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Ashland (0-3/0-2) at
Hillsdale (0-2/0-1)
Saturday, Sept. 21, 7 p.m.,
Waters Stadium
This Week's Storyline
Clint Eastwood latest movie is "Blood Work," and that's
based on a novel by the same name, written by Michael Connelly.
This Saturday night, Ashland and Hillsdale will renew a rivalry
where the old line, "Blood is thicker than Water" is
pertinent.
Blood Work is also an apt way to view another
installment in the Ashland-Hillsdale football series, which will
take place this Saturday night. These two are old rivals, private
schools who have met on the gridiron for years. The fact that both
of these teams are still seeking their first win won't water down
this game at all. The intensity should remain at a fever pitch.
This figures to be a battle right down to the final whistle. The
winner of this game will receive the Travelling Trophy, which goes
to the victor of this annual contest. This is also a Great Lakes
Intercollegiate Athletic Conference game.
Eyes and Ears
All Ashland University football games can be heard live on WNCO
(1340 AM). This is the 10th consecutive year WNCO has carried the
games. The broadcast team is comprised of play-by-play man Sam
Renfroe and color commentator Bill Linson. This is Renfroe's
seventh season doing the games and this is Linson's second season
behind the microphone.
The Ashland Times-Gazette covers all
home games and selected road games. The Mansfield News Journal
staffs AU home games and will have a recap of this game in the
Sunday edition.
Who's the Boss?
Ashland's head coach is Gary Keller. Keller is in his ninth season
as AU's head coach and brings a 47-40-0 record into this week's
game. This is Keller's 20th season with the Eagles, prior to being
named the head coach he was an assistant coach under Dr. Fred
Martinelli. Keller was the defensive coordinator for nine years
before being elevated to the top spot and as the "D"
coordinator, he directed defenses that led the country in total
defense twice and was the national leader in rush defense twice.
As the head coach, he guided the Eagles to a Midwest
Intercollegiate Football Conference championship and a berth in
the NCAA Division II playoffs in 1997. He was the conference coach
of the year in 1997. Keller is a 1973 Bluffton (OH) graduate.
Keith Otterbein is the first-year head coach of
the Chargers and he's back on campus after a 20-year absence.
Otterbein played linebacker at Hillsdale and for three straight
years was selected as the team's top linebacker. After his playing
days, he served as a Hillsdale assistant coach. A 1979 grad, he
went on to great success as the head coach at Ferris State
(1986-95). With the Bulldogs, Otterbein went 60-39-3. His teams
won three MIFC championships and made three consecutive
appearances in the NCAA Division II playoffs. His final three
seasons at FSU the Bulldogs were 30-4-2. Twice Otterbein was
recognized as the MIFC coach of the year and the Region III coach
of the year.
Prior to rejoining the Chargers, Otterbein was
the recruiting coordinator and running backs coach at Ball State.
He spent seven seasons in that post.
Ashland-Hillsdale
Hillsdale holds the upper hand in the series, 18-14. Ashland has
won the last two games and four of the last five meetings.
Last year at Community Stadium the Eagles won,
24-10. J.R. McCoy (Unionville Center, OH/Fairbanks) and Marcus
Mitchell both rushed for over 100 yards. McCoy had 139 yards and
Mitchell picked up 133 yards on 19 carries with TD runs of 9 and
55 yards. Defensively, AU's outstanding linebacker tandem of Brock
Swonguer and Jesse Howard were all over the field. Swonguer had 17
stops and Howard was in on 14 tackles with an interception. The
Eagles had four quarterback sacks.
The last time the two teams met at Hillsdale
was in 2000 and the Eagles came away with a 17-10 decision. In
that game McCoy rushed for 111 yards on 34 carries. HC's last
eight possessions netted 110 yards. This game was played in early
October, but if felt like mid-November. This was a night game
played at 29 degrees with a 10-15 miles-per-hour wind.
Scouting Hillsdale
The Chargers lost over 20 letterwinners from last year’s
team. This year’s team will be young, but if it follows the
lead of previous Otterbein teams, it will be well grounded in
fundamentals. Even though HC is off to an 0-2 start, the Chargers
have been very competitive. Last week at Hillsdale, Indianapolis
scored 14 points in the fourth quarter to win, 24-17. Hillsdale
held leads with under nine minutes left in regulation against both
Ferris State and Hillsdale, but couldn’t close out either
game. HC lost at Ferris State, 33-21.
The AU defense figures to be tested by HC’s
senior tailback Kevin Clive. He’s fourth in the GLIAC in
rushing with 222 yards and fifth in the conference in all-purpose
yardage (143.0 ypg.). Clive had 122 yards on 27 carries last week
against a very strong Indy defense. He also gained 100 yards
against Ferris State. The HC quarterback is junior Bill Skelton.
He’s completed 28 of 48 throws (58.3 percent) for 281 yards
and three touchdowns. Skelton’s seventh in the conference in
pass efficiency.
On defense the Chargers have received two
strong games from junior linebacker Rob North. He’s third in
the league in tackles (20/six solo). Junior linebacker Jim Barr
had a team-high nine stops against Indianapolis and has 17 tackles
(nine solo) this season.
On special teams, punter Jon Bromley has gotten
off to a good start in 2002. The junior is fourth in the
conference in yards per punt (37.0 ypp.).
Another Look at Last Week
Last week’s films were suitable for mature audiences only.
The Eagles lost at home to Northwood, 32-7. The visitors led 12-0
after one quarter and enjoyed a 22-7 spread at the intermission.
AU was outgained, 393-235, 234-150 on the ground. Ashland’s
total yardage figure is a season low. The Eagles passed for only
85 yards and that’s AU’s lowest total this season.
AU struggled early in the game to control the
Northwood option offense. The Timberwolves were led by Chad Coons,
who rushed for 81 yards and three touchdowns. Coons had scoring
runs of 24, 28 and 18 yards. Those first two TD jaunts came in the
first quarter. Northwood quarterback Jason Martin rushed for 53
yards on 14 carries and completed seven of 12 passes for 159
yards.
Ashland’s lone score came with 12:41 to go
in the first half, sophomore quarterback John Szabo (Dayton,
OH/Chaminade-Julienne) scoring on a 3-yard run. Northwood answered
immediately as just over three minutes later, Coon scored his
final touchdown of the night. That made the score 19-7 and the
Timberwolves weren’t in jeopardy the rest of the night.
Eagle Elite
- Brett Bartlow (West Chester, OH/Lakota East)
– Bartlow had one sack for a loss of four yards last week.
The junior defensive end leads the GLIAC in sacks (4) and is
third in the league in tackles for loss (4-24).
- Geoff Henry (Medina, OH) – A senior
linebacker, Henry had a team-high nine tackles (six solo) last
Saturday night. Henry leads Ashland in tackles (25/14 solo). He
has three tackles for loss.
- Michael Hull (Cincinnati, OH/Sycamore) –
The sophomore wideout caught three passes last week for 24
yards. Hull has a team-best 17 catches for 180 yards (10.6
ypc.).
- J.R. McCoy (Unionville Center, OH/Fairbanks)
– A senior tailback, McCoy had his first 100-yard rushing
game of the year last week, gaining 137 yards on 34 carries.
McCoy has 276 yards rushing this year and is fifth in the
conference in rushing. McCoy needs 562 yards to become AU’s
career rushing leader. He has 3,382 yards in his career. AU’s
career leader is Keith Weaver with 3,943 yards.
- Aaron O’Reilly (Columbus, OH/DeSales) –
A junior strong safety, O’Reilly was in on six tackles
(three solo) last week. He has 18 tackles (11 solo) this season,
third on the team.
- Jason Schwalm (Dublin, OH/Coffman) –
The sophomore H-back had a team-high four receptions last week
for 21 yards. Toby Stepsis (Shelby, OH) – Stepsis made six
tackles (two solo) against Northwood. He’s second on the
team in tackles (21/11 solo).
- John Szabo (Dayton, OH/Chaminade-Julienne) –
A sophomore quarterback, Szabo has completed 54 of 92 passes for
639 yards and five touchdowns.
- Jeremy Westbrooks (East Cleveland, OH/St.
Edward) – A junior cornerback, Westbrooks has three pass
breakups and that puts him along the league leaders. He’s
fourth on the team in tackles (15/12 solo).
Notes From the Nest
- Ashland is 0-3 for the first time since
1985. That year, AU got off to an 0-4 start, but rallied to go
6-4 and win a Heartland Conference championship.
- The Eagles head into this week as the
conference leader in quarterback sacks (8). Ashland led the
GLIAC in that department a year ago with 39.
- McCoy has 14, 100-yard rushing games in his
career. The durable tailback has rushed for over 100 yards
against Hillsdale each of the last two years. He had 139 yards
on 24 carries last year and 111 yards on 34 attempts in 2000.
- The Eagles have been outscored, 35-13 in the
first quarter and 60-27 in the first half.
- Ashland has yet to intercept a pass this
season.
- The last overtime game in AU history game
against Hillsdale on Sept. 12, 1998. That was a night game
played at Community Stadium and Ashland won in double overtime,
30-27. The only other OT game in school history came in the
final game of the 1996 season at Indianapolis. The Greyhounds
won that game, 19-16.
- Three AU players have been lost for the
season with injuries. That trio includes starting tight end
Brian Mong (Columbus, OH/Watterson) with a shoulder injury,
starting linebacker Jarrett Fuller (Tiffin, OH/Columbian) with a
knee injury and backup tailback Travis Morris (East Chicago,
IN/Bishop Null) with a knee injury.
The Quotebook
Head coach Gary Keller on the Northwood game.
“I saw some good things, but
there were still too many mistakes. We have to clean up our
mistakes. We’re still shooting ourselves in the foot with
several things.”
Quarterbacks coach Bob Rohan on the Hillsdale
defense.
“They’re very sound in what
they do. They don’t have any superstars, but they have a lot
of guys getting to the football and making plays. They seem to be
playing well as a defensive unit.”
Running back J.R. McCoy on what the Eagles need
to do to be successful.
“Shoot, it’s tough right
now. We’re 0-3 and none of us thought that would happen. We
have to come together as a unit. A lot of guys are sick of losing.
We can’t keep making little mistakes. Those are killing us
right now. We just have to stick together and come out on top.”
On Deck
The Eagles return home next Saturday (Sept. 28, 1 p.m.) for a
GLIAC game against nationally-ranked Saginaw Valley State. That
promises to be a special day at Community Stadium – it will
be Football Alumni Day and former AU coach Fred Martinelli, a
member of this year’s College Football Hall of Fame induction
class – will be honored. |
