County football impressive in Week 1

• Grant Loy produced a fine night at the quarterback position connecting on 11 passes for 154 yards.
• Owen Adams returned a kickoff 80-yards for a score.
• Will Kirkpatrick had 264 yards on the ground and three scores.
• Tree Galion Tigers ran for over 100 yards each

Crawford County had a good showing during Week 1 of the high school football season.

Its overall mark was 3-3 with one in-county game.

The Week 1 matchups saw the good, the bad and the downright ugly.

Galion 55, Bucyrus 0

This is the ugly part.

Galion seemed to be able to do whatever it wanted, whenever it wanted and then some. Galion hit a field goal as time expired at the half to take a 34-0 lead.

The ugliest part was Galion piled up the yardage with 343 first half total yards, whereas Bucyrus had negative 6.

Galion did it without their head coach, Chris Hawkins, because of a suspension, but the team did not miss a beat.

Bucyrus head coach Aaron Eckert admitted that the Tigers ruled the night.

“They beat us in every facet of the game, and we would not with the one-on-one matchups outside,” Eckert said after the game.

The Tigers ended the night with 402 yards of total offense headlined by a three headed monster of a run game in quarterback Jacob Fryer, backup running back Kevin Bowshier and running back Drake Barnett, who all ran for more than 100 yards.

Liberty Benton 17, Wynford 14

Although the Royals took the loss, it was a win for Crawford County.

Had high school football games been a minute shorter, the Royals would have upset Liberty Benton and avenged their blowout loss from a year ago.

The Royals controlled the line of scrimmage and had opportunities to steal the win. It was penalties that hurt the Royals in the end and, on many occasions, killed the momentum and stopped promising drives. The Royals did have a 14-10 lead with less than three minutes on the clock.

Liberty Benton then drove 81 yards for the deciding score.

“We had opportunities to take the momentum and seize the moment, but we never did,” Helbert said.

Quarterback Zach Hoffman threw for just 51 yards and was picked off twice, but he made up for it with his legs on his way to 105 yards on 16 carries. Running back Cole Fortner had 76 yards on the ground.

Colonel Crawford 42, Mount Gilead 21

The Colonel Crawford Eagles doubled up Mount Gilead in Week 1.

It was the run game that allowed to Eagles to climb out of a first half funk. The Eagles led just 7-6 at the intermission.

Do-it-all senior quarterback Will Kirkpatrick kicked off his final season opener with 264 yards on the ground and three scores. He did not complete a pass.

It was not all Kirkpatrick, as a spot of concern for the Eagles was the running back position. Head coach Ryan Teglovic might have found his solid back in Blake Treisch, who piled up 107 yards and two touchdowns.

Possibly the most electrifying player on the field, Owen Adams, returned a kickoff 80 yards for a score.

“We started the first half slow and were down early 6-0. We caught to life in the second half and had a great night on the ground,” Teglovic said. “We did not complete a pass, but sometimes, it is a matchup thing. He only attempted four, and we had great success running the football.”

Buckeye Central 30, Plymouth 6

The Bucks bucked the Plymouth Big Red in Week 1 in a convincing 30-6 win against a playoff team from a year ago.

But it was not all fun and games for the Bucks.

Cody Roberts and Scott Heydinger missed the first half because of a violation of team rules. Roberts took it to heart.

The senior bruiser made it up to his teammates by rushing for 169 yards and scoring three times. Two of his scores were from 52 and 57 yards out.

Grant Loy produced a fine night at the quarterback position connecting on 11 passes for 154 yards.

The Bucks were ahead just 12-6 at the intermission but came out focused and shut out the Big Red for the remainder of the contest. Owen Ackerman and Nash Ehresman both collected a touchdown a piece.

Mapleton 46, Crestline 5

The Bulldogs had a tough opening week matchup with the Mapleton Mounties, who have been a power in the Firelands conference in recent years.

The Bulldogs will put this behind them and prepare for Week 2 against crosstown rival Bucyrus.

jfurr@gannett.com

419-610-5034

Twitter: @JakeFurr11