Galion played a pretty good first half of football and that put them in position to win the game, but in the second half Jonathan Alder just ate up yards and the clock.
The Pioneers handed the Tigers their first loss in the Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference red division (41-24) by scoring four of the last five touchdowns of the game.
“I know the score looks like a butt kicking, but it really wasn’t. We had a touchdown called back. We had an interference call in the end zone than even after watching film was not. If we could have had some of the breaks go our way, but still they are very good football team and we have to give them some credit,” said Galion coach Chris Hawkins.
Sean Sullivan ran for 183 yards on 24 carries for the Pioneers and Jesse Beachy added 81 yards and 14 carries.
Galion took a (7-0) in the first quarter when quarterback Jacob Fryer scored on a 61 yard sprint to the end zone. After Jonathan Alder tied the game, Fryer scored again on a 12-yard run to put Galion up (14-7) with just over two minutes to play in the first half, however the Tigers would not cross the goal line again.
Alder (2-3,1-1) tied the game two minutes later when Beachy caught a 20-yard pass from quarterback Luke Nees with 34 seconds to play.
Galion’s Conner Morton kicked a 34-yard field goal at the horn to end the first half to give Galion a (17-14) advantage.
However, the second half was all Jonathan Alder as Sullivan scored on runs of 27 and 40 yards to put the Pioneers in front (28-17) with 3:44 to play in the third quarter.
“We got a field goal right before halftime to go up 17-14 so we feel pretty good. They came out an just went pound, pound, pound. They just went to controlling the clock. They did get a touchdown on us through the air in the second half, but most of it was ground and pound. No big plays for say it was six, six yards, four yards and six yards. Six yards,” said Hawkins.
On their next possession Galion would score on a big play. A 55-yard pass from Fryar to Cario Davidson to slice the lead (28-24), but the Tigers could get no closer as Alder would score twice more in the fourth quarter.
Jonathan Alder ran up 444 total yards on a Galion defense that had shut out its last two opponents in LaGrange Keystone (14-0) and Buckeye Valley (32-0) in their first conference game last week.
“They ran over 65 plays and we only ran 32 plays. When a team runs 65 and you run 32 it was amazing that it was as close as it was,” added Hawkins.
Galion had 252 yards themselves, but they just couldn’t get their hands on the ball enough.
It is a more familiar opponent next week for the Tigers as they host the Upper Sandusky Rams, who Galion played for 50 years when both were part of the Northern Ohio League and then the last three years both were part of the North Central Conference.
Galion beat the Rams (27-0) in the last game of the regular season last year to claim a co-title in the “NCC,” (28-0) in 2012 and (47-14) in 2011 in their first year in the “NCC.
