Box Score In Indianapolis in late May there's always a lot of excitement when that line, "Gentlemen, start your engines," is uttered.
Thursday (Aug. 30), at Jack Miller Stadium/Martinelli Field, the Ashland University Eagles were like engine sludge. They gummed up the engines of what was one of Division II's best offenses a year ago and came away with a 37-14 victory over the Indianapolis Greyhounds. This was the season opener for both teams and it was played in front of 4,064 fans on the first Thursday night opener in the facility's history.
The Greyhounds could never find a can of Gumout on the sideline but in several instances, they nearly got their gums knocked out, thanks to an Ashland defense that rocked and rolled for 60 minutes.
Ashland limited UI quarterback Chris Mills, the 2011 GLIAC back of the year and a second team All-American, to 184 yards passing. Mills completed 22-of-38 passes and was intercepted twice. Wide receiver Mar'quone Edmonds, who had 13 catches for 168 yards and three touchdowns against AU last season had eight catches for 44 yards and never found the end zone. It would be accurate to say that on this night, the wheels came off for the visitors.
Safety Brian Gamble (Massillon, Ohio/Illinois) had a team-high 11 tackles and now has 26 tackles in his last two games against Indy. Junior linebacker Cody Bloom (Napoleon, Ohio), who led the team in stops a year ago, had nine tackles and a key third-quarter interception. Defensive back Mike McMillan (Hagerstown, Md./Mendocino College) had nine tackles (eight solo) and a pass breakup.
"I thought our guys did a great job," said Owens of an AU defense that held the 'Hounds to 319 total yards. "We have some speed at the back end and we're physical up front," noted Owens.
The AU coach said what his defense did was make the Greyhounds, "play left-handed." While Indy ran the ball better against the Eagles (135 yards/5.6 ypc.) than they did in the last two meetings, they never got their passing game into any kind of rhythm. The AU defense never had any extended time on the field (AU led in time of possession, 32:47-27:13). Unlike last year, when AU went four overtimes to beat the Greyhounds, 39-36 and struggled to get the defense off the field, it was the AU defense this year that dictated play.
"Defensively, we made plays when we had to," explained Bloom. "There were a couple of missed assignments, I missed some assignments, other guys missed assignments."
Even with those miscues, it's hard to find much fault with this effort. Indy averaged 31.6 ppg., and 411.6 ypg. a year ago and didn't come close to that in this contest.
"Fourteen points that's great," said Bloom. "That's a great job by our defense and our defensive coordinator. The play calls were excellent. The back end was great. We shut down the passing game for the most part."
On offense, AU received a sterling game from senior quarterback Taylor Housewright (Ashland, Ohio). He completed 16-of-25 passes for 216 yards and two touchdowns. He punted four times and averaged 45.5 ypp., with a long of 56 yards. Housewright also scored a touchdown on a 7-yard run. His favorite target was senior wide receiver Anthony Capasso (Columbia Station, Ohio/St. Edward) who had six catches for 120 yards.
"Their quarterback was outstanding, he looked like he matured," commented Indianapolis coach Bob Bartolomeo. "He controlled the tempo of the offense."
Housewright benefitted from a running game that churned out 207 yards. Sophomore tailback Anthony Taylor (Arlington, Va./Washington-Lee) had 104 yards on 14 carries (7.4 ypc.) and sophomore tailback Jordan McCune (Bellville, Ohio/Clear Fork) had 80 yards on 17 pops. McCune had 60 yards in the second half when he was thrived against a wilting UI defense. Freshman fullback Steve Nagy (Hudson, Ohio) scored a pair of touchdowns.
AU took a 3-0 lead with 10:52 left in the first quarter on freshman Greg Gallaway's (Ashland, Ohio) 27-yard field goal. With 6:09 left in the frame, Housewright found wide receiver Dan Piko (Oak Lawn, Ill./Marist Academy) for a 9-yard touchdown pass. That put the Eagles in front, 10-0.
A 1-yard scoring run by tailback Klay Fiechter brought the Greyhounds to within 10-7 with 22 seconds left to play in the first quarter. Nagy score the first touchdown of his college career with 9:53 left in the half on a 7-yard pass from Housewright. That put AU ahead, 17-7 and that was the score at the break.
Indianapolis cut the margin to 17-14 on a 2-yard run by Fiechter with 10:34 left in the third quarter. Late in the quarter, after Housewright scored on a 7-yard run to give AU a 23-14 lead, Indy marched to the AU 14-yardline. On a first-and-10 play from there, Mills threw a pass over the middle. The ball hit several players, bounced into the air and it was Bloom who eventually pulled it down. He pretty much killed any hopes of a Greyhound comeback with that play.
"It was a bump by BG (Gamble) and I was at the right spot," said Bloom. "It hit the receiver and Brian Gamble tipped it and I just got lucky with that one."
"They made plays," sighed Bartolomeo. "It's more what Ashland did than what we didn't."
The Eagles will need to keep doing that because next Saturday (Sept. 8, 7 p.m.), fifth-ranked Wayne State comes to Ashland. A year ago, the Eagles defeated the Warriors, 20-17. That was WSU's first loss of the season.
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