Findlay Week! Ashland set to open G-MAC play against rival Oilers
It’s Findlay Week!
Coming off a big opening win over then-No. 10 Notre Dame College, the Ashland University football team jumps into Great Midwest Athletic Conference this week against Findlay.
The Eagles and Oilers will meet at 6 p.m. Saturday at Findlay, which opened its 2022 season with a 28-14 loss at Ohio Dominican.
“Put the league rankings aside, the national rankings aside, this is Findlay week,” AU coach Lee Owens said Tuesday afternoon. “That’s really how we’re looking at it — this is Findlay week and we have to prepare at a different level because of that.”
With its 31-14 win over Notre Dame, AU entered the American Football Coaches Association NCAA Division II coaches poll this week with a No. 20 ranking.
Findlay was the preseason pick to finish atop the G-MAC in a poll of league coaches, with Tiffin second and Ashland third.
In a series first played in 1986, Ashland holds a 17-5 advantage over the Oilers, including an 8-1 mark at home and 9-4 record at Findlay. AU owns two six-game win streaks in the series — the first six and then from 2007 through 2012. But the Eagles and Oilers have split the last six, with Findlay having won the last two games in 2019 and 2021.
“We are looking at it as if we are the underdogs and we have to go to Findlay and find a way to upset them like we upset Notre Dame,” Owens said. “They’re picked to win the league, they’re the defending league champions, they went to the playoffs from our league last year, they beat us the last two times.
“It’s really important that we play at a different level because of that. It’s important to us. You start counting when you start losing.”
Findlay is under first-year coach Kory Allen, who was named to the position Aug. 11 after serving as interim coach since April 20.
Allen is, however, entering his 17th season with the Findlay football program, having served as offensive coordinator, offensive line coach and recruiting coordinator.
The Oilers are coming off their first conference title since joining the NCAA Division II ranks, but they stumbled in their 2022 opener when they couldn’t run the ball against Ohio Dominican.
Despite four returning starters on the offensive line, Findlay finished with minus-three yards rushing, and ODU outgained the Oilers 428-278 in total yards while possessing the ball for more than 36 minutes.
Making his Findlay debut at quarterback, University of Louisiana-Monroe transfer Jeremy Hunt went 23-for-38 passing for 281 yards and two scores.
Tanner Schroeder had eight receptions for 99 yards and running back Garret Clark was the leading rusher with 27 yards on 10 carries.
Hunt was sacked five times for a loss of 36 yards.
“(ODU) did get after the quarterback pretty good, and if we could do the same thing defensively that would be big for us,” Owens said.
“Findlay has really run the ball well the last couple of years, so that was not characteristic of a Findlay football team.”
Against Notre Dame, AU running backs Gei’vonni Washington (150 yards rushing on 11 carries with a 64-yard touchdown run) and Larry Martin (122 yards on 10 carries with two TDs) led the way in a 323-yard rushing effort.
Quarterback Austin Brenner, making his first start since a season-ending leg injury in the middle of the 2021 season, was 14-for-26 passing for 128 yards and an interception, along with 21 yards on the ground.
Defensively, inside linebacker Michael Ayers had 12 tackles, 2½ tackles for loss, a half-sack, a forced fumble and three pass breakups. Senior safety Jourdan Swett added a dozen tackles in the victory.
“I really liked how we finished,” Owens said about the 14-point fourth quarter against Notre Dame. “I liked how physical we were on both sides of the ball up front. We cleaned it up pretty well for an opener. We didn’t have a lot of silly mistakes and we showed some emotion, which you have to do in a game like that.
“But we have to throw the ball more efficiently, and we got our quarterback hit way too much. And we have to punt the ball better. Those two things are glaring but we have to get better at everything. If we want to be a complete team that means you have to be good in all aspects of the game.”
That also means finishing like the Eagles did to defeat Notre Dame. In last year’s 20-17 loss at Findlay in November, the Eagles led 10-0 early and 17-7 in the third quarter.
But Findlay outscored AU 10-0 in the fourth quarter, getting a tying touchdown with about four minutes to go, then a winning on Austin Snyder 35-yard field goal as time expired.
“Last year in the fourth quarter we couldn’t change the field and they had the ball the whole fourth quarter,” Owens said. “We allowed them to make a run at the end and beat us.
“We’re talking about finishing like we did against Notre Dame. We’re going to have to step up in the fourth quarter and finish to win this football game. We’re expecting to have to do that.”
This article originally appeared on Ashland Times Gazette: Coach Lee Owens, Gei’vonni Washington lead Ashland against Findlay
