No. 6 Eagle Football Wins Late At Home Against Panthers

The old saying tells us that offense wins games and defense wins championships.
 
On Saturday (Oct. 15) night at Jack Miller Stadium/Martinelli Field, the defense for the No. 6-ranked Ashland University football team kept its Great Midwest Athletic Conference championship hopes alive, leading the Eagles to a 14-7 win over Ohio Dominican.
 
The Eagles are 6-0 overall and 4-0 in the Great Midwest, pulling into a first-place tie with Tiffin, who was idle on Saturday. The Panthers are 4-3, 3-2.
 
On Ashland's Youth Night, MBA Night and Breast Cancer Awareness Night, it broke the deadlock in the all-time series with ODU, and now leads, 6-5.
 
The Eagles kept the Panthers to 21 total yards of offense in the second half, as AU rallied from a 7-0 halftime deficit.
 
"Hats off to the defense and the way they played against a really good passing team from Ohio Dominican," said Ashland head coach Lee Owens. "It's a real blessing to be able to coach this game, but when you can coach a bunch of young guys like I do that care about each other, believe in each other…that permeates around the whole team.
 
"It's awesome being 6-0, and that's a really good football team we beat."
 
WHAT HAPPENED

• After Ashland was stopped on fourth down on its opening series, Ohio Dominican needed just two plays to take an early 7-0 lead 3:13 into the game. Travis Whittaker's 35-yard scoring run gave the Panthers the early advantage – and it was only the second first-half touchdown Ashland has allowed this season.
• The Eagles missed a field goal on their second possession, but got the ball back on a fumble recovery in the second quarter by senior safety Justin Moore. Ashland, however, did not convert on another fourth-down attempt, and the Eagles went into halftime trailing for the first time this season.
• Senior quarterback Austin Brenner, who came in to start the second half, lit a fire under the Eagle offense and tied the game at 7 with 2:18 left in the third quarter on a 31-yard touchdown pass to senior wide receiver Garrett Turnbaugh.
• Starting at its own 6 in the fourth quarter, Ashland marched down the field for what would be the game-winning points when junior tailback Larry Martin went in on a six-yard scoring run with 1:47 to play.
• "It's a great win," Martin said. "Our defense really helped the offense out today, really saved our butts."
• "Larry just took over on some of those runs (in the last drive)," said Owens. "I'm proud of him."
• One of the top defenses in NCAA Division II finished off the win, stopping ODU on fourth down with 53 ticks on the clock. The Eagles have allowed just 55 points in six games in 2022 (9.2 per game).

 
THE WRAP-UP

• After sophomore quarterback Trevor Bycznski started and went 15-for-20 for 145 yards in the first half, Brenner came in and led the two scoring drives and was 12-for-18 for 127 yards, one TD and one interception passing, and added 43 yards rushing.
• "I've got some awesome teammates. I love those guys," said Brenner. "I've got some awesome teammates, some great coaches, and an awesome God."
• "To see Austin play, who didn't take a snap all week in practice…to think that he was going to go in and win that football game for us, is a pretty amazing deal," Owens said.
• Turnbaugh grabbed eight passes for 103 yards and a score.
• Defensively, junior defensive end Jeffrey Barnett racked up 10 total tackles, a sack, two tackles for loss and a forced fumble in the victory.
• "It feels sweet. It feels great," Barnett said. "I just love playing football games like that that come down to the wire, and it's always good winning one of these. Our defense played lights out."
• Ashland out-gained ODU by a 416-206 count in total offense yards.

 
UP NEXT
Ashland's 98^th Homecoming game on Oct. 22 at 1 p.m. vs. Tiffin (4-2, 4-0) – a game for the outright lead in the Great Midwest.