UPPER SANDUSKY — In a game where the teams score a combined 90 points and 900 yards of offense, it’s surprising that it all came down to a defensive stand, but that’s what happened as Upper Sandusky lost a 46-44 shootout to Seneca East on Friday in the beginning of Northern 10 Athletic Conference play.
“It came down to the last drive,” Seneca East coach Ed Phillips said. “Thank God that we made the plays we had to on offense and defense to come out on top.”
Trailing 46-44, Upper Sandusky received the ball on its own 29-yard line with 3:17 remaining in the fourth quarter. The Rams advanced into Seneca East territory on a 26-yard pass from quarterback Kaden Holman to Josh Heilman. A pair of runs from Holman advanced the Rams to the Seneca East 23-yard line, but that was as close as they would get. Needing nine yards for a first down, Holman threw consecutive incomplete passes toward the end zone to turn the ball over on downs with less than a minute remaining in the game. With no timeouts for the Rams, Seneca East was able to end the game in victory formation.
“It came down to the last possession,” Upper Sandusky coach Russell Hall said. “It could have gone either way. I felt very confident going in that we were going to finish that drive, punch it in and take the lead late and go ahead with the win, even on the fourth-down play. It just didn’t happen.”
Seneca East took the lead on a nine-play, 75-yard drive in the fourth quarter that included seven runs from quarterback Blake Foos and a pair of passes, the second of which was a 16-yard strike to Nicholas Parks for the go-ahead score.
“That was special,” Phillips said. “It was Parks’ first career touchdown and he got it at the perfect moment.”
Seneca East wore Upper Sandusky down in the second half as Foos ran 24 times for 227 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Phillips credited the play of his team’s offensive line.
“Nick Daniel, Dom Hemmer, Brett Martin, Mason Holmer, Caden Miller, they don’t get their names in the paper much, but with the numbers we put up on offense, they deserve it tonight.”
Seneca East opened the scoring on its second drive. Freshman running back Jackson Gayheart took off for 28 yards on a carry to put Seneca East in the red zone, then he finished the drive with a 1-yard plunge into the end zone to put Seneca East on top 7-0.
Upper Sandusky responded with a lightning-quick score on three plays in just 40 seconds as Holman found Kaleb Francis for a 26-yard pass. A two-point conversion to Francis gave the Rams an 8-7 lead at the end of the first quarter.
Both teams traded possessions until the Rams again had a quick drive, this time capped off by a 66-yard pass from Holman to Francis to give Upper Sandusky a 14-7 lead after the extra point was missed. Seneca East wasted no time tying the game on a two-play drive that resulted in a 54-yard scoring pass from Foos to Laine Dixon.
The Tigers took the lead with 5:10 remaining in the first half on an 11-yard shovel pass from Foos to Taylor Young to make it 20-14, but Upper Sandusky responded with a 13-play, 81-yard drive that culminated in a 3-yard run from Holman to tie the game at 20 heading into halftime.
“Holman’s good,” Phillips said. “He’s so good. When we contained him, we were pretty good. We brought some pressure, but he scrambles around and makes you miss.”
Upper Sandusky received the ball to open the second half and the Rams marched down the field and scored quickly on a 39-yard run by Holman to give the Rams a 26-20 lead, but it didn’t last long as Seneca East quickly tied the game on a three-play drive in which Foos found Luke Hicks for a 58-yard strike over the middle. The Rams again scored on a nine-play, 68-yard drive as Holman scored his third rushing touchdown of the game to put Upper Sandusky back on top 32-26.
On Seneca East’s next possession, Upper Sandusky defender Kaden Vogel stepped in front of a Foos pass for an interception and took off 50 yards to the house.
“That was fantastic,” Hall said. “That’s a young guy stepping in. Kaden Vogel is a sophomore. He had a great offseason, put on 20 pounds of muscle, and hit the weight room hard whenever it was open. It’s great to see him have success. He’s a kid that practices hard. If we told him to play center, he’d play center. If we asked him to play receiver, he’d play receiver. He’s a great kid. It’s great to see him get that pass, turn his head on a swivel, and make that big play.”
With Vogel’s score, Upper Sandusky led 38-26, but the lead didn’t last long. Seneca East responded with a four-play drive finished by a 24-yard run by Foos to make it 38-32. Upper Sandusky was forced to punt on its next possession after going three-and-out and Seneca East marched 58 yards on just four plays to take the lead after a 3-yard run by Foos and a successful two-point conversion pass from Foos to Will Bischoff to make it 40-38.
“You could kind of sense it in the third quarter.” Phillips said. “I told the kids when we went down two scores, I could still kind of feel our offensive line was taking over and we’d kind of wore them out, and they had. They knew we were gonna run it a lot and we still ran it.”
The Rams scored one final time on their next possession to take the lead. After Holman had been sacked to make it third and 16, he found Francis for a third receiving touchdown, this time a 29-yard strike in the corner of the end zone. Francis finished the game with four receptions for 133 yards and three touchdowns. Before Friday, he had never scored a touchdown in a varsity game.
“Kaleb was doing fantastic,” Hall said. “He’s had fantastic practices all week. I can count on him to go hard and run his right routes, see the ball in. He’s on every special team. He’s a great kid, works hard and it’s great to see it pay off for him.”
Foos finished the game 18 of 23 passing for 218 yards and four touchdowns with a pair of interceptions.
“Hats off to their offensive coordinator,” Hall said. “He did a great job game planning for how we were defending their formations. He just did an unbelievable job of putting his best football player Foos in a position to carry their offense.”
Holman was a one-man wrecking crew himself. He ran 21 times for 140 yards and three touchdowns and completed 13 passes for 273 yards and three scores.
“Kaden was pretty hot tonight,” Hall said. “He was locked in running the ball and throwing the ball.”
Hall wishes the game would have gone his way, but he said he can’t fault the effort of his players.
“I’m proud of the kids,” he said. “They kept fighting. To be in the game with a chance to win it on your last possession, that’s all we can ask.”
Hall said he’s taking a lesson from a former coach into the rest of the football season.
“I had a football coach in college say, ‘You never stay the same. You either get better or worse,’” Hall said. “We’ve got to look at what we can do to get better and get back in that win column.”
For Phillips, the victory was extra sweet. Not only was the game a back-and-forth scrap in which his Tigers came out on top, it was also his 100th victory as a football coach.
“It was a special night,” Phillips said. “The N10 is awfully good this year. I think you’re gonna have a lot of nights like this. It’s a great way to start it off.”
Next up, Upper Sandusky travels to Bucyrus Friday, while Seneca East is at Colonel Crawford.
Box score
Score by quarters
Seneca East 7 13 12 14 — 46
Upper Sandusky 8 12 18 6 — 44
First quarter
SE — Gayheart 1 run (Hicks kick), 6:40.
US — Francis 26 pass from Holman (Francis pass from Holman), 6:00.
Second quarter
US — Francis 66 pass from Holman (kick failed), 9:33.
SE — Dixon 54 pass from Foos (Hicks kick).
SE — Young 11 pass from Foos (kick failed), 5:10.
US — Holman 3 run (pass failed), 1:33.
Third quarter
US — Holman 39 run (run failed), 10:20.
SE — Hicks 58 pass from Foos (kick failed), 9:19.
US — Holman 3 run (pass failed), 4:47.
US — Vogel 50 interception return (pass failed), 4:19.
SE — Foos 24 run (pass failed), 2:51.
Fourth quarter
SE — Foos 3 run (Bishoff pass from Foos), 11:52.
US — Francis 29 pass from Holman (run failed), 7:18.
SE — Parks 16 pass from Foos (pass failed), 3:17.
Individual statistics
Passing
Seneca East: Foos 18-23-2 218.
Upper Sandusky: Holman 13-30-1, 273.
Rushing
Seneca East: Foos 24-227, Gayheart 6-42.
Upper Sandusky: Holman 21-140, Ward 6-24, Hale 5-17.
Receiving
Seneca East: Young 8-53, Fritz 5-36, Parks 2-16, Hicks 1-58, Dixon 1-54, Gayheart 1-1.
Upper Sandusky: Hill 5-67, Francis 4-133, Heilman 2-37, Frey 2-36.
Team statistics
SE US
First downs 18 18
Yards rushing 30-269 32-181
Yards passing 218 273
Passes 18-23-2 13-30-1
Fumbles lost 0-0 2-0
Punts 3-36.7 3-33.3
Penalties 8-58 12-99