COLUMBUS – An eerie fog overtook St. Francis DeSales’ Alumni Field late in the fourth quarter of the Stallions’ Division II regional quarterfinal Friday against Ashland.
Arrows linebacker Gunner Lacey said it almost felt like playing at night in a graveyard.
At the end of a thrilling, back-and-forth affair that featured six lead changes, Lacey’s comparison seemed unfortunately fitting for his team.
Ashland couldn’t quite get the final big play it needed, watching its season expire as DeSales scored the go-ahead touchdown with 5 seconds left in a 33-29 nail-biter.
In a rematch of a second-round game in Ashland a year ago – a 27-14 AHS victory – it was the second-seeded Stallions (9-2) sending the seventh-seeded Arrows (10-2) to their demise.
DeSales quarterback RJ Day hit tight end Jordan Karhoff with a 3-yard jump-ball in the right corner of the end zone for the game-winner.
The 6-foot-4 Karhoff – a junior with more than 30 Division I college offers – wrestled the ball away from Ashland’s Jordan Ferguson on the play, and Day finished his night with a school-record 484 yards passing.
“To go 90 yards to score and win the game with 5 seconds to go, what a drive,” said Stallions head coach Ryan Wiggins, whose squad took over possession down 29-26 with 2 minutes left and no timeouts. “And our season’s been that way – that was our fifth time where we’ve been down in the fourth quarter and have been able to come back and win.”
“It’s a 50-50 ball that could have went our way, could have went their way,” Ashland quarterback Nathan Bernhard said. “It went their way and that’s just how it goes.”
Bernhard and the Arrows had pulled off some of their own magic late in the third quarter to turn the momentum on its head.
With the Stallions leading 23-14 and facing third-and-goal on the 1-yard line, Day couldn’t quite grip the snap and Ashland’s Brandon Briggs recovered the fumble.
Four plays later, Bernhard hit speedy senior Dakota Kruty down the middle for his only catch of the game – a 76-yard, off-to-the-races touchdown with 3:38 left in the third.
Instead of a potential three-possession, 31-14 lead for DeSales at the end of what was a 16-play drive, Ashland was within 23-21.
The Stallions followed that by marching 71 yards in 10 plays, only to settle for a 26-yard field goal from Elvis Castro-Alvarado (also hit a 36-yard field goal in the first quarter).
Arrows junior Killian O’Brien broke up a Day pass near the goal line on third down there, which helped minimize the deficit to 26-21.
Then Ashland took its first lead of the second half, 29-26, going 80 yards on a drive that was keyed by a 59-yard breakaway run through the middle from Bernhard.
The senior punched in a 1-yard run two plays later and hit senior Gabe Baith with a two-point pass with 5:27 left to play.
“We come down 99 yards and score to make it a game (in the third), then we take a lead and give ourselves a chance (in the fourth),” said Bernhard, who ran for 119 yards on 17 carries and was 17-of-27 through the air for 354 yards and three touchdowns. “That’s all you can ask for.”
Ashland’s defense stiffened after that, getting a key tackle from Lacey before forcing a punt, and the Arrows had the lead and the ball with 3:49 to play.
But after Lacey broke multiple tackles for a 15-yard gain and a first down on the ensuing drive, a fumbled snap lost the Arrows seven yards.
They forced the Stallions to call their final two timeouts on the drive, but chose to punt the ball away, facing a fourth-and-4 from the DeSales 47-yard line.
With two minutes to play and the fog continuing to hamper visibility at field level, Day masterfully ran the hurry-up offense. The junior completed 7-of-10 passes on the drive (including two spikes to stop the clock) for 88 yards.
“(The fog) was just crazy and it came out of nowhere,” Wiggins said of the late-game conditions. “The guys upstairs said it wasn’t bad up there, but on our level, it was getting hard to see the other sideline.”
One of Day’s completions on the drive went for 21 yards to junior Dax Middleton (10 catches for 227 yards in the game), and Day had a 27-yard completion to the AHS 3-yard line after that to set up Karhoff’s heroics.
“(Middleton and Karhoff) have been with me since I was a little kid, so just growing up with them and having chemistry with them is a huge thing,” said Day, who ended his night 31-of-45 for 484 yards and three touchdowns through the air.
“You want to get your best players the ball at the time it matters most – that’s when it comes down to players and not really plays,” he added. “I just wanted to give (Karhoff) a chance and he made an unbelievable play.”
Ashland had one final play from its own 11 after receiving the ensuing kickoff. Bernhard connected with Baith for 23 yards, but there was no chance for a miracle finish as the clock ran out.
“I’m proud of the effort we gave, we kept battling,” Ashland head coach Scott Valentine said. “We said it was gonna be a four-quarter game and it was.
“This has been one of those great senior groups. They were sophomores when I (returned in 2023 to coach at Ashland) and they gave so much time and effort to help us be successful.”
The Arrows scored a pair of second-quarter touchdowns in the game. Bernhard connected with O’Brien for a big 86-yard strike to take a 7-3 lead, then hit the junior standout again for a 17-yard score that put AHS ahead 14-10 with 5:47 left before the half.
But Day connected with Middleton for a 30-yard TD a little over a minute later to steal the lead back, and the junior quarterback punched in a 15-yard rushing score with 30 seconds before intermission.
That touchdown put DeSales up 23-14 at the break and Bernhard felt the Arrows had blown some big opportunities.
Ashland lost an early fumble and also had its first drive stall at the DeSales 22-yard line.
A blown coverage also set up the Stallions’ first touchdown of the game – a Day 4-yard pass to Frankie McAllister (6 catches, 50 yards).
“It kind of felt like (last year’s playoff loss to Big Walnut) at the beginning,” Bernhard said. “We were kind of finding ways to not score.
“We felt like we did everything in our power to give them the upper hand in the first half but we knew if we came out in the second half and played how we could, we could make this a game.”
Bernhard said the AHS offense was somewhat one-dimensional, as the team was missing leading running back Grayson Baith for a second straight game due to injury.
Despite that, the senior quarterback said it felt like Ashland let a win slip away.
“There’s a lot to be proud of,” he said. “But obviously this one hurts because you think, ‘What if?’ All you’ve got to do is advance and you never know what could happen.”
Gabe Baith finished with 10 catches for 126 yards – his fourth game in the last five weeks with at least eight catches and better than 100 yards.
“It’s one of those things where you just have to give it your all and I feel like that’s what this senior class did,” Baith said.
DeSales advances to the regional semifinals next week, when they will be at home again to face third-seeded Massillon Washington (8-3). The Tigers pummeled North Canton Hoover on Friday, 62-7.
“We beat a really good team tonight,” Wiggins said. “That’s an Ashland team that’s won 22 games in two years.”
The Arrows headed home with just their sixth season of double-digit wins in program history.
Valentine said it’s a senior class that won’t be forgotten.
“They’re definitely a group that has set a precedent of where our program wants to be,” he said, “just by their hard work and the things they did.”