BUCYRUS — Offense has been a struggle for Bucyrus in the first four games of the season.
In Week 5, the floodgates opened. The Redmen scored 42 points after having tallied just 48 points in the first four games combined.
But the defensive issues continued as Upper Sandusky ran off with a 68-42 Northern 10 Athletic Conference game Friday night.
The Rams’ Kaden Holman and Bucyrus’ Brayden Campbell played the roles of dueling quarterbacks. Upper Sandusky racked up 533 yards of offense with Holman passing for 318 yards.
The Redmen had 415 yards and Campbell accounted for 340 of those through the air. Three Bucyrus turnovers — two interceptions and a lost fumble — proved to be the difference maker for the Rams.
Holman accounted for eight of the 10 Rams touchdowns, passing for six and rushing for two. He also kicked three extra points, ran for two, and passed for one.
“He’s grown a lot,” Upper Sandusky coach Russell Hall said of his senior signal caller. “He’s putting in a lot of time. It’s very common for him to watch 5-7 hours of film (per week). He watches film like a coach, and it shows.”
Not surprisingly, Holman was leading the N10 in passing entering the game with 995 yards and 10 touchdowns. He was 17 of 18 in the first half for 280 yards. Holman finished the game 22 for 25.
“The offense did come in bunches. In the first half, Holman looked like he was playing against air,” Bucyrus coach Jon Butchko quipped. “Holman was 17 for 18 in the first half. That’s pretty efficient. But we just had to continue trading punches. That’s how this system works.”
Interestingly, the fireworks started on the ground. Blayne Barto ran through a hole off left tackle 67 yards for the first score to give the Redmen an 8-0 lead in the first quarter.
The Rams tied it on the next possession with a five-play 52-yard drive, capped by a 29-yard pass from Holman to Ethan Hill.
On another night, Campbell’s stat line would have been the primary subject matter. The sophomore, making just his third start, passed for five of Bucyrus’ six touchdowns, on 19 of 32 passing, though he did have two interceptions.
“The quarterback there, No. 1 (Campbell) did a great job of pre-snap read,” Hall said. “He must have done an amazing job on his film. He was getting rid of the ball fast. There were guys coming through, but he still gets it off.”
Campbell’s favorite target, Kam Lewis, had a monster night, grabbing 10 balls for 172 yards and two scores. But it was not enough to overcome Holman and the Rams.
“He continues to grow and continues to develop, and he really owned the game plan this week,” Butchko said of Campbell. “We kept it very simple as we committed to do since he’s been here. He does some things very well and we try to live within that.”
Holman passed for two scores and ran for another in the first quarter. He passed for two more and Chayce Thiel ran for one in the second quarter as Upper Sandusky (2-3, 1-1 N10) built a 41-22 halftime lead.
The Rams scored on their first two possessions of the second half to push the lead to 54-22, initiating a running clock.
But Kavan Combs returned the ensuing kickoff 58 yards to the Upper Sandusky 16 and two plays later, Campbell hit Lewis for a score to stop the running clock.
The teams swapped scores on the next two possessions and Bucyrus (0-5, 0-2) prevented the running clock after that.
Ethan Lewis rushed for 108 yards and a touchdown for the Rams and Holman added 99 yards on the ground. Hill caught eight passes for 138 yards and two scores. Josh Heilman had five catches for 84 yards.
Barto finished with 86 yards rushing with a touchdown for the Redmen. Trevor Kirgis was second to Lewis’ 172 yards receiving with 54 on five receptions, Christian Neal had 55 yards on two grabs.
“It was a ton of offense,” Hall said. “Hats off to the Bucyrus coaching staff. Thet came ready to go. They took every ounce of talent that they had and got a ton of mileage out of it.”
“We said at halftime that they were betting that we’d flinch first, and we did,” Butchko said. “We flinched first in the first half.”
“Some of the credit goes to our offensive line,” Hall said. “Our O-line has been improving each game. There’s still stuff we have to fix. Last year, we had four seniors and they’re gone. So, they’ve done a great job accepting the challenge and improving every week.”
“We don’t want to be out there stat grabbing,” Butchko said. “But when you move the ball in this offense, there’s going to be big statistical nights.”
While encouraged by the offensive performance, the coach is not satisfied.
“We told the guys (in the locker room), this isn’t a win light, this isn’t a diet win,” Butchko said. “It’s still a loss. But boy, for the first time in my time here, we were focused on competing. We went through a little dry spell in the second and third quarters, but for the most part, we competed. And that’s something that’s lacked here in my first four games.
“This is still a game of wins and losses,” he added. “You’d rather win than play well in a loss.”
Box score
Score by quarters
Upper Sandusky 20 21 20 7 — 68
Bucyrus 14 8 12 8 — 42
Scoring summary
First quarter
B — Blayne Barto 67 run (Brayden Campbell run), 10:18.
US — Ethan Hill 29 pass from Kaden Holman (Kaleb Francis pass from Holden), 8:17.
US — Hill 14 pass from Holman (pass failed), 6:29.
B — Dylan Coppler 51 pass from Campbell (pass failed), 4:17.
US — Holman 3 run (pass failed), 2:28.
Second quarter
US — Chayce Thiel 2 run (Holman run), 8:28.
US — Francis 17 pass from Holman (Holman kick), 4:17.
B — Kam Lewis 23 pass from Campbell (Barto pass from Campbell), 1:52.
US — Francis 8 pass from Holman (kick failed), :01.
Third quarter
US — Holman 40 run (kick failed), 11:29.
US — Hill 21 pass from Holman (Holman kick), 8:49.
B — Lewis 16 pass from Campbell (pass failed), 7:45.
US — Ethan Lewis 41 run (Holman kick), 6:27.
B — Christian Neal 48 pass from Campbell (pass failed), 1:51.
Fourth quarter
B — Trevor Kirgis 9 pass from Campbell (Coppler pass from Campbell), 8:09.
US — Gavin Frey 9 pass from Holman (Holman kick), 4:12.
Individual statistics
Passing
Upper Sandusky: Kaden Holman 22-25-0 318; Bucyrus: Brayden Campbell 19-32-2 340.
Rushing
Upper Sandusky: Ethan Lewis 11-108, Kaden Holman 11-99, Chayce Thiel 8-16, Ethan Hill 1-3, Peyton Bosley 1-(-8); Bucyrus: Blayne Barto 10-86, Taricus Cosey 1-(-1), Damarius Munn-Page 2-(-2), Brayden Campbell 1-(-8).
Receiving
Upper Sandusky: Ethan Hill 8-138, Josh Heilman 5-84, Kaleb Francis 5-51, Gavin Frey 3-37, Ezekiel Baldwin 1-8; Bucyrus: Kam Lewis 10-172, Trevor Kirgis 5-54, Christian Neal 2-55, Dylan Coppler 1-51, Blayne Barto 1-8.
Team statistics
US B
First downs 19 11
Rushing 33-215 14-75
Passes 22-25-0 19-32-2
Yards passing 318 340
Total yards 533 415
Fumbles-lost 1-0 4-1
Punts-Avg 1-30.0 1-26.0
Penalties 8-80 13-88