ASHLAND – It’s fair to say that the Ashland football team had some work to do.
With the combination of an up-and-down defense, a high number of turnovers going for touchdowns, some special teams miscues and a trio of blowout losses, the Arrows gave up more points last season (321) than in any other season in the 116-year history of AHS football.
It was just the fourth time Ashland had allowed 300 or more points, and numbers anywhere close to that in 2023 would have been a recipe for disaster on a team with just a couple returning starters.
Consider the bell answered.
With one fewer game played, the Arrows have allowed almost exactly half as many points this season (160) as last year in one of the most dramatic turnarounds in program history.
It’s the third-lowest regular-season point total Ashland has given up since defensive coordinator Ryan Stackhouse’s senior season at AHS in 2004 (140).
If the Arrows (5-5) are to have any chance of beating offensive juggernaut Tiffin Columbian (8-2) on the road in their first-round Division III playoff game Friday – a team averaging 40 points per game – the trend has to continue.
“We knew there was a lot of coaching to be done at the beginning of the year,” Stackhouse said. “But with that said, we’ve got one heck of a coaching staff on the defensive side.”
“It’s about finding what the players are good at and allowing them just to get after it and have fun,” he said.
Stackhouse was Ashland’s defensive coordinator from 2019 through 2021 under head coach Sean Seder before taking the same position last year at Madison for head coach Scott Valentine. When Valentine returned to AHS this season, he brought Stackhouse back with him.
The two have been somewhat joined at the hip for much of the last two decades. Valentine’s first season coaching the Arrows was Stackhouse’s sophomore season as a player in 2002.
Ironically, the 2002 through 2004 seasons were the last time Ashland allowed less than 200 points in three consecutive years, and Stackhouse was a standout safety on those teams for longtime Arrows defensive coordinator Dan Fuller.
Now, he’s been part of Valentine’s coaching staffs in some capacity for 11 years.
“He puts in the time,” Valentine said of Stackhouse. “To be good at coaching, you’ve got to put in the time. … And then to have a good staff with him, they all fit together and there are no egos in that group.”
The Arrows have four coaches who have been varsity defensive coordinators at some point – Stackhouse, Jim Deppen (line coach), Scott Sauder (defensive backs) and Jeff Cole (quarterbacks). That reality gives Ashland a variety of different perspectives.
Add in additional defensive coaches Kevin Lacey (line), Chris Schmidt (linebackers) and AJ Beer (defensive backs) and the mixture of knowledge and players putting game plans into action has led to glaring results.
Ashland’s 34-0 shutout of Wooster in Week 9 was the first time the Generals had been blanked in Ohio Cardinal Conference play since 2012.
Mansfield Senior (8-2) beat the Arrows just 14-6 despite scoring at least 31 points on every other OCC team this season. West Holmes (8-2) led Ashland just 14-6 until late in its 20-6 win despite entering the night having averaged nearly 50 points in four previous OCC games.
This year marks the first since 2015 that the Ashland defense didn’t allow a 30-point game in the regular season.
Not bad for a team that returned just two of its 11 All-OCC players. The only one on defense was junior strong safety Tyler Sauder, who was the only player on this year’s team to be a full-time defensive starter in 2022.
“With the (lack) of experience we had coming back, we’ve really shaped up as a good unit, coming together, flying around to the football and making plays,” said Sauder, who has four of Ashland’s 10 interceptions and is second on the team in tackles (90).
“We know we’re a good unit and we know we’re playing good,” he added. “We’ve just got to keep it up in the postseason.”
Both Stackhouse and Valentine said the formula for success for the Arrow defense hasn’t been a flashy one. While they’ve forced almost two turnovers a game (19 for the season), they haven’t scored any defensive touchdowns, and the Ashland defense has allowed almost exactly the same amount of yards (2,842) as the Ashland offense has gained (2,843).
It’s been a fundamental, ball-control, grind-them-down approach for a unit that Valentine said is one of the best at getting off blocks and tackling that he’s had. Stackhouse said the offense has played a key role as well, one season after many turnovers went the other way for touchdowns.
“It’s more of a team playing chess together,” he said. “When you look at Mansfield Senior and West Holmes, yeah, we didn’t score a whole lot offensively, but we also controlled the ball, didn’t turn the ball over.
“So we limited their possessions in order for our defense to also be successful and keep those games as close as possible. You go out and have a shootout with those guys, they’re gonna score 50 points on you.”
Creating negative plays, pressuring the quarterback and forcing punts has been a constant. Sophomore linebacker Gunner Lacey has been the key cog there, leading the team in tackles (105), tackles for loss (9) and sacks (4) a year after being a difference-maker as a freshman.
Stackhouse said senior Josh Pancake (73 tackles, 6 for loss) helps give the Arrows a potent 1-2 punch at linebacker with Lacey. He also noted the evolution of senior DB Isaac Stewart (21 tackles, INT) and juniors including DB Josh Ingani (32 tackles, INT), DE Joey Isenhart (34 tackles, 2 sacks) and lineman Cooper Smith (20 tackles).
“A lot of defenses guess what the offense is going to do and react to them,” Stackhouse said. “We’re trying to make the offense react to what we’re doing.”
There likely will be plenty of give and take Friday at Columbian. The offensive-minded Tornadoes have Akron commit Brayden Roggow at quarterback (2,245 yards, 22 TDs passing), along with a few other potential college hopefuls in receivers Jack Koerper (48 catches, 702 yards, 6 TDs), Bryce Roggow (52-595-7) and Brady Gooding (29-584-9), and running back Damien Brockington (1,691 yards, 26 TDs on the ground).
The offense has committed just one turnover since Week 5 and this marks the sixth straight season Columbian has won at least seven games and made the playoffs under head coach Judd Lutz.
Stackhouse said it will be the most complete offense his defense has faced. While they have given up 33-plus points in five games, only twice have the Tornadoes scored below 35.
Columbian has been tested as well. Nine of the 10 teams it played in the regular season are in the playoffs and its lone two losses came to Division III No. 4-ranked Bishop Watterson (33-14) and Division IV No. 3-ranked Perkins (55-28).
Valentine, who has led Ashland to the playoffs in 11 of his 18 seasons with the program, knows his team will have to score more than its 19 points-per-game average. But if the defense can have another big night, who knows where the final score could land.
“There’s no doubt that we’re going to have to probably play the best game we’ve played all year,” Valentine said. “But we’ve seen over the years in the playoffs, it’s whoever’s best that night.”
