SHELBY (Crawford County Now) — It’s one of the oldest rivalries in Ohio dating back to 1894.
And Friday’s installment of Shelby vs. Galion might’ve been the most anticipated one to date with the Whippets ranked No. 1 in the state and the Tigers coming in at No. 8 in Division IV.
After a back-and-forth first half, Shelby (4-0, 1-0) made some key tweaks at halftime that proved to be the difference in a 45-34 Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference win.
“You’re talking about a rivalry as old as any in the state … and two teams that play hard, play physical, and I thought it was an awesome football game,” Shelby coach Rob Mahaney said. “Our kids did a great job of coming out after halftime and being really physical — especially the offensive line and the run game — to be able to control the game, control the clock, and find a way to win. And a ton of credit to our defense, they came back out and settled in in the second half.”
Senior quarterbacks Brayden DeVito and Ayden Schmidt dueled through the first three quarters and into the fourth before a punt with pinpoint accuracy pinned the Tigers on their one-yard line trailing 35-28. Two plays later the Whippets recorded a safety to knock the wind out of Galion’s sails and went on to score on the ensuing drive from the free kick to build a 45-28 lead.
“Michael Shepherd with a great punt to put it right down there, and then our defense made a huge play,” Mahaney said. “And then we got the ball back and scored again to kind of really seal it and get the two-point conversion to make it three possessions.”
One of the most important plays of the game, however, came early in the fourth quarter when DeVito punched in an eight-yard touchdown for the go-ahead score. It wasn’t the touchdown, though, it was Everett Harris stepping up for an extra point after missing his first two attempts which led to the Whippets going for two twice.
What does the junior do? Drills it at a time where the teams were trading blows and every single point mattered.
“I thought it was huge,” Mahaney said. “You talk about a kid that missed two, and in the headsets we discuss — do we go for two, or do we trust our kicker? We decided to kick it, and Everett made it. It’s just one of those moments where you trust your kids, and everyone out there delivered.”
When the team needed him most, DeVito stepped up in a big way helping in double coverage allowing Kaden Paz to intercept Schmidt for his lone blemish of the game. That drive led to the punt that led to the safety recorded by DeVito and Brice Sampsel.
“At halftime we go in and make adjustments,” DeVito said. “Our coaches came in with the whiteboard and the adjustment for the second half was — do your job — so there was no adjustment. We were killing ourselves in the first half, so coming out in the second half our mentality had to flip.”
“We got back to playing team defense … sound, Shelby football defense,” Mahaney added of the second half difference. “Offensively it was just to trust and to go at them with our offensive line and run the ball right at them instead of trying to attack the perimeter. Trust the backs and trust Brayden with his legs.”
DeVito finished with 18 carries for 129 yards and three touchdowns, 19-of-26 passing for 155 yards and two touchdowns, and two receptions. Gavin Baker rushed in a touchdown, Shepherd and Avery Lambert each caught a touchdown pass, Carter Kessler and Gavin Miller had a two-point conversion reception.
“We just flew around, had fun, and it ended up in our favor,” he said. “They definitely battle tested us tonight and tested me out. I respect them, that’s a great team.
“It’s a good wake-up call for us. We know that every team’s gonna give us their best and we’ve earned the type of target on our back. Galion showed us tonight, and now we’re going to go in tomorrow morning and flip the next page to get better from tonight.”
When it came down to it, Galion coach Matt Dick got exactly what he wanted on the road against the top-ranked team in the state.
“We had the ball in the fourth quarter — I wish we didn’t start on our one-yard line and get a safety — but the ball in our hands in the fourth quarter at Shelby, what more do you want?” he said. “I thought our kids battled really hard, and as a coach when it comes down to one this close, (I wonder) how can I put our kids in better situations?”
It certainly didn’t help that Galion (3-1, 0-1) lost Sam Evans and Camden Kuehlman, which affected both sides of the ball.
“By the end of the first quarter we were down two starting running backs … and Camden is one heck of a player on defense,” Dick said. “So when we lost him, that hurt, but I love how our kids just kept battling. We had some sophomores — Lachlyn Butcher, (Kane and Kurt) Hay, (Blake) Blubaugh — playing a really high level of football.”
Schmidt finished 7-of-16 passing for 193 yards, four touchdowns and an interception along with 14 carries for 37 yards. Jacob Chambers had three receptions for 130 yards and three touchdowns, Cameron Kuehlman one reception for a touchdown, Camden Kuehlman a rushing score.
“No moral victories, I’m never taking that, we’re past that as a program,” Dick said. “But what’s really cool is if we take care of business, they’re in our region and we might see them again at hopefully a neutral site.”
Box score
Score by quarters
Galion 7 14 7 6 — 34
Shelby 0 20 8 17 — 45
Scoring summary
First quarter
G — Cameron Kuehlman 1 pass from Ayden Schmidt (Braylen Beachy kick).
Second quarter
S — Michael Shepherd 6 pass from Brayden DeVito (kick failed).
G — Kuehlman 35 run (Beachy kick).
S — DeVito 15 run (Carter Kessler pass from DeVito).
G — Jacob Chambers 42 pass from Schmidt (Beachy kick).
S — Gavin Baker 15 run (kick failed).
Third quarter
G — Chambers 61 pass from Schmidt (Beachy kick).
S — Avery Lambert 7 pass from DeVito (Gavin Miller pass from DeVito).
Fourth quarter
S — DeVito 8 run (Everett Harris kick).
S — Safety.
S — DeVito 10 run (DeVito run).
G — Chambers 27 pass from Schmidt (conversion failed).
Individual statistics
Passing
Galion: Ayden Schmidt 7-16-1 193; Shelby: Brayden DeVito 19-26-0 155; Michael Shepherd 2-3-0 (-6).
Rushing
Galion: Kale Early 8-39, Ayden Schmidt 14-37, Camden Kuehlman 1-35, Kane Hay 4-27, Sam Evans 2-11, Cameron Kuehlman 1-4, Jacob Chambers 1-(-3); Shelby: Brayden DeVito 18-129, Travis Slone 9-54, Gavin Baker 8-42, Michael Shepherd 4-27.
Receiving
Galion: Jacob Chambers 3-130, Jameson Glew 1-42, Kurt Hay 2-20, Cameron Kuehlman 1-1; Shelby: Michael 6-64, Brady Bowman 6-24, Gavin Miller 2-19, Carter Kessler 2-16, Landon Foltz 1-16, Avery Lambert 2-15, Brayden DeVito 2-(-6).
Team statistics
G S
First downs 15 30
Rushing 31-150 39-252
Passes 7-16-1 21-29-0
Yards passing 193 149
Total yards 343 401
Fumbles-lost 1-1 0-0
Penalties 4-41 3-25