ASHLAND — Sam Williams-Dixon made it look easy.
West Holmes’ sophomore sensation, Williams-Dixon rushed for four touchdowns and the Knights’ opportunistic defense forced four turnovers in a 28-7 win over Ashland at Community Stadium.
With the win, West Holmes (9-0, 6-0) clinched at least a share of the Ohio Cardinal Conference championship. The Knights can lock up the outright title with a victory next week at home against Mount Vernon.
Ashland (3-6, 3-2) would likely still clinch a playoff berth with a win over Wooster in next week’s regular season finale.
After a slow first quarter, the Knights got it going in the second. Williams-Dixon’s 20 yard touchdown run tied the game at 7-7 early in the second quarter. Later in the period, West Holmes linebacker Blake McCombs recovered an Ashland fumble at the Ashland 36 yard line and Williams-Dixon cashed in with a 1 yard run with 5:27 to play before halftime.
“Ashland was trying to take away our passing game, so that opened up some things with the run,” Williams-Dixon said. “The offensive line did a great job and I was seeing a lot green grass.”
West Holmes took a 14-7 lead to halftime before the skies opened up just before the start of the third quarter. Consequently, neither offense could get much going in the downpour.
As the rain tailed off, West Holmes put it away with a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns. Both scores came after interceptions.
“It’s just a mentality our kids have to go out and force turnovers,” West Holmes coach Zach Gardner said. “Our defensive staff does a great job of drilling turnovers, but a lot of that falls on the kids and their mentality and just being ballhawks.”
Garrett Eastep, who had a pick-six in last week’s win at Shelby, intercepted a Landon McFrederick pass at the West Holmes 39 yard line late in the third quarter. The Knights then marched 61 yards and took a 21-7 lead on Williams-Dixon’s 8 yard run. The drive was kept alive when West Holmes quarterback Noah Clark hooked up with Williams-Dixon on a 15 yard pass on fourth-and-12 at the Ashland 30 yard line.
Later in the fourth, West Holmes’ Tucker Kaufman intercepted a pass and returned it to the Ashland 7 yard line. Two plays later, Williams-Dixon again scored on an 8 yard run for a 28-7 lead with 4:14 remaining.
Ashland took the ensuing kickoff and marched into West Holmes territory, but the Arrows turned the ball over on downs with 1:06 to play. The Knights took possession at their own 34 yard line with 1:06 remaining and killed the clock.
“It was 14-7 going into the fourth quarter. We couldn’t ask for anything more than that,” Ashland coach Sean Seder said. “In the third quarter the weather came into play and that’s when we needed to be able to throw the ball.
“When you’re down and they’re dropping eight and you have to throw the ball a little bit, that’s tough to do. We had a couple turnovers in the second half.”
Cayden Spotts gave the Arrows a 7-0 lead large in the first quarter on a 1 yard run. The sophomore had a big night running the ball as West Holmes focused on grounding Ashland’s high-octane passing attack.
“We said we had to establish the run tonight because we knew they were going to give us the run,” Seder said. “Cayden ran the ball really well tonight and we took what was there for as long as we could until we had to press the issue.”
The Arrows could still grab one of the 16 playoff spots up for grabs in Division III, Region 10 with a win over Wooster next week.
“That’s what we told the kids. The OCC (championship) is out now, but I still think if we beat Wooster we are probably in,” Seder said. “We told the kids the team that shows up next week and wants it more is probably going to win the football game.”
