CALEDONIA — For several months, no one knew for sure there would even be a high school football season in 2020.

Then, when Galion and River Valley finally got the go-ahead to begin their seasons, well, they had to wait two hours longer than expected.

The game was delayed because of lightning for 2:06 Friday night at River Valley High School, and, when the game finally kicked off, the two teams struggled to get any momentum offensively.

River Valley took somewhat control of the game in the fourth quarter and used a Luke Rogers four-yard touchdown run with 4:34 left in the game to edge the Tigers, 20-19.

With just one scrimmage this season because of the coronavirus, Galion coach Matthew Dick said that getting his team on the same page has been difficult.

Then, getting his team on the field Friday night was a balancing act.

“It was really hard,” Dick said. “We had to prepare for COVID and we had to jump through so many hoops. We had a sandwich about 8:15 or 8:30 and got some juice going in them and the kids were ready to play.

“Cramping really hurt us tonight,” Dick added. “We had to drink some more water and get some salt in their systems. We have to work hard on that, and I talked to them about that. If you add 30 plays to our top-five players, it makes a difference, and this was a one-point game.”

Valley scored first midway through the first quarter when wideout Karson Lang stretched out and grabbed an 11-yard scoring pass from Cayden Shidone and the Vikings had a 7-0 lead.

Galion tied the game early in the second when a bad snap on a River Valley punt sailed over the punter’s head and the Tigers recovered at the River Valley one.

On the next play, Galion quarterback Wilson Frankhouse swept left and scored, tying the game at 7-7.

The Tigers took the lead on the next possession. Frankhouse capped an 80-yard march with a four-yard run. The critical extra point was blocked, and Galion held a 13-7 lead.

The Vikings took a 14-13 lead into the half when Lang got behind the Galion defense and grabbed a 40-yard scoring pass.

The Tigers scored in the third period when wideout Hanif Donaldson swept the right end and scored from 13 yards away. Galion went for two, but the pass failed, and the Tigers took a 19-14 lead into the final period.

River Valley slowly began to take control of the game, however, twice moving inside the Galion 20 before losing both possessions, one on downs and one on an interception at the goal line.

Then, Rogers scored late in the game to win it. Rogers finished with 91 yards in 17 carries but both teams were inconsistent offensively.

“I think both teams were trying to find themselves,” Dick said. “We got a lot in offensively but not a lot of it looked very good. Defensively, we had a couple of breakdowns, too. We looked really awesome at times and bad at times. As a coach, I have to look in the mirror and go, ‘What can I take away or what can I add that fits this group of players?’

“We’re going to try and find that, and make adjustments,” Dick added. “We had trouble lining up on the right side and that kind of stuff. We have to find ourselves offensively, especially in the run game.”

Donaldson had a big night for the Tigers, catching nine passes for 66 yards while rushing for 31 yards in six carries. He also made the interception on the goal line.

Box score

River Valley 20, Galion 19

Score by quarters

Galion                 0         13          6         0   — 19

River Valley       7           7          0         6   — 20

 Scoring summary

First quarter

RV — Karson Lang 11 pass from Cayden Shidone (Owen Richards kick), 5:25.

Second quarter

G — Wilson Frankhouse 1 run (Dominic Pittman kick), 11:20.

G — Frankhouse 4 run (kick blocked), 3:36.

RV — Lang 40 pass from Shidone (Richards kick), 1:07.

Third quarter

G — Hanif Donaldson 13 run (run failed), 8:38.

Fourth quarter

RV — Luke Rogers 4 run (pass failed), 4:34.

Individual statistics

Passing

Galion:  Wilson Frankhouse 11-21-1 87. River Valley: Cayden Shidone 13-30-1 171.

Rushing

Galion: Hanif Donaldson 6-31, Frankhouse 14-8. River Valley: Luke Rogers 17-91, Shidone 16-56.

Receiving

Galion: Donaldson 9-76, Caleb Branstetter 1-6. River Valley: N/A.

Team statistics

G            RV

First downs                   6             16

Rushing                      28-57       36-144

Passes                         11-21-1     13-30-1

Yards passing               87             171

Total yards                   144           315