Football Wins 4OT Thriller To Stay In Great Midwest Title Hunt

Rivalry games are supposed to be this good.
 
On Saturday (Nov. 4) afternoon at Jack Miller Stadium/Martinelli Field, the football teams from Ashland University and Findlay played a four-overtime thriller – eventually won by the Eagles, 37-35.
 
Ashland stays in the hunt for a potential share of the 2023 Great Midwest Athletic Conference title at 7-3 overall and 7-1 in the league following its sixth consecutive victory, while the Oilers are 7-3, 6-2. The Eagles are one game behind first-place Tiffin in the league standings.
 
"If you keep your focus throughout the year," said Ashland head coach Doug Geiser, who has tied Robert Brownson (1954) for the most wins by a first-year head coach in program history. "If we did not win six in a row or seven out of eight…we are going to enjoy this day, because we had a chance to beat our rival. That's the respect that they're due.
 
"Then, tomorrow, to quote Bill Belichick, it's on to Kentucky Wesleyan."
 
The first drive of the game for each team resulted in a blocked field goal attempt by Ashland and a fumble lost by Findlay. That fumble set up the Eagles' second drive at the Oiler 36, and senior tailback Larry Martin cashed in with a 27-yard touchdown run, his 10^th of the season, on fourth-and-one.
 
Early in the second stanza, junior quarterback Trevor Bycznski found senior wide receiver Dezmin Lyburtus for a 73-yard catch-and-run major to extend the AU lead to 14-0. The TD pass was Bycznski's 19^th of the season, eight of those to Lyburtus.
 
Findlay's first score came with 4:26 left until halftime, as quarterback Alec Bornhorst found wide receiver Cam Childers for a 26-yard score and a 14-7 deficit. Bornhorst then went in on a QB draw from two yards out with six seconds to go until the break, and the game was tied at 14 at halftime.
 
Following an interception by junior safety Riely Weiss deep in Oiler territory on the opening drive of the second half, sophomore kicker A.J. Rhodes' 26-yard field goal put the Eagles back on top at 17-14. Findlay took the lead for the first time with 8:38 left in the third quarter when Bornhorst found running back Garret Clark on a throw-back for a 12-yard score and a 21-17 advantage.
 
Ashland executed a throw-back of its own to take the lead back at the 5:44 mark of the third, and Bycznski's 12-yard toss to junior tight end Nabil Abdus-Salaam gave the Eagles a 24-21 edge.
 
Findlay's 26-yard field goal from Brian Bartholomew late in the third re-tied the game at 24, and the score stayed that way for the rest of regulation – thanks to a blocked field goal (10^th blocked kick by AU of the season) at the gun by junior defensive tackle Mason Graney.
 
Ashland's first overtime contest since the 2021 opener at Notre Dame College continued with the Eagles getting the ball first – and Rhodes hitting a 23-yard field goal to break the tie. Bartholomew's 21-yard field goal re-knotted the game at 27 and sent it into the second overtime.
 
In the second OT, Bornhorst scored on a four-yard run to make it 33-27, but the ensuing two-point conversion was missed. Ashland got the ball back, and Bycznski-to-Lyburtus for three yards made it 33-33. The two-point convert failed, and it was on to a third OT.
 
The Oilers converted their two-point try to start the third, and Lyburtus caught his from Bycznski to send it to a fourth extra period at 35. Findlay missed its conversion in the fourth overtime, then senior Jake McLoughlin caught Bycznski's pass into the end zone for the conversion to end the game.
 
POST-GAME NUGGETS

• Bycznski threw for a career-high 341 yards on 20-for-30 passing, adding three touchdown passes and an interception. Lyburtus ended with one of the top receiving games in program history, grabbing 11 passes for 220 yards and two scores.

 
UP NEXT
The regular-season finale on Nov. 11 at 5 p.m. at Kentucky Wesleyan.