Sophomore tailback
Ty'aris Stevenson didn't want to stop at a first collegiate 100-yard rushing game.
So Stevenson, in a 41-14 win for No. RV Ashland University's football team at Lake Erie on Saturday (Nov. 2) afternoon, turned in his first collegiate 200-yard rushing game – finishing with 246 yards and four touchdowns on the ground on 22 carries.
The Eagles' seventh consecutive victory moves them to 7-2 overall and 7-0 in the Great Midwest Athletic Conference. The Storm is 2-7, 1-6.
Stevenson is the first AU player to score four TDs in a game since former National Football League tight end
Adam Shaheen in 2016, the first Eagle to rush for at least four scores since
Anthony Taylor in 2013, and the first Ashland runner to gain at least 200 yards in a game since
Larry Martin in 2022.
On the game's opening drive, Ashland marched 60 yards in eight plays, and took a 7-0 lead on Stevenson's seven-yard touchdown run. Following an Eagle turnover, the Storm capitalized and tied the game at 7 after a three-yard touchdown pass from Alec Lewis to Tae'Shaun Johnson.
Stevenson, however, had the answer in the form of an 84-yard TD jaunt for a 13-7 advantage. He had 105 yards on just six carries in the opening period.
Early in the second quarter, senior quarterback
Trevor Bycznski found sophomore wide receiver
Jamari Croom for a 10-yard scoring strike and a 20-7 lead – which Ashland took into the second half.
Stevenson was the workhorse to begin the second half, and his one-yard scoring run, his third TD run of the contest, lifted AU to a 27-7 advantage with 9:57 to go in the third quarter. By the time Stevenson scored his fourth touchdown on a run, a 39-yarder late in the third, the Eagles led 34-7.
Lake Erie scored with 10:54 to go when Lewis found Johnson again for a five-yard score.
Another sophomore tailback,
Olando Kamara, went in on a six-yard touchdown run with 7:14 left to put the Eagle lead back to 27 points.
RUNNING DOWNHILL ALL GAME…AND THE REST OF THE STORY
- Ashland's 334 rushing yards as a team were the most since 382 against Quincy three years ago.
- The 41 points tied for the Eagles' highest total of 2024.
- Freshman linebacker Sam Wakula recorded three tackles for loss among his seven total stops (six solo) on Saturday.
- This campaign is the third in a row in which the Eagles have had an in-season winning streak of at least seven games.
- Ashland is 10-1 all-time vs. Lake Erie.
UP NEXT
A chance to clinch at least a share of the conference title on Nov. 9 at noon at Walsh (4-5, 3-4).
