Collaboration
Collaboration
Statistical information from the game in this article was provided by Kris Mowry, Brandon Wells and Tony Van Duyne with the Ashland Arrows Broadcasting Network hosted by YouTube.
ASHLAND – The buildup just had to get over one final speed bump.
Hosting Wooster on Friday at Community Stadium for its Senior Night, the Ashland football team put a nail in the coffin early against the Generals, scoring three first-half touchdowns off turnovers alone in a 52-7 demolishing.
The victory improved the Arrows to 49-55-4 over 108 all-time games against winless Wooster – the most-played rivalry in AHS history – and set up a Week 10 Ohio Cardinal Conference showdown at Lexington that many have anticipated for months.
The Minutemen (8-1, 5-0 OCC) dispatched Madison (2-7, 1-4) by a 49-17 count Friday to hold up their end of the bargain, leaving next week’s face-off with the Arrows (9-0, 5-0) as 48 minutes that will decide who takes home an outright OCC title.
“(Before the season started) they had a lot of guys coming back and we felt good about our guys,” AHS head coach Scott Valentine said.
“These are the positions you want to be in,” he said. “It’s gonna be about getting ready to go and going over there and trying to get the job done.”
These are the positions you want to be in. It’s gonna be about getting ready to go and going over there and trying to get the job done.
Ashland head coach Scott Valentine on his team’s Week 10 showdown at Lexington
As for Week 9, Ashland made unbelievably quick work of Wooster (0-9, 0-6), extending its regular-season win streak to 19 games and its home win streak to 14.
The Arrows had a 14-0 lead before their offense even had the ball.
Linebacker Gunner Lacey – one of 20 seniors who were celebrated on Friday – scooped up a fumble by Wooster quarterback Griffin Siegenthaler and scored from 25 yards out to get AHS on the board.
Then on Wooster’s next drive, Siegenthaler was intercepted by junior Jeff Hickey, who took it to the house from 64 yards.
Kicker Carson O’Brien’s second of seven PATs made it 14-0 less than four minutes into the game and the rout was on. The senior finished with 10 points (also a 21-yard field goal), giving him three double-digit scoring games this season.
Hickey added another pick-six in the second quarter and Ashland had all of its 52 points by halftime.
“The defense overall has been getting turnovers and tonight was one of those nights where they got the turnovers but also converted them for touchdowns,” Valentine said. “That’s always big.”
The Arrows’ starting defense still has not allowed more than a touchdown in any game since Week 3, as the Generals managed just 134 total yards and a second-half score Friday.
Lacey continued to close in on the AHS record for career tackles (he entered needing 15 to pass Anthony Deppen’s mark of 396 set in 2009), and Ashland bumped its turnover advantage for the season to 24-2.
When the Arrows’ offense finally did get on the field, senior quarterback Nathan Bernhard hit junior receiver Killian O’Brien deep down the middle for a 43-yard touchdown strike.
Bernhard finished his night 10-of-17 through the air for 182 yards and increased his streak of games without an interception to 15 (roughly 300 passes).
O’Brien finished with 76 yards on four catches and senior Braden Donatini added 51 yards on a trio of receptions.
On the ground, Bernhard, Donatini and Grayson Baith all scored touchdowns.
“Most importantly, we told them this was our last regular-season game at home and we wanted to send our seniors out right,” Valentine said. “… I thought our kids did a good job of staying focused.”
Next week’s clash between Ashland (ranked No. 6 in Division II in this week’s Associated Press state poll) and Lexington (No. 11 in Division III) will have massive playoff implications.
According to the Ohio football projection site fantastic50.net, a win for the Arrows at LHS would essentially guarantee a first-round bye in the newly restructured playoffs. A loss, however, likely would push Ashland below the top four teams in its region, thus forcing AHS into a first-round home game on Halloween night.
The Minutemen, according to the site, are in the same situation, although the official computer points will all need to shake out before anything is a sure thing.
In terms of the OCC crown, Ashland will be seeking its first back-to-back outright titles since 2006 and 2007, while Lex has not claimed a solo OCC championship since 2008.
“You want to be playing in meaningful games at the end of the year,” Valentine said. “As a player and even a coach, you work hard to be in these situations. If you can’t get excited and understand the importance and enjoy the experience, you’re probably in the wrong sport.”