Box Score PAINESVILLE, Ohio – For the past six days, AU head coach Lee Owen told anyone he saw that he was frightened by the Lake Erie Storm. His warning didn't come in fine print, he put the message out there in billboard size type. About the only method Owens didn't utilize in getting the word out was a siren.
Owens wasn't attempting to hype the game, he was trying to emphasize what the Eagles would face in the final game of the season. A year ago in Ashland, the Eagles had their way with the Storm, downgrading it to a squall in an 87-17 victory. Owens figured this LEC team would use that game as motivation and unlike last year, the Storm would have the services of senior quarterback Sean Bedevelsky (he missed last year's game due to injury), one of the GLIAC's best playmakers.
Owens has coached long enough that he can see the big picture and he doesn't need a crystal ball to do so. The Eagles lost Saturday (Nov. 12) at LEC, 45-42, and the game played out much like Owens feared.
The Eagles (6-5/6-4 GLIAC) spent the afternoon as Storm chasers. LEC (3-8/2-8)) led, 10-7 after one quarter, 24-14 at halftime and 38-28 entering the fourth quarter. The Eagles played the game without three starters on defense – senior linebacker Julian Goodwine (Dayton, Ohio/Thurgood Marshall), junior defensive back Donnie Dottei (Toledo, Ohio/Whitmer) and redshirt freshman safety Eric Schwieterman (Norwalk, Ohio/St. Paul). Those three regulars were missed as AU struggled to get the LEC offense off the field (Dottei and Schweiterman combined for nine interceptions this season). Bedevelsky completed 17-of-23 passes for 262 yards and two touchdowns and carried the ball 20 times for 99 yards and three scores.
In the first quarter, the Storm ran 23 plays to Ashland's nine and led in time of possession, 11:43-3:17. The problems that plagued the Eagles a week ago in a 20-17 loss to Ohio Dominican were present again – the AU defense couldn't dominate on third down like it had for much of the season. The Storm was 9-for-14 (64.3 percent) on third down conversions.
In the first 15 minutes, LEC scored on a 22-yard field goal by Sam Marcotte and a 41-yard touchdown run by Bedevelsky. In between those scoring plays, the Eagles ran one play – a 64-yard touchdown pass play from junior quarterback Taylor Housewright (Ashland, Ohio) to junior wide receiver Anthony Capasso (Columbia Station, Ohio/St. Edward). Gregg Berkshire's (Ashland, Ohio) extra point provided AU's seventh point.
The Housewright-to-Capasso connection haunted the Storm all afternoon. This was the fourth consecutive game Capasso caught at least one touchdown pass and that first-quarter hookup was the longest pass play of the season. Capasso ended the game with career single-game highs of 13 catches and 205 yards. The junior caught three touchdown passes. Capasso finished one reception shy of the school single-game record for receptions – 14, by Michael Hull against Findlay in 2002. In the final three games of the regular season he caught 30 passes for 379 yards (12.6 ypc.).
Housewright completed 23-of-37 passes for a career-high 330 yards and four touchdowns. In two career starts against Lake Erie he has thrown eight touchdown passes.
Not much went right for Ashland in the second quarter. The Eagles had a short-lived 14-10 lead when freshman slot back Jordan McCune (Bellville, Ohio/Clear Fork) bulled into the end zone from a yard out with 13:16 left in the first half. That ended a 12-play, 63-yard drive and the hope was that with that much time on the sideline, the AU defense might have been able to stabilize and energize itself. That didn't happen. Before the teams reached the mid-game break, Bedevelsky scored on a 1-yard run with 11:46 left in the half and then, with 5:05 remaining in the half, zipped a 13-yard scoring pass to wingback Mike Thomas. Marcotte's extra point made it 24-14, Lake Erie.
The first-half fireworks didn't end with that play. With 1:07 left in the half, Berkshire had a field goal blocked. That ended a rough first half for the AU special teams. Lake Erie had picked up a first down on a fake punt, Marcotte running 12 yard for a first down – and Ashland also had a holding penalty reduce a long kickoff return by David Soucie (Wadsworth, Ohio). The Eagles attempted an onside kick that they failed to recover. That allowed the Storm to begin at the AU 43 and that started a Storm scoring drive.
The Eagles pulled to within 24-21 on their first drive of the second half, Housewrigtht teaming with Capasso on a 10-yard touchdown pass with 12:36 left in the third quarter. The Eagles forced a turnover moments later, stripping running back Rod Smith of the football just short of mid-field. AU defensive back Tyler Krummel (Akron, Ohio/Hoban) fell on the loose ball at the LEC 36. That was the game's only turnover.
Ashland struck quickly after that Lake Erie miscue, McCune scoring on a 3-yard run with 6:54 left in the quarter. Berkshire's extra point gave AU a 28-24 lead. The touchdown was McCune's team-best 14th of the season.
Bedevelsky brought the Storm back just when it looked like AU would take away the game's momentum. He scored on an 11-yard run with 3:56 left in the quarter to complete a seven-play, 76-yard trip. Marcotte's extra point gave LEC a 31-28 lead. Ashland couldn't move the football on its turn and with 2:18 left in the frame, wingback Dave Romeo broke several tackles on his way to the end zone on a 27-yard run. Another Marcotte extra point gave the Storm a 38-28 lead. That's the way the third quarter ended.
Housewright found Soucie with an 18-yard scoring pass with 12:20 left in the game to bring the Eagles to within 38-35. Soucie did a nifty job of getting his feet down in bounds in the back of the end zone. The Storm answered when Bedelvsky threw a 33-yard scoring pass to senior wide receiver Brandon James with 8:08 left in the game. The 6-2, 225-pound James, third in the GLIAC in receptions per game and seventh in receiving yards per game, broke several tackles on his way to the end zone and a 45-35 Lake Erie lead. James had six catches for 114 yards.
Ashland got to within 45-42 with 5:56 remaining in regulation when Housewright threw his third touchdown pass of the afternoon to Capasso. This one covered 28 yards. Berkshire was perfect on the PAT.
If the Eagles could have gotten the ball back, they might have pushed a Lake Erie defense that was shaky on its feet. But the Storm held the ball until it punted with one second left in the game. At that point, the Eagles were out of chances.
Sophomore linebacker Cody Bloom (Napoleon, Ohio) led all players in the game with 12 tackles (eight solo) and ends the year with 109 tackles. He's the first Ashland player to have 100 tackles in a season since Tom Brenner in 2008.
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