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2025 FB co-G-MAC Champions rotator
14
Lake Erie LEC 2-9 , 2-7
34
Winner Ashland ASH 9-2 , 8-1
Lake Erie LEC
2-9 , 2-7
14
Final
34
Ashland ASH
9-2 , 8-1
Winner
Score By Quarters
Team 1st 2nd 3rd 4th F
LEC Lake Erie 0 7 7 0 14
ASH Ashland 14 6 7 7 34

Game Recap: Football | | Dusty Sloan, Ashland University Director of Athletic Communications

No. 20 Eagles Top Lake Erie On Senior Day, Earn Share Of Great Midwest Title

Ashland University's football team earned the Great Midwest Athletic Conference championship after all.
 
The No. 20-ranked Eagles defeated Lake Erie, 34-14, on Saturday (Nov. 15) afternoon on Senior Day at Jack Miller Stadium/Martinelli Field. That, coupled with a walk-off 23-21 win by Tiffin over Findlay earlier in the day gives Ashland (9-2 overall, 8-1 Great Midwest) its third Great Midwest title, and its 19th league championship overall.
 
"I can't express how proud I am of this group," said Ashland head coach Doug Geiser. "I didn't know that Tiffin had beaten Findlay until literally the end of the game. We didn't come in today expecting that. We just wanted to win.
 
"I feel so proud of the kids and the coaches and support staff. It's been a group effort, a team effort all the way through. It's confirmation of all the hard work they put in."
 
This AU senior class is the first to go to the NCAA Division II postseason three times.
 
It took the Eagles just 1:16 to take the lead, as senior quarterback Cameron Blair found a wide-open freshman wide receiver D.J. Harvey for a 23-yard touchdown pass. Blair then turned in Ashland's longest run of 2025 when he took a delayed quarterback draw and went 68 yards to put AU on top, 14-0.
 
Following a short field on an Eagle fumble, Lake Erie (2-9, 2-7) cut its deficit in half at the 7:36 mark of the second quarter on a three-yard TD run from running back Nick Mosley.
 
Inside of the two-minute mark, redshirt freshman kicker Manaki Watanabe's 44-yard field goal restored a double-digit lead for Ashland at 17-7. Then, with a whipping wind, Watanabe hit a 37-yard field goal as the half ended for a 20-7 lead.
 
Freshman tailback Chris Maloney's one-yard touchdown plunge moved the Eagles' lead to 27-7. Lake Erie, however, scored at the 5:51 mark of the third on a 52-yard scoring strike from quarterback Wrentie Martin to wide receiver Devin Morgan, making it a 27-14 contest.
 
Maloney punctuated the victory with a 19-yard scoring run with 1:40 to play.

_
 
THE CONFERENCE-TITLE WRAPUP
  • Maloney ran 32 times for 196 yards for two touchdowns – all career highs (touchdowns tied).
  • "It's been neat. He's still even-keeled. That's the neat part about it," Geiser said. "The spark he gives us is tremendous. Whenever he touches the ball, you hold your breath, because he could go the distance."
  • The Eagle senior class is the first in program history to win at least nine games in four straight seasons.
  • "That's quite a legacy this group has left," said Geiser.
  • Ashland is 11-1 all-time vs. Lake Erie. 
NEXT UP
The 2025 NCAA Division II postseason selection show on NCAA.com at 6 p.m. on Sunday (Nov. 16).
 
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