"Let there be light," – at one of the most spectacular football facilities in Division II football, - AND at the end of the tunnel.
Ashland University officials flipped the switch at Jack Miller Stadium/Martinelli Field at the Dwight Schar Athletic Complex on Saturday (Sept. 18) for the first night game in the facility's history.
Megawatts and kilowatts combined to illuminate the field. The bright rays also cast a revealing light on several facts.
Even though the running game came out of the dark on Saturday - 144 yards, 78 by tailback D.J. McCoy (Cleveland, Ohio/Collinwood) - the Ashland University Eagles have an offense that is still a work in progress.
The Hillsdale Chargers, ranked 13th in the country, have an offense that is a well-oiled machine. It can be blue collar or blue blood, whatever the situation dictates.
Saturday night, the Eagles were left feeling the blues, losing to the Chargers, 27-17. The loss is Ashland's second straight and gives the Eagles a 1-2 record, 0-2 in GLIAC play. Hillsdale is 2-1 and 1-1 in the conference. The game was watched by 4,874, the largest crowd to see a game at the new facility.
For the second consecutive week, Ashland was plagued by turnovers. AU sophomore quarterback Taylor Housewright (Ashland, Ohio) threw a pair of interceptions. One came at the Hilldale 3-yardline and the other was at the Hillsdale 35. Both came in the first half. Ashland trailed, 17-7 at halftime and 27-17 after three quarters. A week ago at Indianapolis, AU gave the ball away four times.
"They're (Hillsdale) so good on offense, even when they aren't scoring they control the ball," pointed out AU head coach Lee Owens. "We knew every time we had the ball we had to be productive, be efficient. We moved the ball fairly well. We continue to make some mistakes in the red zone, mistakes we can't make. We'll keep working at it. I think we have the makings of a good football team. I think you'll see us get better. We held our own in there tonight."
This marked the second straight year that the Chargers came to Ashland and won. The game plan was pretty much the same, pound away at the Eagles with an effective running game and then use a mid-range passing game to finish off things. Last year, it was Vinnie Panizzi running wild (231 yards). This year, it was Joe Glendening with 185 yards and a touchdown on 38 carries.
"They just find those kind of guys," sighed Owens. "They're chunk guys who don't go down. They wear you down."
Take that power running game moving behind a massive offensive line, throw in 6-5, 206-pound senior wide receiver Andre Holmes (nine catches, 147 yards, two touchdowns) and senior quarterback Troy Weatherhead (21-of-25, 250 yards, two touchdowns), a three-year starter, and there's not much the Chargers are lacking.
"We've got a real good balance right now," said HC coach Keith Otterbein. "We graduated some good players, a wide receiver (A.J. Kegg), a left tackle who's in the NFL now (Jared Veldheer). Troy got us out of some big blowup plays. He did a nice job. He's been playing at a very high level."
AU's defense has been at a lofty plateau as well, ranking third in the GLIAC in total defense. But after AU kicker Gregg Berkshire (Ashland, Ohio) missed a 25-yard field goal on the Eagles' opening drive, HC took over and marched 71 yards in 15 plays, taking a 3-0 lead on Colin McGreevy's 26-yard field goal.
The Eagles bounced back to take a 7-3 lead with 58 seconds to play in the first quarter, Housewright (11-of-22, 195 yards, two touchdowns) connecting with wide receiver Kyle Jacob (Brecksville, Ohio/Brecksville-Broadview Heights) on a 10-yard scoring pass. That catch was the first of the season for Jacob.
HC took a 10-7 lead with 8:22 left in the first half when Weatherhead found Holmes with a 5-yard scoring pass. That ended a nine-play, 73-yard march. Ashland drove to the Hillsdale 3 and Housewright was intercepted in the end zone by free safety Joe Vear.
Moments later, the Chargers extended the lead to 17-7 when Weatherhead went deep, firing a perfect strike to Holmes on a 69-yard pass play.
"He's a pro prospect," Owens said of Holmes, who led the GLIAC in receiving yards a year ago. "We'll be watching him play on Sundays. Our scouting system says he's the top prospect in the conference."
AU's next possession began at the Hillsdale 25-yardline thanks to a 48-yard kickoff return by Tyler McFarlin (Ashland, Ohio). On the third play from scrimmage after that return, Housewright was picked by defensive back Ben Karaba at the HC goal line on a pass intended for wide receiver Joe Horn (Waynesfield, Ohio/Waynesfield-Goshen). Throughout his career, Horn has been a Hillsdale killer. On this night, he was held to one catch for five yards.
"These are disciplined, well-coached teams," said Housewright, when asked about the trio of defenses he's played against – Bloomsburg, Indianapolis and Hillsdale. "We didn't make enough plays and we made mistakes in the red zone."
Hillsdale's lone turnover came early in the third quarter, Holmes fumbling at the HC 35-yardline. AU linebacker Julian Goodwine (Dayton, Ohio/Thurgood Marshall) fell on the ball and that set up a Housewright touchdown pass to H-Back Mike Knueven (Cincinnati, Ohio/St. Xavier) that covered 17 yards. Berkshire's extra point brought AU to within 17-14 with 11:51 left in the third quarter.
The Chargers let a fourth-quarter lead escape a week ago at top-ranked Grand Valley State and they were determined to not see a repeat of that in Ashland. With 7:15 left in the third quarter, Glendening scored on a 2-yard run to end an eight-play, 69-yard march. That gave the Chargers a 24-14 advantage.
A Berkshire 48-yard field goal, the longest of his career, came with 5:33 left in the third quarter, bringing the Eagles to within 24-17. The Chargers matched that with a 32-yard field goal by McGreevy with 32 seconds remaining in the third quarter. That completed all of the game's scoring.
Owens has a valid point about HC's ability to play keepaway with the football. The Chargers led in time of possession, 38:06-21:54. The Chargers outgained the Eagles, 434-339.
AU got several heroic performances on defense. Senior linebacker Carmon Wolfe (Tonawanda, N.Y./Erie C.C.) posted 13 tackles (six solo). Goodwine had 12 tackles (seven solo) and one tackle for loss and safety Tarell Lewis (Redford, Mich./Bowling Green) had 11 stops (eight solo).
The Eagles head back out on the road next Saturday (Sept. 25, 4 p.m.), playing at Northern Michigan. The Wildcats are 2-1, 2-0 in GLIAC play, and have won two straight games, including a 31-17 victory at Northwood on Saturday.
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