ATTICA — After getting boat-raced at Wynford a week earlier, the Bucyrus Redmen had a chance to show how they would respond in a trip to Seneca East.
While the result wasn’t what the Redmen wanted, the effort showed improvement that coach Tim Plumley was looking for.
Bucyrus trailed just 21-14 at halftime and tied the score midway through the third quarter. But the Tigers’ defense stiffened allowing Seneca East to pull away to a 41-21 Northern 10 Athletic Conference victory.
“I don’t feel good about this game, but I feel better,” Plumley said. “We left last week feeling as low as any (team) in the 20 years since I’ve been coaching. It took a lot for the kids to rebound. It took a lot for us to rebound.”
Seneca East (4-1, 2-0 N10) took the early lead on a 3-yard run by Mason Foos in the first quarter.
But the Redmen responded quickly, with a five-play drive capped by a 29-yard touchdown strike from quarterback Malachi Bayless to Mason Gebhardt with 1:16 left in the opening quarter.
“On our first drive, we had a touchdown called back,” Seneca East coach Ed Phillips said. “They got momentum and felt good about themselves. I told the kids early week you can’t let them feel good about themselves or you’re going to have a dogfight.”
The Tigers regained the lead on a 1-yard run by quarterback Gavin Hargis. Again, Bucyrus (1-4, 0-2) answered, this time with an 11-play, 78-yard drive. Eddie Dagher took it in from 11 yards to give the Redmen their only lead of the night, 14-13.
“We had a little different game plan this week,” Plumley said. “I hit my thumb with a hammer enough times, I learned to be a little different.”
Bucyrus ran 31 plays from scrimmage in the first half and 17 of them were runs, all but one by Dagher, who finished the half with 76 yards and a score.
“They came out tonight and took care of the ball,” Phillips said of the Redmen. “They played physical. Credit to them. They played their butts off, gave us a game and gave themselves a chance.”
The Tigers scored with 19 seconds left in the first half on a 1-yard run by Foos to take the 21-14 lead to the locker room.
Seneca East also received the second-half kickoff but the Redmen sacked Hargis for a 30-yard loss and recovered his fumble at the Tigers’ 33. Four plays later, Dagher ran in from 10 yards to knot the score at 21-21.
From there, however, it was all Seneca East. The Redmen netted only eight rushing yards on seven carries the rest of the way. Bucyrus had just 46 yards passing in the second half.
“They stuffed us in the second half, and it just seemed like they had the ball the whole time,” Plumley said. “They even made a couple of mistakes and gave the ball to us, and we gave it right back to them. We couldn’t get anything going.”
Big plays were a nemesis for the Redmen. Luke Bischoff had kickoff returns of 54 and 40 yards. Bischoff was also instrumental in the longest drive of the night.
“Just when they would get the momentum, Luke Bischoff got a couple of big kick returns to reignite us,” Phillips said. “They pinned us on the one (with a punt) and we threw a little fade to him, and he made a big play there to kind of get us out and rolling on a 99-yard drive which was kind of the one that let us breathe a little bit.”
Prior to that drive, Foos had given the Tigers the lead for good with another 1-yard run. The long drive culminated on another big play, a 74-yard run by Hargis to give Seneca East a two-touchdown lead for the first time on the night.
Hargis finished the scoring on a 26-yard run with 7:34 left in the game.
Bayless completed 16 of 24 passes for 160 yards and a touchdown for Bucyrus. Dagher ended with 110 yards rushing and two scores. Grady Jackson had six receptions for 54 yards and Gebhardt grabbed four for 58 yards and a touchdown.
Hargis was 13 of 24 for 210 yards and rushed for 123 yards on 16 carries and three touchdowns for Seneca East. Jesse Beckman had 88 yards on the ground on 14 carries. Bischoff had four catches for 89 yards.
“Hats off to them. I think that’s a really good team,” Plumley said of the Tigers. “I told the kids that’s a good team. They’re big and athletic. They’re missing one of their best players. Their coaches did a good job of getting prepared.”
“I think our kids were very composed at halftime and coming out in the second half,” Phillips said. “You’re a lot better for it than just coming out and having a blowout win. It was a really good learning experience for us. We improved a lot tonight.”
“I’m glad they feel bad because we lost, but they should feel better,” Plumley said. “Our focus has to improve on the fundamentals.”
Box score
Score by quarters
Bucyrus 7 7 7 0 — 21
Seneca East 7 14 7 13 — 41
Scoring summary
First quarter
SE — Mason Foos 3 run (Brandon Hines kick), 3:33.
B — Mason Gebhardt 29 pass from Malachi Bayless (Ethan Huff kick), 1:16.
Second quarter
SE — Gavin Hargis 6 run (kick failed), 6:32.
B — Eddie Dagher 11 run (Huff kick), 1:19.
SE — Foos 1 run (Foos pass from Hargis), :19.
Third quarter
B — Dagher 10 run (Huff kick), 5:43.
SE — Foos 1 run (Hines kick), :37.
Fourth quarter
SE — Hargis 74 run (Hines kick), 11:48.
SE — Hargis 26 run (kick failed), 7:34.
Individual statistics
Passing
Bucyrus: Malachi Bayless 16-24-2 160. Seneca East: Gavin Hargis 13-24-0 210.
Rushing
Bucyrus: Eddie Dagher 25-110, Bayless 3-8. Seneca East: Gavin Hargis 16-123, Jesse Beckman 19-88, Mason Foos 7-29, Dylan Young 3-9, Cody Heibertshausen 2-0.
Receiving
Bucyrus: Grady Jackson 6-54, Mason Gebhardt 4-58, Braxton Lewis 4-42, Eddie Dagher 1-5, Javon Gallardo 1-1. Seneca East: Luke Bischoff 4-89, Cody Heibertshausen 2-40, Mason Foos 3-33, Jesse Beckman 2-27, Korbin Beamer 2-21.
Team statistics
B SE
First downs 13 18
Rushing 28-118 47-249
Passes 16-24-2 13-24-0
Yards passing 160 210
Total yards 278 459
Fumbles-lost 1-0 5-2
Punts-Avg 5-32.4 0-00.0
Penalties 7-36 7-45