Tigers hold off late Carey surge

By James Massara
CCN News Director

CAREY — Despite early mistakes, the Carey Blue Devils made the Galion Tigers earn their stripes during a non-conference game at Wentling Field on Friday night.

The Tigers (2-0) fought off a second-half surge to claim victory, 35-26.

After leading 20-6 at halftime, Galion struggled to find the endzone, allowing the Blue Devils (1-1) to close the gap.

With 5:44 remaining in the third quarter, Carey quarterback Ethan Beringer connected with Griffin Summit for a 28-yard touchdown pass. A punch-in run 2-point conversion by Adam Hackworth, brought the Blue Devils to within a score.

Galion then fell victim to some special teams woes, as Carey’s Reece Billock was able to recover an onside by Carey’s Ian Yeater to give Carey the ball back on the Galion 45-yard line.

Carey took the ball and march down to the Galion 11-yard line where Beringer found Jordan Dasher for a touchdown, but an ineligible man downfield voided the score, leaving the Blue Devils still trailing.

The Galion defense was able to hold up and force and turnover on downs on its own 9-yard line, but the Tigers offense stalled out on a three-and-out of its own giving the ball back to Carey on the Galion 28-yard line to start the fourth quarter after a 23-yard punt return by Dasher.

Despite the promising field position, Carey could not manage to score, allowing Galion to make the next blow.

Galion quarterback Elias Middleton went to the air with a pass to Kaleb Griffin for a 19-yard touchdown pass with 5:24 remaining. A Middelton pass to Isaiah Alsip for a good 2-point conversion put the Tigers ahead, 28-14.

However, the Blue Devils used special teams once again to turn momentum into their favor as Dasher broke off a 77-yard kickoff return to put Carey on the Galion 3-yard line, allowing Summit to one-time a touchdown run. A missed extra point left the Blue Devils trailing 28-20.

On the following drive, Middleton broke a 48-yard run from mid-field and quickly ran in a 2-yard touchdown dive to put the Tigers ahead by two scores after the extra point, with 4:20 remaining.

Galion coach Matt Dick said running Middleton was part of the original gameplan.

“(Carey’s) defense really makes you respect and pay attention to the backside, so I told Elias that I was going to run his shoes off this game and he reacted well and played well,” Dick said.

But just more than a minute later, Carey had an answer.

Beringer found Summit on the right hash where Summit broke two tackles and ran down the right sideline for his third touchdown of the evening.

A missed extra point left the Blue Devils trailing 35-26 with 3:31 left.

Galion was not to be fooled again on special teams, as Griffin fell on the Carey onside kick, and a handful of Middleton runs ended the threat of a Blue Devils comeback on the Tigers.

Carey coach Jonathon Mershman said he was proud of his team’s effort in the second half, but said those big of deficits are not easily overcome.

“We didn’t have a great week of practice and I think we were a little full of ourselves this week, and I think it fed into the first half,” Mershman said. “After a while, we got down to playing the game of football and once we played football, we gave ourselves a shot.”

Carey lost three fumbles in the first half, and did not have a fumble or throw an interception in the second half. Galion scored 17 points off the turnovers.

“It’s hard to come back from 17 down, but I’m proud of my kids cause they turned around and fought their butts off,” Mershman said.

Dick said the fight that came from Carey in the second half is not something that surprised him.

“Carey is a blue-collar community, and they’re hard-nosed kids. We knew we were going to have to battle for all four quarters,” Dick said.

Dick said the battle from Carey will help the Tigers in Mid-Ohio Athletic League play.

Mershman agreed that playing larger Division 4 schools like Galion will help against the projected league contenders like Mohawk, Wynford and Seneca East.

Carey has one more non-conference trial before getting a chance at the Northern 10, when the Blue Devils travel to Ashland Crestview next Friday.

Galion will try to sweep its N10 non-conference lineup when the Tigers travel to Upper Sandusky the same night.