GALION — Week 9 was what you call a get-right week for the Galion Tigers.

Galion defeated River Valley, 42-35, to pick up a win on homecoming. It was a game where the Tigers did not have to punt the ball.

Galion (6-3, 3-3 Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference) has battled the injury bug lately and has dropped three of its last four MOAC games. Senior running back Gabe Ivy was out multiple weeks with an ankle injury, but he looked as if he didn’t miss a beat. Ivy donned his late father Kendall Ivy’s No. 8 and ran for 230 yards in his first game back.

“When you get a kid like him back, he makes you look a heck of a lot smarter,” Galion head coach Matt Dick joked. “We have a great group of kids that when we really design an offense here, when they’re all here we are pretty special.”

Junior quarterback Braxton Prosser had a hat trick of touchdowns in the first half alone, scoring from 16, 35, and 9 yards out. Prosser finished with 134 yards on the ground and completed 5-of-9 passes.

“He played an exceptionally tough game,” Dick said of Prosser. “He’s banged up a little bit. I think his leadership and his positive attitude was awesome tonight. Hats off to him, he really bounced back and had a great week.”

River Valley (4-5, 3-3 MOAC) scored a pair of touchdowns in the first quarter when Chase Ebert found Keyan Shidone on a 74-yard catch-and-run, then Carter Park had a 26-yard touchdown reception.

Ivy added his first of two rushing touchdowns on the night in the second quarter from six yards out to give Galion a 28-14 lead that would stick at halftime.

River Valley came out of the half quickly and hit pay dirt when Ebert hit Shidone from seven yards out to bring the Vikings within a score.

On the following drive, Galion chewed the clock through much of the third quarter and capped it off with a one yard run by Jimmy Hardy to make it 35-21.

Just before the end of the third quarter, the Vikings once again answered the call. Ebert hit Treyton Mercer from eight yards to bring the score to 35-28 heading into the fourth quarter.

“If you watch River Valley that’s kind of the name of the game. Their offense is fast and furious, they’re going to score a lot of points. I told our kids it was going to be a roller coaster,” explained Dick.

Ivy hit the big play that had been brewing all night with a 64-yard run through the heart of the Vikings’ defense early in the fourth.

Ebert drove the Vikings down and scored from two yards out with 5:38 remaining but a big drive by Galion was able to run the clock out.

Ebert was terrific at passing the ball. The River Valley quarterback tossed four touchdowns on 21-of-28 passing for 263 yards.

Galion will finish the regular season at Marion Harding next Friday. The Presidents (3-6) lost to Pleasant, 36-0, on Friday.

The Vikings will finish the season by hosting Clear Fork.

Box score

Score by quarters   

River Valley    14            0         14           7   — 35

Galion               28            0           7           7   — 42

Scoring summary

First quarter

G — Braxton Prosser 16 run (Allen Carver kick).

RV — Keyan Shidone 74 pass from Chase Ebert (Brock Mosher kick).

G — Prosser 35 run (kick failed).

RV — Carter Park 26 pass from Ebert (Mosher kick).

G —Prosser 9 run (Carver kick).

G — Gabe Ivy 6 run (Jacob Chambers run).

Third quarter

RV — Shidone 7 pass from Ebert (Mosher kick).

G — Jimmy Hardy 1 run (Carver kick).

RV — Treyton Mercer 8 pass from Ebert (Mosher kick). 

Fourth quarter

G — Ivy 64 run (Carver kick).

RV — Ebert 2 run (Mosher kick).