UPPER SANDUSKY — Upper Sandusky made too many mistakes to beat a talented and motivated opponent Friday night.

The Rams lost five fumbles and committed over 100 yards in penalties while falling 28-7 to Galion as it played in memory of teammate Kooper McCabe who died Tuesday.

Just as Upper Sandusky began to find a spark on offense in the second half, mistakes — especially fumbles — began to mount as Galion pulled away late.

“It’s a lot of it is just mental mistakes,” Upper Sandusky coach Russell Hall said. “We have to execute better. We’ve got to protect the football. We’ve got to make sure we run the right routes, block the right guy. It’s a little bit of everything. It’s not just one thing. We’ve got to fix the little things.”

Quarterback Kaden Holman completed 17 of 28 passes for 282 yards and a touchdown to Evan Hill late in the first half that made it a seven-point game, but mistakes prevented the Rams (1-2) from finishing drives the rest of the night.

Holman was sacked and lost the ball on a fourth-down play from the Galion 35-yard line to start the first half, and on the next possession, Gavin Frey fumbled the ball on a fake punt before throwing an incompletion.

The fumbles hurt even more in the fourth quarter, beginning on the first play of the final 12 minutes when the Tigers (1-2) recovered a Levi Lamb fumble at Upper Sandusky’s 14-yard line. That gave a struggling Galion offense a short field that led to a Gabe Ivy 2-yard touchdown run to make it 21-7.

A 68-yard completion from Holman to Ethan Frey had the Rams deep in Galion territory, but Holman was sacked and lost the ball again. Three plays later, Ivy put the game away with an 89-yard touchdown run.

Because of how many times he was hit in the backfield, Holman finished with nine carries for minus 38 yards, and Upper Sandusky totaled minus 2 yards rushing on the night.

“We’ve got some really good defensive linemen: Landon Campbell, Landon Kurtzman, (Carson) Frankhouse, some of those guys really get after the quarterback,” Galion coach Matt Dick said. “We thought it would be a strength all year, and tonight we got to see it a little bit.”

Both of Galion’s touchdowns in the first half came when Upper Sandusky’s defense was one play away from getting off the field. Braxton Prosser connected with Ivy for a 49-yard touchdown pass on a third-and-20 play late in the first quarter and then went up 14-0 when Prosser broke free for a 35-yard scoring run on fourth-and-1.

Upper Sandusky answered back. A 20-yard connection between Holman and Frey set up a 31-yard touchdown pass to Evan Hill, making it 14-7.

The Rams had a chance to tie the game just before halftime, driving to the Galion 7-yard line, but they went backward from there and turned it over on downs when Holman was sacked and fumbled on fourth down.

“That’s what’s frustrating,” Hall said. “We were moving the ball pretty well until we would make a mental mistake. You can’t do that and be in a position to win.”

Ivy’s big game included three total touchdowns. He ran 14 times for 127 yards in addition to the long scoring reception.

But outside of a couple of big plays, the Tigers struggled to move the ball, managing just nine first downs. Prosser was just 4 of 17 passing for 95 yards, though he also ran 10 times for 61 yards.

Dick said it was a tough week for his team, but it was able to overcome its adversity.

“Our kids lost a brother Tuesday, and it was a tough, tough week at school,” he said. “We came out and had about an hour of practice and then Wednesday was a little better, Thursday a little better. The fact that our kids are still upright is a win. I know a lot of them are hurting. Before we got on the bus, Kooper McCabe’s parents — mom and dad — and sister were all there, Lydia, Jes and Herb, and they hugged every one of our players before they got on the bus. It’s just an emotional wreck for these kids — the fact that they can be tough enough to do that. We talked about how mental toughness and emotional toughness is a way harder thing to do than to be physically tough. Our kids battled that like crazy.”

Ethan Hill’s four catches went for 104 yards, all in the second half for Upper Sandusky. Frey had six receptions for 68 yards, and Evan Hill made five catches for 95 yards.

Upper Sandusky has not beaten Galion since 2008.

Now, the Rams will turn their attention toward correcting their mistakes as Northern 10 Athletic Conference play begins.

“Right now, we’re kind of 0-0 going into the league, and hopefully we can fix those mental mistakes and play cleaner and be on the other end of the scoreboard,” Hall said.

The Rams play at 7 p.m. Friday at Seneca East.

Box score

Score by quarters

Galion                           7           7          0        14   — 28

Upper Sandusky         0           7          0         0   —  7

Scoring summary

First quarter

G — Gabe Ivy 49 pass from Braxton Prosser (Jackson Hart kick), 1:07.

Second quarter

G — Prosser 35 run (Hart kick), 7:43.

US — Evan Hill 31 pass from Kaden Holman (Aaron Flowers kick), 6:15.

Fourth quarter

G — Ivy 3 run (Hart kick), 10:40.

G — Ivy 89 run (Hart kick), 2:24.

Individual statistics

Passing

Galion: Braxton Prosser 4-17 1 96, Cooper Kent 3-4-0 16. Upper Sandusky: Kaden Holman 17-28 0 282, Gavin Frey 0-1-0 0.

Rushing

Galion: Gabe Ivy 14-127, Braxton Prosser 10-61, Logan Shifley 3-10, Cooper Kent 2-6, Carson Frankhouse 1-0; Upper Sandusky: Levi Lamb 15-45, Gavin Frey 1-(-9), Kaden Holman 9-(-38).

Receiving

Galion: Elijah Chafin 5-51, Gabe Ivy 1-49, Landon Campbell 1-11; Upper Sandusky: Gavin Frey 6-68, Evan Hill 5-95, Ethan Hill 4-104, Brady Hart 2-15.

Team statistics

G               US

First downs                      9               13

Rushing                       33-195        25-(-2)

Passes                           7-21-1        17-29-0

Yards passing               111             282

Total yards                   306            280

Fumbles Lost               0-0             9-5

Punts-Avg.                   7-26.7          5-25.8

Penalties                      14-118        10-104