GALION (Crawford County Now) — The brothers Hay are always energized, according to Galion head coach Matt Dick. They brought that energy in a 20-7 Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference season ending win over Clear Fork at Heise Park Friday night.

Sophomores Kane Hay (27-yard touchdown and two interceptions on defense) and brother Kurt Hay (20-yard TD reception) provided big plays when they were needed.

“They’re always wound up and always chirping at me, sometimes a little much. But golly, do they play well,” Dick said.

Kane’s touchdown with 3:13 left in the first quarter got the Tigers on the board and the crowd fired up on Senior Night.

“They’re special athletes and they are coming back, which is good. We lose a huge senior class.”

“Whether it’s interceptions or somehow we leak them out on a wheel or something, they make a lot of plays for us.”

Kane Hay said his teammates are ready to move on after a tough MOAC schedule but will welcome the off week.

“We need rest, we have a lot of kids sore,” he said. “We should get a bye and two home games, then hopefully get a rematch with Shelby.”

“We knew they (Clear Fork) were going to be tough on the line, and they got some sacks. Our wide receivers, when they’re manning you and playing with just one single high safety, there’s only so much they can do.”

“Me and my brother have a tight bond, and we push each other, even after a touchdown.”

The two teams combined for eight turnovers and 175 penalty yards, which is a lot for two playoff-bound teams.

“We’ll take any win we get at this point,” Dick said. “It just got really sloppy, I get tired of the penalties and that type of stuff,” Dick said.

“Our ability to score right before half was huge for us. But the wrinkles you saw us use maybe adds to their brain and we got some of those dumb penalties. We did a lot of false starting tonight and we’ll watch film and see what was going on.”

Galion (9-1, 6-1) is ranked second in Division IV, Region 14 and will get a first-round bye in the new OHSAA playoffs format.

Sophomore Devin Oswalt went high on a pretty catch from Clear Fork quarterback Marcus Hoeflich for the Colts’ lone score with a minute and a half left in the second quarter.

“We played great defense all year. But it’s nice when you can run the ball and put our defense in a better position. When you’re always in first-and-15, which it felt like we were the whole second half — and we even had some good plays — first-and-15 or second-and-25 … you just can’t do that against a good football team.

“Ayden Schmidt punted the crap out of the ball, and all year he has done that. He’s probably an all-Ohio punter.”

Clear Fork (6-4, 4-3) is ranked eighth in the same region and will host a first-round game next Friday night.

“Our guys definitely played hard. Defensively, we did a lot of really good things tonight. Offensively, we didn’t take care of the ball at times,” CF head coach Aaron Brokaw said.

“We thought we were going to be able to do some things, and Galion had answers for them. We countered, but we just weren’t able to finish drives. It’s frustrating offensively. They’re a good team, but we didn’t come over here and play a good game.”

Brokaw stated the obvious.

“Two pretty good defenses going at it tonight. Both teams had some issues with turnovers, that’s obviously something that when we take care of the ball, we have more success. That’s not anything revolutionary, that’s just football in a nutshell,” he said.

Dick, like all Ohio football coaches, is unsure how the open week will affect his squad.

“We’ve got to figure it out yet. Never remember having a bye week. Obviously, we’ll go light and let them heal a little bit. Jacob Chambers and some guys are a little bit banged up.”

Chambers, senior wide receiver and defensive back, exited the game late in the first half and didn’t return.

“Can we work that mental approach to the game? We don’t have to hit. It can be like jog-throughs. We just find a way to be a little bit smarter and fix some of the sloppy play,” Dick said.

Trey Longwell had several tackles and a fumble recovery for the Galion defense. Jameson Glew added a pick.

Zach Sallee and Dominic Capretta combined for a sack of Hoeflich that quelled a Colt drive to open the second half.

Box score

Score by quarters   

Clear Fork     0            7            0           0   — 7

Galion            7          13            0           0   — 20

Scoring summary

First quarter

G — Kurt Hay 27 pass from Ayden Schmidt (Braylen Beachy kick), 3:13.

Second quarter

G — Schmidt 1 run (kick blocked), 2:30.

CF — Devin Oswalt 30 Pass from Marcus Hoeflich (Nash Evans kick), 1:29.

G — Kurt Hay 20 pass from Schmidt (Beachy kick), :11.

Individual statistics

Passing

Clear Fork: Marcus Hoeflich 9-28-0 93; Galion: Ayden Schmidt 15-22-0 184.

Rushing

Clear Fork: Ben Campbell 10-35, Marcus Hoeflich 7-12, Porter Schmidt 10-7, Alex Schlosser 1-5; Galion: Braxton Stuckman 13-52, Camden Kuehlman 11-23, Kane Hay 4-10, Ayden Schmidt 12-7, Kurt Hay 1-0.

Receiving

Clear Fork: Brody Oswalt 2-37, Quentin Rinehart 2-24, Nash Evans 3-21, Porter Schmidt 2-11: Galion: Jacob Chambers 3-60, Kane Hay 4-37, Kurt Hay 2-27, Jameson Glew 2-20, Dominic Capretta 2-15, Cohen Adams 1-14, Camron Smith 1-11.

Team statistics 

CF                G

First downs                        7               13

Rushing                        28-59          41-92

Passes                            9-28-3        15-22-0

Yards passing                 93               184

Total yards                      152             276

Fumbles-lost                   2-2              4-3

Penalties                         8-70           12-105