It's a formula for winning football games that never goes out of style – run the ball, play great defense.
The No. 6-ranked Ashland University football team uses that formula quite well, and on Saturday (Oct. 22) afternoon against Tiffin at Jack Miller Stadium/Martinelli Field, the formula resulted in a seventh consecutive victory to begin 2022, 28-20.
Ashland is 7-0 overall and 5-0 in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference, now leading the conference outright, and the Dragons are 4-3, 4-1. The Eagles improve to 68-25-5 all-time on Homecoming, 16-2 on Homecoming under head coach
Lee Owens, and 8-2 all-time vs. Tiffin.
"Our guys played really well," Owens said. "When we came out in the second half and momentum changed real quick, you think they might have flinched at that point, as talented as Tiffin is and as quick as they scored. Our guys don't – they don't panic, they don't flinch."
The Eagles also are assured a 14
th winning season under Owens in his 19 years (18 seasons) at the helm.
WHAT HAPPENED
- The first quarter finished scoreless, but the Eagles were on the march. On the first play of the second quarter, junior tailback Larry Martin went in on a six-yard touchdown run – his seventh TD run of 2022, and his fourth straight game with a rushing score.
- Tiffin got on the board thanks to a 20-yard field goal from kicker Nick Basile with 6:08 left until halftime. Ashland, however, had the immediate answer thanks to a 17-yard catch-and-run by a couple of post-grads – quarterback Austin Brenner to wide receiver Logan Bolin.
- Ashland led 14-3 at halftime, and out-gained the Dragons by a 241-122 count.
- On the first possession of the second half, the Dragons went down and cut their deficit to 14-10 when running back Devin Nelson scored on a one-yard touchdown run. With a 25-yard Basile field goal, Tiffin got to within a single point at 14-13 with 7:09 left in the third period.
- Brenner, on a fourth-and-one from the Tiffin 9, went in to the end zone on a run-pass option to the right side to put AU back on top by eight points at 21-13 with 2:24 remaining in the third.
- Martin scored his second rushing touchdown of the game and eighth of the season with 9:26 left in the game on a 27-yard scamper to lift the Eagle advantage to 28-13. Tiffin, however, wasn't about to go away easily, and made it a 28-20 difference on a 30-yard scoring strike from quarterback Christian Carter to wide receiver Jack Stultz.
- Inside of two minutes left in the game, when the AU defense – No. 1 in NCAA Division II in points allowed per game coming in – needed to make the play to clinch the win, it did so. Following a third-down sack, Tiffin's fourth-down pass to keep the game going was dropped with 1:39 remaining.
- "The guys have worked so hard this off-season," said sophomore defensive tackle Kristian Gehrisch. "This means everything to us right now."
THE WRAP-UP
- Martin finished with 27 carries for 124 yards and two scores, as the Eagles ran for 215 yards and three TDs as a team.
- "It's hard to explain. We're 7-0, we're taking each game one at a time, and this is the biggest one on our schedule," Martin said. "We completed the 'revenge tour,' we beat everybody we lost to last year. This one's probably the best one so far."
- Brenner was 13-for-18 for 169 yards, a touchdown and an interception passing, and added 66 yards and a TD on the ground.
- "I have so much confidence in those guys around me, on my side of the ball and on the defense, to make plays," Brenner said. "We just have confidence in each other. We know we're going to make that play."
- Senior wide receiver Garrett Turnbaugh picked up his second consecutive 100-yard receiving game (five catches, 115 yards), and has 13 grabs for 218 yards and a touchdown in the last two outings.
UP NEXT
After the first set of Super Region rankings revealed by the NCAA on Monday (Oct. 24), it's on to Hillsdale on Oct. 29 at 1 p.m. in the renewal of the Traveling Trophy Game.
