ASHLAND – More than a few things were pointing toward a tough-to-swallow loss for the Ashland football team Friday night.
The Arrows were outgained by about 100 yards by visiting New Philadelphia (314-215). They also committed the game’s only two turnovers and didn’t have a single rushing first down until the fourth quarter.
But the moon was out on Friday the 13th inside Community Stadium, and every single player on the Ashland defense seemed to step up at a critical moment in a 17-14 victory over the Quakers.
“We were out for blood this game,” said senior defensive lineman Joey Isenhart, who helped the Arrows improve to 4-0 for the first time since 2020.
“Really, just a shout-out to all the defense – we played our hearts out,” he said. “This was our best game yet.”
It was just Week 4, but it was viewed by many as one of the most crucial games on the Ohio Cardinal Conference schedule.
Ashland came into it having scored its most points through three games (129) in the 118-year history of the program.
But facing a defense for New Philadelphia (2-2, 1-1) that was allowing an OCC-low 13.7 points per game, it was the AHS defensive unit coming together time and time again.
“They were physical, they were able to take away some of the run stuff we wanted to do, their D-line played great, their linebackers were all over the place,” Quakers coach Mike Johnson said.
No fewer than seven different players were involved in Ashland’s seven sacks on the night. And after the Arrows lost a fumble with 4:15 to play in the fourth, their overwhelming pressure forced quarterback Keaton Fausel into four consecutive incompletions from the Ashland 38-yard line.
A first-down run from AHS senior Michael Franz followed that to send the hosts into victory formation.
“This was our best week of practice by far,” said standout defensive back and senior Tyler Sauder, who collected the first sack of his career and had another pair of tackles for loss. “We came in ready to hit them in the mouth harder than they hit us and that’s what happened tonight. We took care of business.
“I think I lost 10 years of my life in that fourth quarter just stressing, it was so back and forth,” he added. “But we eventually got enough stops.”
A year ago, New Philadelphia had hammered Ashland, 28-0 – the first shutout loss in OCC play for the Arrows in 15 years.
In the rematch Friday, Ashland never trailed, building double-digit leads of 10-0 in the second quarter and 17-7 in the fourth.
Both of those advantages came following touchdowns from Franz. The senior pulled in a 9-yard pass from junior quarterback Nathan Bernhard (14-of-24, 147 yards passing) for the game’s first touchdown and ran in a 20-yard score on his first carry of the game with 10:06 to play in the fourth.
Junior kicker Carson O’Brien, meanwhile, continued his solid start, booting both PAT kicks to improve to 17-of-20 on the season and adding his first field goal with a 22-yarder that made it 3-0 early in the second quarter.
“I’m always ready for the field goal,” O’Brien said. “Coach has confidence in me and that gives me the confidence to make them.”
But the Quakers got huge performances from Fausel (17-of-24, 265 yards passing) and speedy junior receiver C.J. Carlisle (four catches, 163 yards), who connected for touchdowns of 75 yards in the second quarter and 43 yards with 6:53 still to play in the fourth.
Carlisle returned the opening kickoff 96 yards for a touchdown in New Philadelphia’s 28-7 win at Wooster in Week 3 and was a thorn in the side at AHS.
“He has had two big games in a row,” Johnson said. “He’s one of those kids who’s just so fast and I think we saw it tonight.”
Senior Carson Long added seven catches for 56 yards for the Quakers, who also received a game-high 43 rushing yards on 21 carries from Fausel.
But when crunch time came, it was Ashland’s defense pushing all the right buttons.
Sauder, Gunner Lacey, Gavin Hoffman, Buddha Martin, Tyler Holt, Cooper Smith and Liam Gertel were all in on sacks. Brandon Briggs added key stops and Josh Ingani collected a pair of fourth-quarter pass breakups.
“It’s a testament to our kids and the coaching staff of being able to keep composure, keep playing play-to-play and to be able to make one more play than they did to get the job done,” Ashland head coach Scott Valentine said.
“For us to be where we want to be at the end of the year, we felt this was a really important game to get. But there’s a long way to go and we’ve got to get better each week.”
For his part, Bernhard felt the Ashland passing game was just a click off throughout the night. There were a few missed opportunities on deep balls and the junior threw his second interception of the season on a miscommunication in the third quarter.
But the Ashland defense forced the Quakers into a turnover on downs inside the AHS red zone after that miscue, then buckled down for the white-knuckle finish.
“This was a big game,” said Bernhard, who matched Franz with 32 rushing yards. “… You can’t take anybody else for granted because anybody can beat anybody on any given night, but we knew that was one of the best teams we’re going to play all year.”
Gabe Baith led Ashland with three catches for 49 yards. Killian O’Brien chipped in three catches for 34 yards.
Notes
The Arrows picked up the 550th win in program history in Week 3 and were playing in their 1,100th game Friday night – taking on New Philly 99 years after their first meeting in 1925.
Ashland rounds out a three-week stretch of home games next week when it hosts Maple Heights (3-1) in its final nonconference game of the regular season. The Mustangs were a 29-20 loser to Boardman (3-1) on Friday night.
New Philadelphia will host Mansfield Senior (0-4, 0-1), which fell to West Holmes (2-2, 1-0) on Friday night in another OCC opener, 33-7.
