Music has as many styles as the Men's Warehouse has suits.
Rock and roll. Rhythm and Blues. Rap.
Saturday's (Oct. 23) football game between Saginaw Valley State and Ashland, played at Jack Miller Stadium/Martinelli Field at the Dwight Schar Athletic Complex, had about as much rhythm as a junior high drummer banging away at a bread pan in a back alley. This was a game with a ragged tense, and tense it was to the very end, Ashland holding off the Cardinals for an off-beat, 30-24 win.
The win was Ashland's fourth straight and gives the Eagles a 5-3 record, 4-3 in the GLIAC. The Cardinals are 3-5, 3-4 in league play.
The Eagles were outgained, 400-331. The teams combined for five turnovers, two by AU. One of those miscues by the Eagles resulted in a touchdown. Ahead, 30-17 with 1:24 left in the game, the Eagles allowed SVSU to go 59 yards in four plays and 30 seconds, making the score, 30-24 with 49 seconds to play in regulation.
That's when the Eagles turned to the one constant they had all day – their special teams. SVSU, to no one's surprise, attempted an onside kick, which the Eagles recovered at the 50-yard line. Finally, the band could begin playing.
"I'm scratching my head out there today on offense," offered AU head coach Lee Owens. "We were out of rhythm, no sync, no tempo. I thought Todd (SVSU defensive coordinator and former AU player Todd Stepsis) did a heckuva job.
"We were just picking and poking," complained Owens. "We had no feel for what was going on."
The AU special teams contributed one touchdown – an 82-yard kickoff return by sophomore defensive back Anthony Capasso (Columbia Station, Ohio/St. Edward). Junior kicker Gregg Berkshire (Ashland, Ohio) had three field goals (34, 34 and 40 yards) and three extra points for 12 points. He punted three times and averaged 59.3 ypp. His day included a career-long 68-yard punt.
"Where we really stood out was special teams," said AU head coach Lee Owens. "That's what the difference in the game was. We put our best people on special teams and they take a lot of pride in it. You look at the game today, it was special teams."
Owens said that in recent weeks, he's made some changes on special teams. Capasso and sophomore DeAndre Davis (Clinton Twp., Mich./Chippewa Valley) took over the kick return duties from seniors Joe Horn (Waynesfield, Ohio/Waynesfield Goshen) and Tarell Lewis (Redford, Mich./Bowling Green) midway through the season. In the last several weeks Owens, who is the special teams coach, has added some beef to the units. One of those players now playing on special team is 6-2, 242-pound sophomore defensive lineman Tyler Houska (Wadsworth, Ohio/Highland).
"We wanted a more physical presence," said Owens, who also noted that Capasso has pleaded for a year now to be included on the return unit.
Capasso's return for a score came with 8:59 left in the first quarter and gave the Eagles a 14-3 lead. Ashland broke on top, 7-0 with 11:41 left in the first quarter when sophomore quarterback Taylor Housewright (Ashland, Ohio) scampered into the end zone from five yards out and Berkshire added the extra point. SVSU countered with a 24-yard field goal by Tom Goodroe. That was just SVSU's fourth field goal of the year.
Moments later, Capasso got a couple of blocks and broke free up the middle of the field on the kickoff. Once he reached midfield, no SVSU player came close to bringing him down.
"We keep experimenting with it," said Owens of Capasso and the return game. "We saw some things in the coverage we could exploit. Capasso hit it at 100 miles per hour, which he has to."
That was the speed the Eagles were moving at offensively in the game's first few minutes. But after the first quarter, the Eagles seemed to hit a wall. AU couldn't mount an effective passing game and the Cardinals were cutting off the running lanes that junior slot back D.J. McCoy (Cleveland, Ohio/Collinwood) found so easy over the last four weeks.
The Eagles did manage to add three points and take a 17-3 lead on the final play of the half when Berkshire was true from 34 yards. That ended a six-play, 69-yard march.
"Those points right before the half were big," Owens noted. "We had to have those points. Those three points were critical."
That's a good way to describe Berkshire's contributions this season. This is his first season as the kicker and punter. He's 12-of-17 (70.6 percent) on field goal tries, including four-of-six from 49-49 yards. He's punted 27 times and is averaging 43.9 ypp., with eight punts of 50 more yards. The school record for the best season average is 43.4 ypp., set by Marion "Shine" Zody in 1956.
"It keeps me busy and once the weather turns cold, it will keep me warm," said Berkshire of the double duty. "It keeps me in the rhythm of the game."
The defenses controlled most of the third quarter. With just over a minute left in the quarter, junior cornerback Logan Kerr (Ashland, Ohio) intercepted a Jonathan Jennings pass intended for Andrew Beaver at the AU 3. That was Kerr's team-high fourth interception of the season and this was the second straight game with an interception. But from that high, the Eagles hit an uncommon low. On the second play after that theft, McCoy was stripped of the ball in the end zone by defensive back Matt McDaniel and defensive lineman Adrian Baker recovered in the end zone for a touchdown. The extra point brought the Cardinals to within 17-10.
That was just the second fumble the Eagles have lost this year. AU is tied for first in the nation in fewest fumbles lost.
The Eagles answered that score with a 34-yard field by Berkshire for a 20-10 lead with 10:31 remaining in regulation. With 5:53 left in the game, SVSU's bruising running back Ronnie Lark (115 yards on 23 carries) scored on a 1-yard run and Ashland's lead was 20-17. The Eagles embarked on a five-play, 53-yard drive that ended with Housewright finding H-Back Mike Knueven (Cincinnati, Ohio/St. Xavier) with a 14-yard touchdown pass. The touchdown reception was Knueven's fourth of the season and put the Eagles ahead, 30-17.
SVSU went four and out on its next possession and the Eagles added three points to make it 30-17 on a Berkshire 40-yard field goal with 1:24 to play. Time to relax, right?
The Cardinals behind Jennings, a true freshman, covered 59 yards in four plays and scored on an 18-yard pass from Jennings to Jeff Janis. Goodroe's extra point made it 30-24 and set up those final few nervous seconds.
"This is the first time he's played on the road," said SVSU coach Jim Collins of Jennings. "But he's back in Ohio, we're an hour from his hometown (Westerville, Ohio). I thought there were some throws he missed, but he's learning. He didn't rattle. At the end, he came back in and drove us down the field."
Jennings was 24-of-43 for 227 yards and three interceptions. His opposite number, Housewright, was 13-of-24 for 104 yards with a touchdown and an interception. He rushed for 89 yards on 10 carries. Housewright, according to Owens, was not near his best, but Collins saw enough to be impressed.
"I don't want to take anything away from Billy Cundiff because he was a great quarterback, but Housewright was the difference maker in today's game," said Collins.
McCoy finished with 140 yards on 35 carries, his fifth consecutive game with 120 or more yards rushing. Kerr had 10 tackles, all solo.
The Eagles will play at Findlay next Saturday (Oct. 30, noon). The Oilers lost on Saturday at home to Lake Erie, 48-45. That was Lake Erie's first win of the season.
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