Midway through the second quarter Saturday (Oct. 9), Ashland University slot back D.J. McCoy (Cleveland, Ohio/Collinwood) was standing along the sideline vomiting.
At that point, McCoy had 131 yards rushing and three touchdowns.
Just imagine how sick the Tiffin Dragons (1-5/0-5 GLIAC) must have felt at that same juncture. They were hardly the picture of health, trailing, 21-0 less than five minutes into the game and 42-0 with 6:88 remaining to be played in the first half.
McCoy ended up with 144 yards on 15 carries (9.6 ypc.) and the Eagles (3-3/2-3 GLIAC) won their second consecutive game, 49-0 at Jack Miller Stadium/Martinelli Field at the Dwight Schar Athletic Complex. The shutout was Ashland's first since a 27-0 whitewash of Gannon on the third weekend of the season in 2005. This was AU's highest offensive outburst since scoring 62 points against Gannon in the final game of the 2007 regular season.
AU's 42 first-half points could be a school record. It is the largest first-half point total in the last 18 years. That is not a record that has been kept previously.
This much is certain – McCoy is on a rampage. This was his third consecutive game with at least 131 yards rushing. Over the last three weeks, McCoy has rushed for 412 yards on 71 carries (5.8 ypc.) For the year, he's rushed for 587 yards and is averaging 5.1 ypc.
"I was sick all night," replied McCoy, when asked if he was taking the second quarter off to celebrate after a big first quarter. "I was throwing up on the sidelines. I had to re-hydrate."
Someone asked McCoy if this was the best he had ever rolled with his stomach roiling and he surprised everyone with his answer.
"Actually, no," said the junior. "I had six touchdowns in one half in high school and I was throwing up in the first half. It was after Thanksgiving. Food poisoning."
McCoy wasn't the only Eagle with impressive numbers. Sophomore quarterback Taylor Housewright (Ashland, Ohio) completed eight-of-10 passes for 209 yards and two touchdowns. Over his last two games, he's been completed 28-of-34 passes (82.4 percent) for 493 yards and four touchdowns.
"It's got to be a pretty good pass efficiency," said AU head coach Lee Owens of Housewright's Saturday numbers. "Those are the numbers you like."
Senior wide receiver Joe Horn (Waynesfield, Ohio/Waynesfield-Goshen) caught three passes for 112 yards and two touchdowns. Horn is second in career receptions at AU (140) – he trails only Mike Hull (183) in that department. Horn and has moved into second place in career receiving yards (2,205) and career touchdown receptions (19). Chris Harkness is the school's career leader in both of those areas. Harkness has 2,327 receiving yards and 23 touchdown receptions.
Tiffin tried to catch the Eagles off guard from the opening gun. On the game's first play, TU's David Singleton took Gregg Berkshire's (Ashland, Ohio) kickoff and tried to lateral the ball across the field to David McKnight. The ball was fumbled away and recovered by AU's Donnie Dottei (Toledo, Ohio/Whitmer) at the Tiffin 8-yard line.
"Dan's (Tiffin head coach Walkosky) is a special teams guru," said Owens. "We prepared for everything. Everything. The last thing I said before we left the locker room was, 'They're going to run a fake before the day is over. Play with your eyes open.' Donnie read it perfectly."
On AU's first play from scrimmage, McCoy scored on an 8-yard run.
Tiffin got the ball, went three-and-out, and AU took over on its own 49 after a 29-yard punt. Ashland ran three plays and scored again, this time on a 3-yard run by backup quarterback Rocco Pentello (Westerville, Ohio/Westerville South). The key play in the drive was a 44-yard pass from Housewright to Horn.
The Dragons got the ball and on first down, quarterback Jason Young was intercepted by cornerback Logan Kerr (Ashland, Ohio) at the Tiffin 40. Six plays later, McCoy scored on an 8-yard run and Ashland led, 21-0.
McCoy's final touchdown came with 4:45 left in the first quarter on a career-long 69-yard run. Ashland scored just one touchdown after halftime. That came with 12:10 left in the third quarter when Housewright hit Horn with a 35-yard scoring pass.
"Defensively, they were pressing us, man coverage," said Horn. "At the receiver position we think we can take advantage of that. Taylor did a great job of putting the ball out there and letting us make plays."
The Eagles outgained the Dragons, 524-257. That's the first 500-yard day for the Eagles since the Wayne State game last season (Oct. 3, 2009) when the Eagles had 524 yards. This was Ashland's highest yardage total since last year's Tiffin game (Sept. 19, 2009) when the Eagles had 567 yards.
Those AU fans watching closely from the second quarter on probably got more excited about the defense. Ashland had four sacks, picked off two passes and recovered one fumble. The Dragons were one-for-10 on third down. Senior defensive end Dirk Dickerhoof (Massillon, Ohio/Washington) had two sacks for 15 yards. Kerr had six tackles (all solo), the pick and two pass breakups. Kerr leads the GLIAC in pass breakups.
"Our focus point was to come out here and eliminate big plays," explained Kerr. "They were a big play team. It (shutout) means a lot, it's a credit to the whole defense and the entire coaching staff, all the way up to the head coach."
While the Eagles didn't score after that early second-half touchdown, they did manage to keep their focus. AU shuffled players in and out of the lineup (eight different players carried the ball, six different players caught a pass and four players lined up at quarterback), but the Eagles never dropped into a rag-tag mode.
"We don't have any room for error," said Horn. "We go into every single game with the same intensity. We can't afford to take a play off at any time."
The Eagles go back out on the road next week (Oct. 16, 12 p.m.), playing at Wayne State. The once-beaten Warriors were playing at Lake Erie Saturday night. Ashland is 0-2 away from home this season.
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