FINDLAY, OH – Numbers have been known to lie like a used car salesman at a New York City dealership.
That being said, the figures the Ashland University football team compiled on Saturday (Oct. 31) at Findlay's Donnell Stadium during a 56-7 victory, don't stretch the truth, they stretch the imagination.
The Eagles cooked the books and did so blatantly in their fifth consecutive victory. After this game, the AU record manual was absolutely smoking.
At one point this season, AU was 1-3. Now the Eagles are 6-3, 5-3 in the GLIAC and there are whispers of getting involved in the postseason picture.
This victory was the Eagles' fourth straight over the Oilers (1-8/1-7 GLIAC) and their sixth in their last seven meetings with their neighbor to the west. This marked the fourth consecutive game where the Eagles touched up the Oilers for 34 or more points. The 56 points is the most Ashland has ever scored against Findlay, the previous record of 53 points came in 1929. This is the largest margin of victory (49 points) the Eagles have ever enjoyed against the Oilers.
Senior wide receiver Joe Horn (Waynesfield, Ohio-Waynesfield-Goshen) took a 15-yard pass from sophomore quarterback Taylor Housewright (Ashland, Ohio) with 8:18 left in the first half and became the school's career leader in reception yards, passing Chris Harkness (2,327 yards). Horn has 2,351 yards. In this game, he had eight catches for 70 yards and three touchdowns. He also tied Harkness for career touchdown receptions (23).
"It means a lot to me to become the career leader," said Horn of the yardage record. "To be able to have a record like that here at AU that has such a strong tradition and so many great players over the years is really special. I think the fact that I've had the opportunity to play with and learn from some great receivers over the past five years has really helped me get to this point. Just by looking at the record books it's easy to see Chris was a great player here and it is an honor to be up there on the list with him."
Junior tailback D.J. McCoy (Cleveland, Ohio/Collinwood) rushed for a career-high 203 yards on 25 carries. This was McCoy's sixth consecutive game with 120 yards or more yards on the ground. He had 12 carries for 114 yards in the first quarter and 186 yards at halftime. McCoy also went over 1,000 yards rushing for the first time in his career. He has 1,050 yards and is the first AU player to go over 1,000 yards since Dawon Harvey in 2007.
Housewright tied a school single-game record with five touchdown passes. He is the only quarterback not named Billy Cundiff to throw that many (Cundiff did it twice). Housewright finished the game 14-of-21 for 141 yards.
Housewright's buddy from his Ashland High School days, junior cornerback Logan Kerr (Ashland, Ohio), intercepted a pass for the third consecutive week. Kerr has five interceptions, he's the first AU player with more than four interceptions since Toure Carter had nine picks in 2003.
Senior wide receiver-special teams standout Alan Dunson (Columbus, Ohio/Walnut Ridge) blocked three punts, made a special teams tackle and scored two times – one on a pass reception the other when he picked up a blocked punt and raced into the end zone. Dunson has eight blocked kicks in his career, it's doubtful anyone at AU can equal that number. Dunson has scored two special teams touchdowns this season. In addition to Saturday's score, he had a kick return for a touchdown against Tiffin this season.
Ashland took all mystery out of this game early. The Eagles scored on their first four drives. On their opening drive, Housewright found Dunson with an 8-yard scoring pass. That was Dunson's first touchdown catch of the year. Gregg Berkshire's (Ashland, Ohio) extra point made it 7-0.
With 4:43 left in the opening quarter, Housewright flipped a 3-yard scoring pass to Horn and Ashland led, 14-0. That advantage grew to 21-0 with 1:21 to play in the quarter when Housewright found Horn with a 19-yard scoring pass.
AU's next touchdown came thanks to a 19-yard run by Housewright with 7:19 remaining in the half. Housewright dropped back in the pocket and went through all his options – twice. For the Oilers, the good news is that they could cover the receivers. The bad news is that the pass rush was bounced back by a stout AU offensive line and Housewright scampered into the end zone.
Ashland took a 35-0 lead with 16 seconds left in the half when Housewright found McCoy in the flat with a short pass which the junior turned into an 11-yard TD pass. At halftime, the Eagles had outgained the Oilers, 354-101. Findlay had the ball for just 11:36 in the first half.
Horn's third touchdown catch came with 8:56 to go in the third quarter. This time, Housewright and the senior combined on a 3-yard scoring pass. Dunson's second blocked punt came with 6:51 remaining in the quarter. He smothered the punt by Cameron Stevens and then scooped up the ball and ran 12 yards into the end zone. That gave the Eagles a 49-0 lead.
After that, the reserves saw most of the action for both sides. Ashland's final score came off the third blocked punt of the day. Dunson got the block and reserve linebacker Cody Bloom (Napoleon, Ohio) fell on the ball in the end zone for Ashland's final points of the day.
The Eagles led in total yardage, 543-226. This was their fifth consecutive game with 30 or more points and the third time in the last four games the Eagles had 40 or more points.
Next Saturday (Nov. 6, 12 p.m.) the Eagles will play at GLIAC newcomer Ohio Dominican. It will be the first time the teams have met.
AU
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