GALION (Crawford County Now) — Bye weeks have their pros and cons.

One of the cons can be rust due to the week off. That may have affected Galion in the first half of its Division IV regional semifinal game against Cloverleaf on Friday night.

The Tigers offense sputtered somewhat in the first half, hampered by penalties. Galion led the Colts just 13-3 at intermission.

But the No. 2 seeded Tigers shook off the rust early on in the second half to roll to a 41-10 win over 10th seeded Cloverleaf at Unckrich Stadium.

Galion (10-1) advances to the regional semifinal next week, hosting No. 6 Sandusky Perkins (9-3), a 31-0 winner over Napoleon.

“A little bit of penalties kind of hurt us,” Galion coach Matt Dick said of his team’s sluggish first-half offense. “We had a boot play right before halftime that was for a touchdown, and our left tackle just went an inch downfield too far. He’s just being aggressive. We’ll take aggressive mistakes.”

The Tigers had no such problems in the second half. Quarterback Ayden Schmidt ran a keeper for 63 yards and a score on the second play of the third quarter to bump the Galion lead to 20-3 and the floodgates opened.

Zach Sallee blocked a punt on the ensuing Colts possession and Dominic Capretta fell on it in the end zone for another score and it was 27-3 Tigers less than two minutes of play clock into the second half.

“Our halftime adjustment…we didn’t go in there and yell at them or anything,” Dick said. “They just got to regroup and let’s go play a clean half and we really focused on playing every play. Every play matters, I don’t care what the score is.”

After being flagged for seven penalties for 70 yards in the first half, Galion was infraction free in the second half and committed no turnovers.

Cloverleaf (7-5) went 3-and-out on its next possession, and a short punt gave the Tigers field position at the Colts’ 47. Six plays later Braxton Stuckman finished the drive from 3 yards out — his third of three scores — and Galion had a running clock at 34-3.

The Tigers leaned on the running game in the second half, not throwing a single pass in the final two quarters.

The coach highlighted the work of his quarterback, Schmidt, along with Stuckman, Camden Kuehlman, and Kale Early for the success of the ground attack.

“It’s nice to have three guys (running backs) that are fresh,” Dick said.

Galion’s offense was effective even with the loss of receiver Jacob Chambers, a key weapon until an injury sidelined him in Week 10. Others picked up the slack nicely.

“Hats off to Jamesen Glew,” Dick said. “He’s a guy whose been playing receiver for us all year — and he’s had a couple of interceptions defensively — he’s played spotty and now he’s a 2-way guy.”

Kuehlman erased all doubt with a 23-yard scoring run with just over a minute left in the third quarter to push the Tigers’ lead to 41-3.

The Colts — who had been held to a 27-yard field goal by Austin Suserstic in the first quarter — finally hit paydirt with a 2-yard run by Ethan Gray with 4:07 left in the game to set the final score.

Stuckman had registered both Galion scores in the first half on runs of one-yard and 10-yards.

The advantage the Tigers had in overall team speed was apparent, especially defensively in holding Cloverleaf to 190 total yards.

“We put a lot of emphasis on speed,” Dick said. “All winter long, we’re running and I think that really, really shows. That’s how that 150-pound kid about 5-8 makes a ton of plays versus all those monsters that are out there. Next week, I’m sure they’re going to get bigger. Our speed and toughness will really show.”

Schmidt was an efficient four for eight passing for 60 yards. He also rushed for 97 yards on five carries with a score. Stuckman finished with 79 yards on 16 carries and three touchdowns. Glew had two catches for 33 yards and Kurt Hay grabbed two balls for 27 yards.

Gray topped the Colts statistically with 66 yards on 20 tries. Isaac Smith threw for 97 yards, completing seven of 14 throws with an interception. Marzell Davis had 41 receiving yards on two catches and Jimmy Tolley had three receptions for 29 yards.

“We’re playing what, Week 13 now?” Dick inquired. “Pretty special group. Pretty awesome to be around, be a part of.”

But the Tigers have unfinished business.

“We’re trying to shoot for the stars and if we land them on the moon, it’s all good,” Dick said.

Box score

Score by quarters   

Cloverleaf      3           0            0           7   — 10

Galion            7           6          28           0   — 41

Scoring summary

First quarter

G — Braxton Stuckman 1 run (Braylen Beachy kick), 6:35.

C — Austin Suserstic 27 field goal, :27.

Second quarter

G — Stuckman 10 run (kick failed), 2:44.

Third quarter

G — Ayden Schmidt 63 run (Beachy kick), 11:14.

G — Diminic Capretta recovered a blocked punt in the end zone (Beachy kick), 10:20.

G — Stuckman 3 run (Beachy kick), 6:51.

G — Camden Kuehlman 23 run (Beachy kick), 1:05.

Fourth quarter

C — Ethan Gray 2 run (Suserstic kick), 4:07.

Individual statistics

Passing

Cloverleaf: Isaac Smith 7-14-1 97, Zayne Trent 0-1-0 0; Galion: Ayden Schmidt 4-8-0 60.

Rushing

Cloverleaf: Ethan Gray 20-66, Brayden Beier 1-26, Marzell Davis 2-15, Elliott Jordan 1-(-4), Zayne Trent 1-(-4), Isaac Smith 7-(-6); Galion: Ayden Schmidt 5-97. Braxton Stuckman 16-79, Camden Kuehlman 5-38, Kale Early 2-18, Cameron Manley 2-11, Kurt Hay 1-8, Sam Evans 1-5, Trentyn Bare 2-3, Blake Chelski 1-1, Ramon Hawk 1-(-1), Caden Dick 1-(-3), Kane Hay 1-(-5).

Receiving

Cloverleaf: Marzell Davis 2-41, Jimmy Tolley 3-29, Zayne Trent 1-21, Brayden Beier 1-6: Galion: Jameson Glew 2-33, Kurt Hay 2-27.

Team statistics 

C                G

First downs                       9               11

Rushing                         32-93        38-251

Passes                            7-15-1         4-8-0

Yards passing                  97                60

Total yards                      190              311

Fumbles-lost                   1-0               1-0

Penalties                          6-70           7-70