UPPER SANDUSKY — Upper Sandusky racked up yards both through the air and on the ground and downed Buckeye Central 42-13 on a homecoming Friday night in Northern 10 Athletic Conference football play.
The Rams (4-4, 3-2 N10) finished with 550 yards of offense and matched the most wins they have had in a season since they went 7-3 in 2013. The only time since then Upper Sandusky has won as many games was in 2016 when they went 4-6.
“I’m very proud of the boys,” Upper Sandusky coach Russell Hall said. “They’ve put in a lot of work. I’m proud of the coaches for putting in a lot of work scouting and figuring out what we need to do to improve, things like that.”
Upper Sandusky got it done offensively with 297 passing yards and another 253 yards on the ground, and the defense settled in to hold Buckeye Central (3-5, 0-5 N10) to 237 yards after it moved the ball well early in the game.
Kaden Holman went 22 of 35 passing with two touchdowns while adding 52 yards and a touchdown on the ground. Levi Lamb ran the ball 24 times for 165 yards and a pair of scores and made a 23-yard reception.
Both Evan Hill (nine catches for 120 yards) and Ethan Hill (7 catches for 119 yards) caught a touchdown with over 100 yards receiving.
“They’re a really good team,” Buckeye Central coach Chad Jensen said. “We knew that, and they have a lot of weapons. I’m proud of our kids that we battled. We tied it up early in the game and had some opportunities, but they have a lot of really good players. We did the best we could.”
The Rams scored on their opening possession, moving 84 yards with Holman picking up a big chunk of it on a 38-yard run to the 3-yard line. From there Lamb punched it in to make it 7-0.
Buckeye Central answered with a 35-yard scoring strike from Derex Dean to Tyler Sanderson to tie the game, but from there, the game belonged to Upper Sandusky.
Holman ran in a 7-yard score with 15 seconds left in the first quarter, and then with 8:43 to go in the half, Lamb scored a second time from 3 yards out. It was set up by a 47-yard run of his own earlier in the drive.
Upper Sandusky’s final touchdown drive included a 30-yard pass to Evan Hill and then a 29-yard touchdown to him, making 28-7 before halftime.
“That just comes down to execution,” Hall said. “We’ve been preaching it for years. When we execute, we’re a pretty good team. That’s what our focus is, one play at a time. Just trying to do our best, getting 11 guys doing it, and if we do, we end up with a great play on offense, defense. We had some good returns on special teams. It all comes down to the same thing: execution, 11 guys doing their job and putting it together.”
A long third quarter drive culminated with a Gavin Frey 11-yard touchdown run, making it a 35-7 game, and after Upper Sandusky stopped Buckeye Central on fourth-and-goal at the 1-yard line, the Rams had a chance to put the running clock into order with more points.
Instead, Alec Phillips broke on a Holman pass on the sideline to intercept it and returned it 14 yards for a touchdown with 11:12 left to play. The Rams then committed their second turnover in a row with a fumble on the ensuing kick return, giving the Bucks a real chance to make it a game.
However, Upper Sandusky’s defense held, and Holman connected with Ethan Hill, who eluding tacklers down the field for a 38-yard touchdown strike to put the game away.
“The defense had a pretty good week of practice,” Hall said. “They were dialed in on their keys and reads. If you want film again, we do a good job of getting to the ball.”
While the Bucks hung in the game, to really make it interesting they probably would have needed to make the most of all of their opportunities. They drove to the Rams 12-yard line to start the game but lost a fumble that was recovered by Aaron Flowers. In the second quarter while trailing 21-7, the Bucks got the ball at Upper Sandusky’s 20-yard line after a Landon Sherwood interception of a deflected pass, but they turned it back over two plays later on a fumble recovered by Fernando Navichoque.
Buckeye Central’s third turnover of the first half was a Dean interception by Frey that came before Evan Hill’s touchdown.
“We’ve got to cash in on opportunities,” Jensen said. “We had opportunities. They shot themselves in the foot too, and we had chances, but again, you’re playing a good team with a lot of athletes, and you’ve got to take advantage of some things. But I’m proud of our kids. We played really hard and did the best we could.”
Dean went 16 of 29 passing for 168 yards, primarily to Sanderson, who caught 10 passes for 135 yards. Manny Mullins ran the ball 16 times for 71 yards and caught five passes for 25 yards.
“We’re looking at Bucyrus next week,” Jensen said. “We’re moving on to Bucyrus. Our goal is to prepare and win each game. We’ve got Bucyrus now, and that’s what we’re looking forward to.”
Reaching five wins for the first time in nine years next week will be tough against a Carey team that has won 23 games in a row, dating back to last season. The Rams will not be able to afford three turnovers and nine penalties in that game.
“We have to play a cleaner game and take care of the ball and execute,” Hall said. “That’s how you beat a really good team.”
Upper Sandusky plays at 7 p.m. Friday at Carey.
Box score
Score by quarters
Buckeye Central 7 0 0 6 — 13
Upper Sandusky 14 14 7 7 — 42
First quarter
US — Lamb 3-yard run (Flowers kick) 7:02.
BC — Tyler Sanderson 35 pass from Derex Dean (Da. Dean kick).
US — Holman 7 run (Flowers kick) 0:15.
Second quarter
US — Lamb 3 run (Flowers kick) 8:43.
US — Evan Hill 29 pass from Holman (Flowers kick).
Third quarter
US — Frey 11 run (Flowers kick) 4:03.
Fourth quarter
BC — A. Phillips 14 interception return (kick blocked) 11:12.
US — Ethan Hill 38 pass from Holman (Flowers kick) 7:44.
Individual statistics
Passing
Buckeye Central: De. Dean 16-29-1 168.
Upper Sandusky: Holman 22-35,2 297; Frey 0-1-0 0.
Rushing
Buckeye Central: Mullins 16-71; Jarvis 3-10; J. Phillips 1-4; Team 1-(minus 4); De. Dean 8-(minus 18).
Upper Sandusky: Lamb 24-165; Holman 7-52; Frey 2-15; Ward 4-13; Thiel 2-8.
Receiving
Buckeye Central: Sanderson 10-135; Mullins 4-25; Kirgis 1-7; Jensen 1-1.
Upper Sandusky: Ev. Hill 9-120; Et. Hill 7-119; Frey 5-35; Lamb 1-23.
Team statistics
BC US
First downs 12 25
Rushing yards 30-69 39-253
Passing yards 168 297
Passes 16-29-1 22-36-2
Fumbles-lost 2-2 1-1
Punts 5-37.8 3-19.0
Penalties 3-25 9-61