Bellevue takes out frustration on Galion October 19th 2002 By XBellevueplayar

  Galion, OH - The week long suspense of how the Redmen Football team would respond after the comeback efforts of Norwalk's 28-27 win against the Redmen a week ago and the lose of the Redmen's feather logo was quickly answered Friday night with a convincing 47-14 victory over The Galion Tigers.

  After the Bellevue defense stopped the Tigers on three straight plays and forcing them to punt the Redmen offense took charge. A six play drive that totaled fifty-seven yards rushing capped off by a three yard touchdown run by Junior Matt Lepley with 7:45 left in the first quarter quickly made it 6-0 Bellevue as the extra point attempt was no good.

  Again the Redmen defense maintained its strong showing forcing the Tigers to punt after three plays. The Redmen received great field position at the Tigers forty-seven yardline and again the offense would go to work. After the first three plays of the drive the Redmen had faced a mild setback being flagged for offensive holding. The drive officially took four plays and covered fifty-eight yards on the ground as it was Matt Lepley going in from thirty-two yards out for the Redmen touchdown. The two point conversion failed and Bellevue's lead grew to 12-0 with 4:55 left in the first quarter.

  Galion refused to go away as the Tigers Senior Shandon North would score on a one yard touchdown run and running for a total of thirty-nine yards on the drive. The extra point attempt was no good and the Redmen led 12-6 with :58 seconds remaining in the first quarter.

  Not to be outdone, the Redmen offense used a six play drive which covered sixty-five yards including a twenty-seven yard run and a three yard touchdown run by Lepley. Lepley would tac on the two point conversion and the Redmen took a 20-6 advantage with 11:04 left in the first half.

  The Bellevue offense was just getting warmed up as Bellevue's next possition saw Ben Snyder take a Jon Journay pass for a 6 yard score. The two point conversion failed and the Redmen lead grew to 20 points at 26-6 with 3:50 left in the second.

  Galion only saw two plays on their next position as a desperation type pass was intercepted by Lepley giving the Redmen the ball on their own thirty-eight yardline with just over 3:00 left in the half.

  Three plays later it was Journay hooking up with Lepley for a 49 yard touchdown pass. The extra point was no good making it 32-6 with 2:05 left in the half. That would rap up the first half scoring as both teams failed to move the ball on their next possession's.

  The Redmen opened the second half with a ten play fifty-nine yard drive which ate up 4:25 off the clock. Again it was Lepley who plunged in from five yards out for the score. Lepley added the two point conversion and the Redmen held an overwhelming 40-6 lead with 7:35 left in the third quarter.

  The Tigers first possession of the second half brought confusion and uncertainty from Redmen fan's and the coaching staff. An apparent tipped punt was recovered by the Tigers and ran thirty-four yards for a first down. Shandon North's five yard touchdown run capped a fourteen play drive that covered 6:32.The two point conversion was good and the score stood at 40-14 Bellevue with 1:03 left in the third.

  Neither team got much going offensively through most of the fourth quarter. The Redmen held the Tigers on three plays and forced them to punt. Ben Snyder took the punt and raced down the sideline and into the endzone.The Kevin Riggleman kick was true and it was 47-14 Bellevue with 3:38 left in the game.

  Galion received good field position at their own forty-nine but turned the ball over on downs six plays later. Jon Journay took a knee to run off the remaining time on the clock to end the ballgame as the Redmen prevailed 47-14.

  The old days of Bellevue Redmen Football and running the ball seemed reborn atleast for a week as Matt Lepley ran for an unofficial 182 yards, Aaron Decker adding 55 yards, Derrick O'Lynn with 52 yards and Jon Journay chipping in with 10 yards for an unofficial total of 309 yards rushing.

  The win was much deserving after three close loses in three of the previous four weeks. Loyal fan's and students came out to cheer their team onto victory in a cold brisk wind. Most notably was students Trevor Sabo and Jameson Yingling who braved the weather wearing body and face paint and only shorts while everyone else dressed as if the temperature was in the mid 20's.

  The Redmen now head home for a week ten contest against the Shelby Whippets and hope to send the Seniors out in style with another victory.