ASHLAND — Through the first two drives of their game Friday, Ashland and West Holmes were following the script, scoring a touchdown each in what many figured might be a shootout.
Nothing seemed to make sense after that.
The Arrows advanced into West Holmes territory on seven of their eight possessions but never scored again. Meanwhile, the Knights — averaging nearly 50 points per game in Ohio Cardinal Conference play — clung to a 14-6 lead until late in the fourth quarter of a 20-6 win at Community Stadium.
It was the first home loss of the season for the Arrows (4-4, 2-3 OCC), who consistently move the ball but seem to be at a crossroads in terms of scoring. Ashland’s offense has been held to six or fewer points in three league losses, and the low output Friday came against a defense for West Holmes (6-2, 4-1) that had allowed 35 points per game in OCC play.
“I thought our kids executed and we moved it down the field and kept the ball, but I’ve got to find a way for us to get it into the end zone,” said Ashland coach Scott Valentine, who repeatedly took the blame for Friday’s lack of scoring.
Knights coach Zach Gardner was quick to laud his squad’s effort on defense.
“We hear the stuff people say about us and our kids take that personally, about our defense,” he said. “I think it shows that we can win any type of football game we need to, and that’s something that’s going to serve us very well come tournament time.”
West Holmes was true to form to open the game, marching 75 yards on 11 plays to take a 7-0 lead when quarterback Morgan Smith found Nate Fair in the middle of the end zone for an 8-yard touchdown pass.
Ashland immediately answered with its own scoring drive to make it 7-6. It was capped by a 35-yard sprint by Michael Franz, who caught a swing pass from quarterback Nathan Bernhard in the flat and slipped multiple tackles before outrunning the defense down the left sideline for his seventh TD of the season.
But Logan Zollars blocked the PAT kick and the Arrows didn’t score in the final 39 minutes despite seemingly endless threats.
Ashland punted three times from just inside West Holmes territory, with punter Dakota Kruty pinning the Knights inside their own 20-yard line each time.
The Arrows also intercepted Smith once in each half, with Tyler Sauder tallying his fourth pick of the year in the first quarter and Isaac Stewart pulling one down in the Ashland end zone with 7:23 left to play.
West Holmes, which scored on its first drive of the second half on a 5-yard pitch from Smith to Yale-bound Kyle Maltarich (six catches, 63 yards), was clinging to a 14-6 lead at the point, so it gave the Arrows some momentum. But Ashland’s Cayden Spotts was stuffed on a fourth-and-one run from the AHS 29 after that, and Smith bulldozed his way through defenders for a 13-yard touchdown run two plays later.
With less than five minutes left, the Knights had finally reached 20 points — their lowest scoring output since losing to Chardon in the state semifinal game in 2021.
“For us to hold them down to 14 (points) there until right at the end, we had a great defensive game plan and our kids played hard,” Valentine said.
Smith finished with 170 yards on 26 carries and was 14-of-21 through the air for 176 yards, but clutch stops throughout the night from Ashland’s Josh Pancake, Cooper Smith and Gunner Lacey kept things close.
Bernhard, meanwhile, was impressively accurate in the Arrows’ short and intermediate passing attack. The sophomore completed 14 straight throws at one point in the first half and had 143 yards on 17-of-21 passing at halftime.
But Ashland couldn’t get over the top against the Knights, turning the ball over on downs three times inside the visitors’ 30-yard line.
The Arrows had a chance to take the lead inside the final minute of the first half, but Bernhard (26-of-39 for 204 yards in the game) just missed Franz on a pair of throws into the end zone from 23 yards out.
Valentine felt it would have been a big score right before the half.
“It’s a scoreboard, not a yardboard,” Gardner said, “and our kids played with much tenacity and toughness tonight.”
Spotts (eight catches, 67 yards) and Franz (seven catches, 65 yards) led Ashland’s receiving effort on a night when Spotts’ 21 yards on five carries were essentially all the Arrows could muster on the ground.
With the win, the Knights are still clinging to their hopes of a shared OCC title with Mansfield Senior (6-2, 5-0). If West Holmes could pull that off, it would become just the second team in OCC history to win at least a share of the league title in four consecutive seasons (Wooster did it from 2017 through 2020).
Ashland, meanwhile, entered Friday night in the mix for a possible home postseason game in a few weeks. The Arrows exited with their final two games against Wooster (2-6, 1-5) and Lexington (3-5, 2-3) potentially being must-wins to get into the playoffs.
“(Next week against Wooster) is our seniors’ last game at home, so there’s no doubt you always want to send your seniors out with a win (in the last home game),” Valentine said. “That’s going to be our focus.”
Note: Before the game, a 21-second moment of silence was held for Ashland student Andre Harrison and Mapleton student Bre McKean, both of whom had tragically passed away in the past week. The Arrows ran onto the field carrying a Mapleton flag as a tribute to McKean.