Wyatt Makeever ran 13 yards for Bucyrus’ second touchdown.
Isaac Makeever passed for 233 yards, completing 14 of 38 tosses good for a touchdown, though he had three interceptions. Brother Wyatt rushed for 50 yards on 13 carries and a score.
“We’ve been in a situation with young quarterbacks the last three years,” Butchko said. “The best snaps they get in is the back end of these blowouts, whether it’s against backups or even against ones. These are better reps than we can give (Isaac) at practice, and he needs reps.”
Dunn was 15 of 21 for 335 yards and three scores with a pick. Lewis rushed for 87 yards and a score while Caine Rupe led six different receivers with 98 yards on five catches.
The Rams were able to maneuver around 102 yards in penalties.
“Obviously, you’d like to play a much cleaner game, but unfortunately, it is what it is,” Hall said. “All you can do is focus on the next play and try to do things right.”
Big plays were integral to dodging around the penalties.
“The big plays happen when you do things right,” Hall said. “The routes are called to try to attack the coverage. If you run it right, there’s a good chance you’re going to be open, assuming we read it right and block it right up front. We were able to do that pretty consistently.”
“They wore us down. We got worn down,” Butchko said. “We have a couple of big guys, but we’re not big overall. We’re not terribly fast overall and we’re not great tacklers, which is a heck of a problem to have defensively.”
The Rams currently sit 17th in the Division IV, Region 14 computer rankings. Only the top 12 per region make the post season so the Rams have their work cut out for them if they are going to play in Week 11.
“We just have to play one game at a time, one play at a time and let the chips fall and see where they are,” Hall said.
“We never like to make excuses,” Butchko said. “We know our situation is tough, but it’s going to breed tough people, I hope.”
Score by quarters
Upper Sandusky 14 14 7 14 — 49
Bucyrus 0 0 7 7 — 14
Scoring summary
First quarter
US — Ethan Lewis 21 run (Kobe Beidelschies kick), 7:46.
US — Ezekiel Baldwin 78 pass from Keegan Dunn (Beidelschies kick), 2:05.
Second quarter
US — Travis Klaus 85 punt return (Beidelschies kick), 11:24.
US — Josh Heilman 22 pass from Dunn (Beidelschies kick), :23.
Third quarter
B — Da’Shawn Cosey 21 pass from Isaac Makeever (Cooper Kalb kick), 4:16.
US — Klaus 27 pass from Dunn (Beidelschies kick), 2:45.
Fourth quarter
US — Dunn 14 run (Beidelschies kick), 11:37.
B — Wyatt Makeever 13 run (Kalb kick), 8:22.
US — Baldwin 28 run (Beidelschies kick), 5:44.
Individual statistics
Passing
Upper Sandusky: 15-21-1 335; Bucyrus: Isaac Makeever 14-38-3 233.
Rushing
Upper Sandusky: Ethan Lewis 13-87, Keegan Dunn 5-35, Ezekiel Baldwin 1-28, Camden Balduf 4-21, Kasen Gottfried 2-18, Kaden Vogel 1-6, Declan Pelfry 1-(-3); Bucyrus: Wyatt Makeever 13-50, Isaac Makeever 15-25.
Receiving
Upper Sandusky: Caine Rupe 5-98, Ezekiel Baldwin 1-78, Kasen Gottfried 3-67, Josh Heilman 3-44, Travis Klaus 2-26, Ryan Day 1-22; Bucyrus: Christian Neal 6-127, Dylan Coppler 2-43, Wyatt Makeever 3-25, Da’Shawn Cosey 2-25, Paten Deskins 1-13.
Team statistics
US B
First downs 17 20
Rushing 27-192 28-75
Passes 15-21-1 14-38-3
Yards passing 335 233
Total yards 527 308
Fumbles-lost 2-0 0-0
Punts-Avg 1-47.0 3-33.3
Penalties 5-50 11-102