Eagles Flipped The Script, Ran Past No. 10 Falcons In 2022 Opener

Ashland University's football team waited a long time to do what it did on Thursday (Sept. 1) night at Jack Miller Stadium/Martinelli Field.
 
The Eagles, receiving votes in the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) preseason coaches poll, ran out to a 17-0 halftime lead against 10^th-ranked Notre Dame College, then sealed the 31-14 victory with two late touchdown runs.
 
"To win the opener is special," said Ashland head coach Lee Owens. "To do it the way we did…we played some dominant defense at times. You play great defense all night, and then you put your offense in a situation where they had to put a drive together to score, and they did. And then you had to make first downs to finish, and they did.
 
"It will be one of the bigger wins we've had at home."
 
It was the season-opener for both teams, as it was in 2021, when Ashland lost an overtime heartbreaker in South Euclid, 42-35.
 
WHAT HAPPENED

• After both teams didn't score on their first possession of the game, the Eagles took the lead with 4:52 to go in the first quarter when junior fullback Isaac Hadley went in on a one-yard touchdown plunge. That capped off an eight-play, 71-yard drive following a fourth-down stop on defense.
• Following an interception by sophomore cornerback Devin Prude, the Eagles put together another long drive – this time 13 plays and 66 yards in 6:41 – ending in a 39-yard field goal from senior kicker Storm Elsesser. AU went up 10-0 with 8:10 left in the first half.
• Right before halftime, another Eagle fourth-down stop turned into, on the very next play, a 64-yard touchdown run by junior tailback Gei'vonni Washington for a 17-0 AU advantage.
• In the game's first 30 minutes, the Eagles had a 263-102 yardage advantage. Notre Dame closed that gap with 7:51 left in the third quarter when quarterback Chris Brimm found tight end Reece Perkins for a 45-yard score to make it a 17-7 contest.
• The Falcons continued to claw their way back early in the fourth quarter, as tailback Idris Lawrence went left for a six-yard touchdown run to cut the NDC deficit to 17-14 at the 11:13 mark.
• After not much in the way of offense in the second half to that point, a fourth-and-nine completion conversion from senior quarterback Austin Brenner to sophomore tailback Patrick Blubaugh set up junior tailback Larry Martin's 24-yard scoring scamper up the middle to put the Eagles back on top 24-14 with 6:47 to play.
• "They have all the momentum in the world at that point," Owens said, "and Larry ran the play to perfection."
• The Eagle defense needed to make one more play, and it did when senior safety Justin Moore picked off Brimm at the AU 22 to effectively end the game. Then the offense capped the victory when Martin sprinted 37 yards for his second TD run of the night.

 
THE WRAP-UP

• Both Washington (150 rushing yards and a touchdown on 11 carries) and Martin (122 yards and two touchdowns on 10 carries) went over the century mark on the ground, making them the first pair of Eagles to do so since…they did it against Lake Erie last season.
• As a team, Ashland ran for 323 yards, and averaged 8.7 yards per rush - the Eagles' highest single-game mark since 11.6 (477 yards on 41 attempts) at Kentucky Wesleyan on Oct. 22, 2016.
• Brenner, in his first game on the field since a season-ending injury in the middle of 2021, finished 14-for-26 for 128 yards and an interception, along with 21 yards on the ground.
• "It's awesome. To quote Coach O, the better the team, the bigger the game, the sweeter the victory," Brenner said. "We're really excited to get a big win, and we'll enjoy it tonight, tomorrow morning, and get ready for Week 2."
• Senior inside linebacker Michael Ayers picked up right where he left off last fall, ending Thursday night with 12 total tackles, 2½ tackles for loss, a half-sack, a forced fumble and three pass breakups. Senior safety Jourdan Swett added a dozen total tackles in the victory.

 
UP NEXT
Ashland will begin Great Midwest Athletic Conference play on Sept. 10 at 6 p.m. at Findlay, which will start 2022 on Saturday (Sept. 3) at Ohio Dominican.