Sandusky comes up short against Columbian

SANDUSKY — Sandusky came up short against Tiffin Columbian, falling 28-20 on Friday at Strobel Field. "We had a lot of errors, a lot of turnovers, some mental errors and penalties," Sandusky coach Jamaris Brown said. "In big games like that, you can't have those. You want to erase them and can redo them in practice. I am trying to get the kids to understand that in the game, you don't get re-dos." It was the last time that the two teams would play as Sandusky Bay Conference Lake Division rivals, as next year both teams are joining eight other schools to start the Northern Ohio Conference. Sandusky (1-5, 0-1 SBC Lake) had seven penalties for 54 yards and had two turnovers. The Tornadoes (3-3, 1-1) struck first. Logan Gooding hit Johnny Bremyer for a 49-yard touchdown pass in the second quarter. Connor Reese's point after was good, making it 7-0. Columbian's Braden Egbert intercepted a pass on Sandusky's next possession and Brock Seisel bulldozed his way into the end zone from six yards out. The Blue Streaks desperately needed to make a move. With 3:28 left in the second quarterk, their drive started on the 25-yard line and Omar Alejo rushed it for seven yards, but Sandusky lost five of those yards on a penalty. Quarterback Dale Johnson chucked the ball down the field and connected with Dante Shipp Jr. for a 63-yard touchdown. A Kayli Gundlach extra point was good, closing the gap to 14-7. "We can't rely on the big plays," Brown said. "Sure, they look nice. You want an offense that can travel and we know that we have players that can take it all the way given the opportunity. That was the bright light in the game." With about a minute to go in the half, the Blue Streaks capitalized on the opportunity and Johnson once again used his arm to connect with Shipp, this time for an 87-yard touchdown pass. Gundlach's point after was good, tying the game 14-14 at the half. "We changed some things up defensively and we challenged the kids to make sure they go up and tackle people," Brown said. "There were some positives out there. The score didn't reflect it and there were no moral victories, but there are positive things that we can build on." Those positives include having more passing yards then TC: 296-171. Sandusky also had more offensive plays than TC, 57-54. The Tornadoes took the lead for good in the third quarter on Siesel's one-yard touchdown run. The Blue Streaks didn't back down. Shipp intercepted a Gooding pass and Johnson connected once with Ahmaj Wilfork for a 47-yard touchdown, but the extra point was no good and Columbian had a 21-20 lead. Early in the fourth quarter, Johnson threw an interception that Blake Miller turned into a 38-yard pick-6 touchdown. Johnson completed 16 of 34 passes for 296 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions. Sandusky's Daviyon Jackson rushed five times for 44 yards. Shipp had four receptions for 189 yards while Wilfork had three receptions for 66 yards and a touchdown. Alejo had four receptions for 42 yards. While the loss is the third in three weeks, Brown isn't letting it keep his team down. "We we are going to keep our spirits up," Brown said. "We are still going to build off the positives from tonight. We have to fix the mental errors and we aren't going to quit. We will be ready for Perkins next week, give them everything we got and try to get the win." Columbian 0 14 7 7 — 28Sandusky 0 14 6 0 — 20 TC — Johnny Bremyer 49 pass from Logan Gooding (Conner Reese kick)TC — Brock Siesel 6 run (Reese kick)S — Dante Shipp Jr. 63 pass from Dale Johnson (Kayli Gundlach kick)S — Shipp 87 pass from Johnson (Gundlach kick)TC — Siesel 1 run (Reese kick)S — Ahmaj Wilfork 47 pass from Johnson (kick failed)TC — Blake Miller 38 interception return (Reese kick)