Ashland Football Weekly Report
October 5, 2004

Game 7 - Ashland (2-4/1-4 GLIAC) at Northern Michigan (1-4/1-4)
Saturday, Oct. 9, 2004, 1 p.m.
Superior Dome, Marquette, MI

Weekly Opponents Stats Comparison (PDF)

Scrabble has been a popular word game for years. It tests the ability to take what letters come through the luck of the draw and make the most of the situation. Those who can string together those precious double and triple word scores can put together skyrocketing scores.

AU head football coach Lee Owens and his team must feel like the Scrabble player who draws seven letters and they’re all vowels. What do you say when you’re coming off a frustrating loss and trying to break out of a three-game losing streak? As is the case with the board game, those lines you see in cartoons filled with things like #$#!# aren’t suitable.

This isn’t a vocabulary test for Owens and the Eagles, but it is a test of poise, will and character. As has been said before, “Tough times don’t last, but tough people do.” That’s one message that Owens will impart – minus a Scrabble or Ouija board – this week.

Sights and Sounds of the Game
All Ashland University football games can be heard live on WNCO (1340 AM). This is the 12th consecutive year the station has served as the home of AU football. Sam Renfroe and Bill Linson will describe all the action from Marquette, MI.

AU football fans who want another look at the Eagles are invited to tune in to the Lee Owens Show. That one-hour program airs every Wednesday at 7 p.m., on WMFD-TV in Mansfield, OH. Jeff Allen serves as the host of the program.

Streaks and Strings
Ashland travels to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula looking to snap a three-game losing streak. The Eagles are 1-1 away from home this year. Last season, Ashland finished 1-4 on the road. The Eagles have last their last four games in the Upper Peninsula (Northern Michigan and Michigan Tech). AU’s last victory in the far north came in 1999, 14-10 at Northern Michigan.

AU senior wide receiver Michael Hull (Cincinnati, OH/Sycamore) had three receptions last week and has caught at least one pass in 31 consecutive games. Senior tailback Antwan Hart (Detroit, MI/Erie C.C.) gained over 100 yards rushing for the second straight game and the fifth time in six games this season. Junior linebacker Devin Conwell (Baltimore, MD/Montgomery C.C.) has had 10 or more tackles in each of his last three games (he missed the Michigan Tech game). Conwell is fourth in the league in tackles per game (11.6).

The Series
Ashland leads the series with NMU, 10-4. The teams have divided the last four meetings.

A year ago in Ashland the Eagles were a 31-10 victor. AU cornerback Toure Carter set a school record and tied a GLIAC mark for interceptions in a game (four). Carter returned one of those picks 27 yards for a touchdown. He also played tailback and caught one pass for 53 yards and rushed once for four yards. Ashland scored 17 second-quarter points and led at the break, 17-10. Quarterback Nick Strance (Willard, OH) had one of his best games of the season, completing 15 of 21 passes for 170 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Tailback Jason Schwalm (Kenosha, WI/Dublin Coffman) gained a career-high 156 yards on 28 carries with a touchdown. The loss was NMU’s sixth straight in Ashland.

The Eagles have lost their last two games in NMU’s Superior Dome. The last trip came in 2002 and the result was a 24-14 win by the Wildcats. NMU tailback Terrell Goldsmith rushed for 153 yards and three touchdowns to pace the home team. AU’s points came from a pair of Austin Wellock (North Canton, OH/Green) field goals (37 and 29 yards) and a 4-yard run by tailback J.R. McCoy. Hull had a productive afternoon with 10 catches for 84 yards. The triggerman on those throws was John Szabo, who completed 24 of 36 passes for 201 yards.

In addition to Carter’s record-setting day last season, the AU record book was also revised after the 2001 game in Ashland. In that matchup with NMU, McCoy set a school, single-game record when he gained 270 yards. McCoy established the school single-season rushing record that year with 1,415 yards.

Ashland’s last win at the Superior Dome was in 1999 by a 14-10 count. The Eagles own an all-time record of 4-3 in the facility.

Series Quiz (Answers at bottom of page, click here if you want them now!)

1. The Superior Dome has artificial turf. Name the three other GLIAC schools that don’t play on natural grass.
2. The most passing yards AU ever allowed in game came against Northern Michigan – at Community Stadium – in 1994. Who was the quarterback?

Eagle Update
Geometry and trigonometry are supposed to be challenging. Those are courses that only the mathematically elite laugh about. But geometry, trigonometry and algebra pale in comparison to the figures that came out of last week’s Mercyhurst-Ashland game.

The Eagles lost, 25-14 despite outgaining the Lakers, 402-202. On the ground, Ashland had a 165-29 advantage. The Eagles sacked MC quarterback Jeff Nowling six times and allowed him to complete just 11 of 21 passes.

Now for some other numbers the Eagles would just as soon forget. AU lost three fumbles and threw a pair of interceptions. Ashland had four fourth-down conversion attempts and failed every time. Mercyhurst returned one interception for a touchdown – the sixth consecutive game the MC defense or special teams hit paydirt. AU had a 14-12 halftime advantage, but couldn’t score over the last two quarters while Mercyhurst used 13 third-quarter points to pull away for the win. That was Lakers’ first victory in Ashland in four trips.

Strance, who completed 14 of 38 passes for 237 yards, had two TD passes. The first covered 57 yards and went to freshman wideout David Ziegelhofer (Lexington, OH). The other covered 15 yards and was to junior wide receiver Dalorean White (Warrensville Heights, OH/Erie C.C.). On the ground, Hart picked his way through the ‘Hurst defense for 122 yards on 25 carries.

Conwell paced the defense with 17 tackles (15 solo). Sophomore linebacker Allen Lattimore (Dayton, OH/Colonel White) spent a good portion of the afternoon in the Mercyhurst backfield. Lattimore had 10 tackles (eight solo), six tackles for loss (21 yards) and two sacks (14 yards). Senior linebacker Chris Campbell (Newark, OH) had two sacks for 19 yards in lost real estate.

Freshman punter Nick McCombs (Bucyrus, OH/Wynford) continued his fine rookie campaign. He was called upon five times and averaged 42.2 ypp. White returned three kickoffs for 72 yards (24.0 ypr.).

The Owens File
The Eagles are under the direction of Lee Owens, who is in his first season with the Eagles. Owens came to Ashland after nine seasons as the head coach at the University of Akron. As a head coach on the college and high school levels, Owens has a career mark of 131-97-2. At Akron, his teams were known for their ability to strike from anywhere on the field. In 2003, the Zips were sixth in the nation in pass offense, ninth in total offense and 11th in scoring. Akron went 7-5 last season.

Prior to coaching at Akron, Owens was an assistant coach at Ohio State (1992-95). He joined the Buckeyes after a successful career on the high school level. Owens’ record on the prep level is 89-32-2. In 1985 at Galion High School he won a state championship and was named the Ohio High School Coach of the Year. Owens also coached at legendary Massillon Washington High School (1988-92) where he was 35-13 in four seasons.

Owens is originally from nearby Mansfield, OH, and Madison High School. He earned his undergraduate degree from Bluffton College in 1977 and his master’s degree from Ashland in 1981.

Noteworthy

• Northern Michigan has been outscored, 37-3 in the first quarter.
• When AU was in front at halftime last week, it marked the first time the Eagles led after two quarters since the opener against Saint Joseph’s.
• Ziegelhofer has two 50-yard-plus touchdowns this year. In addition to his 57-yard TD reception last week, he has a 51-yard punt return for a score to his credit.
• The Eagles are 1-4 in their last five games on artificial turf.
• Hart has 685 rushing yards in six games, his total for all of last season was 706 yards. At his current pace, Hart would easily rush for over 1,000 yards. The last time AU had a running back hit that level was McCoy in 2001. Hart is fourth in the league in rushing and ninth in all-purpose yardage (121.0 ypg.).
• White is third in the GLIAC in kickoff returns (15 returns/21.3 ypr.). McCombs enters this week’s game fifth in the circuit in punting (39.4 ypp.).

Man On the Move
At times last week, it appeared as if Lattimore knew the Mercyhurst gameplan as well as the Lakers’ offensive players. Lattimore is this week’s GLIAC defensive player of the week. The sophomore is tied for second in the league in sacks (five) and is first in tackles for loss with 13. Every week he spends more and more time in enemy backfields.

“He gives 100 percent on every play,” remarked AU defensive coordinator Jim Meyer. “He goes all out. He’s beginning to have a fundamental understanding of the concept of our defense. That puts him in a position to make plays.”

Lattimore has the size and speed to break free from blockers and make game-altering plays. He’s a perfect fit for what the Eagles are attempting to do on defense.

“That’s what the defense is designed to do,” continued the AU assistant coach. “It’s designed to get players like Allen slicing to the line of scrimmage and make it difficult for linemen to pick up. Then Allen reacts to the ball.”

A Solid Front
Entering this week, the Eagles are tied for third in the conference in sacks allowed (six). That’s a major improvement over last season when the Eagles were 10th in the league in that category with 30 sacks.

“For the most part we’ve done well,” said offensive line coach Doug Geiser. “There are a lot of things that go into that, the backs have blocked well and Nick has done a nice job getting rid of the ball. But we’re still letting the quarterback get hit too much.”

This line is pretty much the same as the one that lined up a year ago. Geiser regularly plays eight players each week. The leader is junior left guard Blake Dickson (North Canton, OH/Jackson).

“Blake’s played really well,” said Geiser. “I think that comes from experience. When you look at it, we’re only losing one guy for next year - Jason Schroeder. Vince Cashdollar, Kiel Miller and Andy Hunter have all gotten playing time.”

No matter who’s been in the lineup, the results have been positive.

“We’re really pretty basic, we don’t change schemes much from week to week,” offered Geiser. “That allows the guys to dig their heels in and understand what we’re doing. Guys can play with confidence because they know what they’re doing.”

On Deck
Ashland is back home next Saturday (Oct. 16), hosting Hillsdale at 1 p.m. That will be Football Alumni Day.

Series Quiz Answers

1. Ferris State, Mercyhurst and Gannon.
2. Matt LaTour and he threw for 459 yards.