LEXINGTON — It was a third quarter from hell Friday night for the Ashland football team.
After scoring the go-ahead touchdown on the opening possession out of halftime, the Arrows were unable to contain Lexington in an Ohio Cardinal Conference showdown for the ages.
The Minutemen scored four touchdowns in about 10 minutes during the third quarter – three of them against a first-team defense that hadn’t allowed a second-half point all season – and held on late for a 43-35 triumph.
The outcome snapped Ashland’s 19-game regular-season winning streak. Lexington (9-1, 6-0 OCC) took home its first outright OCC crown since 2008 while clinching a first-round bye in the playoffs.
The defeat for the Arrows (9-1, 5-1 OCC), ranked No. 7 in Division II entering the game, forced them to miss out on their own first-round bye.
They will open up postseason play on Halloween night at Community Stadium. Based on unofficial computer points and seedings on joeeitel.com late Friday, AHS will be seeded No. 7 and will host No. 10 Mount Vernon (6-4).
“I think you just have to take this loss as a kick in the (butt) and a motivator,” Ashland senior quarterback Nathan Bernhard said. “We’ve got something to prove in the playoffs.”
Video highlights
(Below are photos taken by Hayden Gray during Friday’s game between the Minutemen and Arrows. The story continues below.)
In what was just the third winner-take-all game in the 23-season history of OCC football, the Arrows were seeking their first back-to-back outright league titles since 2006-07.
But Lexington senior speedster Seven Allen and senior quarterback Joe Caudill refused to let it happen nearly a year to the day after watching Ashland complete a perfect regular season with a win over them at Community Stadium.
Allen seemed invincible throughout the instant classic, scoring a career-high three touchdowns on a 25-yard run, a 94-yard catch and a 60-yard pick-6.
Caudill, a 6-foot-4 Michigan State recruit, was 8-of-10 passing for 209 yards, ran for 149 yards and three scores on 17 carries and accounted for four touchdowns.
“I think this senior class is just special,” fourth-year Lex head coach Andrew Saris said. “We knew this was going to be a battle and, holy cow, I think we gave the fans a great game.”
Lexington trailed 21-16 less than two minutes into the second half after Bernhard (25-of-52 passing for 384 yards and 3 TDs) hit Dakota Kruty for a splashy, 67-yard touchdown to open the second-half scoring.
Kruty (4 catches, 88 yards) spun out of a tackle, then split two defenders on the play before Carson O’Brien connected on his third of five PAT kicks with 10:38 left in the third period.
But the Minutemen went to work from there, exploding for their four third-quarter touchdowns – all of them on plays of at least 48 yards.
Caudill’s 48-yard keeper around the right edge was the fourth lead change of the game, putting the Minutemen ahead for good with 10:22 left in the third quarter at 23-21.
With nearly a full half still left to play, it was the most points Ashland’s vaunted defense had given up in any game all season.
The Arrows and Bernhard, an Appalachian State recruit, looked to retake the lead midway through the third period. But Allen jumped a route on the left sideline and took the interception 60 yards the other way to make it 29-21.
It was the first interception by Bernhard all season – his first in 337 passes since last throwing one in 2024. And while the Minutemen missed the PAT for the second time in the game, they were tilting the momentum.
Yet Bernhard and the Arrows answered quickly when he connected with senior receiver Gabe Baith in the right side of the end zone for a 31-yard score.
Baith had a monster night as well for AHS, pulling in 10 catches for 148 yards.
“We came out of half, we punched them, they punched us back and it went back and forth,” Bernhard said. “We struggled running the ball, so we really just had to do it in the air tonight.”
Markale Martin intercepted the ensuing two-point pass to keep LHS out front, 29-27, with 3:56 left in the third, and Allen then struck again.
On the next offensive play, the 5-9 senior speedster caught a bubble screen from Caudill and exploded up the right sideline. Allen momentarily slowed down to make a nifty cutback past an Ashland defender, then finished off his 94-yard highlight-reel run for a 36-27 advantage.
The Arrows went three-and-out on their next drive, and Lex began to take its stranglehold, with Caudill showing off his wheels to push the Minutemen ahead, 43-27.
The senior broke a tackle, cut toward the left sideline, then scooted away for a 63-yard touchdown run, somehow managing to tip-toe his way up the sideline after an AHS defender tried to shove him out of bounds.
A late-hit penalty by Ashland on a third-and-10 play earlier in that drive helped set up Caudill’s heroics. It was one of three AHS penalties in the game that gave Lexington a key first down.
Bernhard looked like he might lead the Arrows to a quick answer in the fourth quarter, hitting Killian O’Brien with a 46-yard deep ball to convert a third-and-20 play to the LHS 18-yard line.
But after three incompletions, a bad snap on fourth down forced Bernhard to go into scramble mode, and his jump-ball near the end zone was picked off by Allen again.
The senior defensive back’s two interceptions matched the amount of turnovers Ashland had committed all season. The Arrows entered Friday with a 25-2 advantage in turnovers.
“There were small windows (to pass into) and I had to run around, try to make plays with my legs and make guys miss,” Bernhard said. “We were able to do that for a little bit, but it just wasn’t sustainable.
“We made some mistakes, couldn’t get stops and that was the result.”
(Below are more photos taken by Hayden Gray during Friday’s game between the Minutemen and Arrows. The story continues below.)
The Minutemen took more than six minutes off the clock after that, aided by a third-down penalty by AHS and a 15-yard reception from Allen (6 catches, 157 yards).
But the Ashland defense forced a turnover on downs to get the ball back with 3:38 left.
Bernhard connected with Gunner Lacey a few times to set up Baith’s second receiving touchdown from 12 yards. He then hit Baith in the left corner for the two-point conversion to make it 43-35 with 1:40 showing.
But Carson O’Brien’s ensuing onside kick hopped into the hands of Lexington’s Avery Crawford and the Minutemen drained the clock.
“We haven’t been in this type of game, so to see us get through some adversity – I thought we battled and our kids kept playing,” Ashland coach Scott Valentine said. “Now it’s about regrouping and moving forward.”
Caudill matched Bernhard in plenty of ways throughout the night, adding a 3-yard touchdown run in the first half and overcoming an early interception to Ashland’s Jeff Hickey – the Arrow’s fifth of the year.
It was a redemption game of major proportions for Caudill, who threw two pick-6s in Lexington’s 30-21 loss last season at Ashland.
He hit Brayden Fogle with three first-half passes for 43 yards and watched as Martin helped balance out the offense (60 yards on 17 carries).
Lexington kicker Cohen Lautzenhiser also hit a 34-yard field goal in the first half.
“Those pick-6s (from last season) are ingrained in my brain; I’ll never forget those,” Caudill said. “I felt the weight of the world on my shoulders right there. I hated it.
“I knew coming into this one I had to get my get-back.”
With the victory, Lexington picked up its 10th consecutive win at home and improved to 16-4 since its 0-3 start to the 2024 season.
The Minutemen, ranked No. 11 in Division III in this week’s Associated Press state poll, will open their postseason on Nov. 7 at home. Their only loss this year is to Shelby (10-0), the No. 1-ranked team in Division IV.
“It was a tough game for us last year, for (Ashland) to come away with a win and walk out with that undefeated season banner,” Saris said. “That was ingrained in our mind for 364 days.
“For us to come through, have this situation and this big of a game, to get that win is huge for us.”
The Arrows lost top running back Grayson Baith (4 catches, 52 yards) on the second play of the second half to an injury, but Lacey filled in admirably on offense.
The senior middle linebacker also broke Ashland’s career record for tackles in the game, surpassing 2010 AHS graduate Anthony Deppen (396).
Bernhard also got some more big pieces of Arrow history in the defeat. His 38-yard completion to Gabe Baith on the last play of the first half pushed him past Marcus Fuller for the most career passing yards at Ashland (now unofficially 8,124).
Bernhard also moved past 10,000 total yards of offense for his career in the game, scoring on touchdown runs of 15 and 11 yards in the first half (13 carries, 85 yards on the night).
But it wasn’t the kind of history the senior quarterback or his teammates wanted. Between dropped passes and some overthrows on deep balls, AHS missed multiple big opportunities Friday.
Ashland now will head into the playoffs next week following its first regular-season loss since last playing at Lexington in 2023 (24-14).
“What we said is, ‘You’ve got another week, and if you don’t get yourself ready, you’ll get beat again and you’ll be done,’” Valentine said. “That’s not what our kids have prepared for or wanted, and I know they’ll bounce back.”
“We’ve got to go out there, execute, get a win and make a big playoff run,” Bernhard said, “because the only thing that’s gonna make this feel any better is if we go deep and try to win a state championship.”
