ATTICA — For the Bucyrus Redmen, there may be light at the end of the tunnel, considering how they have performed against a difficult early schedule.

After dropping non-league games to undefeated Galion and Grandview Heights, the Redmen traveled to preseason Northern 10 Athletic Conference favorite Seneca East to open league play.

Bucyrus stayed with the Tigers for most of three quarters, trailing just 19-16 at halftime. But the Seneca East defense and running game wore the Redmen down in the second half as they fell, 40-16.

“They’re a very good team, I will say that, and we played well for two quarters,” Bucyrus coach Matt Makeever said of the Tigers. “We made a few plays, but we’ve got to put together four quarters.”

Things did not start well for Bucyrus (1-3, 0-1 N10). On their first possession, the Redmen essentially handed Seneca East its first score. A botched punt attempt left the ball on the Redmen three-yard line.

Skyler Walker wasted no time in taking into the end zone on the first play to give Seneca East (4-0, 1-0) a 6-0 lead.

However, Bucyrus responded. On the first play following the ensuing kickoff, quarterback Ben Seibert connected with Jaylen Zehner on a 66-yard catch-and-run for a score and the Redmen grabbed a 7-6 lead.

The Tigers punched in another score on the last play of the first quarter on a two-yard run by quarterback Chase Foos, to give the hosts a 13-6 lead.

The Redmen cut the deficit to 13-10 on a 26-yard field goal by Tyler Bishop midway through the second quarter. Foos stretched the Tigers’ lead back to 19-10 on a four-yard run with just over two minutes left in the half.

A key turnover — an interception by Andrew Pifer — gave Bucyrus the ball at the Seneca East 29 with less than a minute. Seibert connected with tight end Matt Anderson for the 29-yard score and the Redmen trailed by just three heading to intermission.

“We had some big plays. We had a couple of screens that went a good distance and our sweep was solid too, it was early,” Makeever said. “In the second half, things got away from us.”

Bucyrus squandered a golden opportunity to tie the game or take the lead early in the third quarter. Seneca East received the kickoff to start the second half but fumbled the ball back to the Redmen at the Tigers’ 43.

However, a holding penalty and two bad snaps took the ball all the way back to the Bucyrus 27 and a short punt set Seneca East up at the Redmen 46.

The Tigers used 10 plays to score — aided by a critical pass interference on third down — with Jesse Beckman taking it the last seven yards to pay dirt and it was 27-16. The Bucyrus offense never recovered.

Penalties — which have plagued the Redmen in all four games — began to pile up and the offense was stifled by the Seneca East defense. Bucyrus had virtually no net yards and was 0-5 passing in the second half.

Beckman had a big second half filling in for Walker who left the game temporarily with an injury. Beckman finished with 51 yards rushing and two scores.

The Redmen played a little short-handed and banged up, but the coach did not use that as a crutch.

“They brought in a fresh kid (Beckman) and he ran hard,” Makeever said. “There’s no excuses. We had plenty of time to get our team ready. I like the kids we had out there.”

Seneca East added touchdowns a Walker one-yard run on the first play of the fourth quarter and a window-dressing one-yard run from Beckman with 1:36 left in the game.

Chase Foos was 14 of 22 for 178 yards to lead the Tigers, though he did throw two picks. Walker finished with 97 yards on 17 carries and two scores. Jacob Siesel caught seven passes for 75 yards and Mason Foos grabbed three for 71 yards.

Seibert was eight of 18 passing for 175 yards to lead the Redmen. Zehner caught four balls for 77 yards and a score. Lincoln Mollenkopf rushed for 45 yards on seven carries and caught two passes for 52 yards.

“It was not our best football we put out there in the second half,” Makeever said. “We’ll get better.”

The fact that the combined record of the opponents who have defeat Bucyrus is 12-0 is of small consolation to Makeever.

“We’re not looking for moral victories. We’re better than that,” Makeever said. “We’re looking for real ones and that’s what we’re working for every day.”

Box score

Bucyrus                  7          9         0         0   — 16

Seneca East         13           6          8        13   — 40

Scoring summary

First quarter

SE — Skyler Walker 3 run (kick failed), 9:16.

B — Jaylen Zehner 66 pass from Ben Seibert (Tyler Bishop kick), 8:52.

SE — Chase Foos 2 run (Foos kick), :00.

Second quarter

B — Tyler Bishop 26 field goal, 6:42.

SE— Foos 4 run (kick blocked), 2:27.

B — Matt Anderson 29 pass from Seibert (pass failed), :33.

Third quarter

SE — Jesse Beckman 7 run (Beckman run), 5:05.

Fourth quarter

SE — Walker 1 run (Foos kick), 11:55.

SE — Beckman 1 run (kick failed), 1:36.

Individual statistics

Passing

Bucyrus: Ben Seibert 8-18-0 175.

Seneca East: Chase Foos 14-22-2 178.

Rushing

Bucyrus: Lincoln Mollenkopf 7-45, Seibert 12-(-66), Devon Newland 2-5, Hastin Zier 1-(-4).

Seneca East: Skyler Walker 17-97, Jesse Beckman 13-51, Chase Foos 9-32, Blaine Cottingham 1-1, Mason Foos 1-0.

Receiving

Bucyrus: Jaylen Zehner 4-77, Mollenkopf 2-42, Matt Anderson 1-29, Hastin Zier 1-17.

Seneca East: Jacob Siesel 7-75, Mason Foos 3-71, Cottingham 2-11, Wyatt Sanders 1-13, Beckman 1-8.

Team statistics

B         SE

First downs            7           20

Rushing             22-(-20)    41-181

Passes                  8-18-0     14-22-2

Yards passing      175           178

Total yards          155            359

Fumbles-lost       6-0           2-1

Punts-Avg          6-27.5       1-20.0

Penalties              8-75       6-60