Records and Wayne State Fall in AU’s 27-3 Football Win
October 22, 2005

Complete Box Score

In hockey, it’s the referee who determines who has the power play.

At Ashland, and in football, it is offensive line coach Doug Geiser and head coach Lee Owens who makes that call.

Saturday (Oct. 22) at Community Stadium, on a muddy track against Wayne State, the Eagles ran what’s called “Power Play,” 34 times. There’s no doubt the Eagles had the man advantage. That’s due to the presence of senior tailback Jason Schwalm, who set school single-game records for carries (45) and rushing yards (292) as the Eagles (7-2/6-2 Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference) won their fourth consecutive game, 27-3 over Wayne State.

The records Schwalm broke belonged to J.R. McCoy, who had 41 carries against Saginaw Valley State in 2000 and 270 yards against Northern Michigan in 2001.

“I held up well,” said Schwalm, who has 1,103 yards rushing this season. “I started to cramp up a bit at the end, but nothing serious. I thought I came out all right.”

“I don’t think I broke a sweat today,” said quarterback Nick Strance, the man who handed the ball to Schwalm all afternoon. “That’s one of the greatest running back performances I’ve seen, especially in the conditions. It wasn’t on turf. You’re going to get tired with mud that deep. He didn’t get tired.”

The middle of the Community Stadium gridiron was a mud pit. Friday night, Ashland High School played a game on the field and rain pelted the surface most of the night and throughout the morning. Schwalm’s game has never been based on speed, it revolves around blasting through holes and carrying defenders with him to gain extra yards. He did that against the Warriors (2-6/2-6), but he also broke some big gainers. Schwalm’s day included runs of 54 and 17 yards, plus two 28-yarders.

“He was breaking tackles, making cuts,” said Owens. “I wasn’t paying attention to the kind of numbers he was having. When he started getting some good runs I wanted to keep feeding it to him.”

Schwalm put AU ahead to stay when he scored on a 3-yard run with 7:44 to play in the first quarter. Wayne State’s only points came on a Dave Chudzinski 31-yard field goal with 14:48 remaining in the first half. That WSU drive was set up by a blocked punt at the AU 30. Owens said that miscue came due to some personnel changes on the unit and confusion on assignments.

As it turned out, that was a momentary glitch. WSU never made it into the end zone, the AU defense hasn’t allowed a touchdown in 12 consecutive quarters. On this afternoon, the defense would be refreshed – Ashland led in time of possession, 36:19-23:41 and in plays, 68-59. The Eagles didn’t throw an interception or lose a fumble.

“When the ball’s coming back wet and your hands are wet, muddy, to not turn the ball over is pretty unusual,” offered Owens. “We came out in the shotgun on the first play and Nick said the ball was coming back muddy. We didn’t do it again.”

Why would they with Schwalm leaving the Warriors wrestling in the mud? Chudzinski’s field goal left AU with a 7-3 lead and that grew to 13-3 when Strance scored on a 4-yard scamper with 12:03 to play in the first half. Jared Karrasch’s extra point was blocked. That drive and the rest of the half, belonged to Schwalm, who carried the Eagles on his back. He had 23 carries and 202 yards at the intermission.

“The coaches put together a good game plan,” Schwalm said. “We knew it would be muddy all week. I slipped a couple of times, I was surprised I didn’t slip more.”

What Schwalm did do was keep slipping tackles. His power running helped set up Strance’s second touchdown, a 7-yard run around right end with 12:11 left in the game. Strance got his second touchdown, on a 2-yard burst, with 4;51 to play.

“I didn’t have a rushing touchdown this year,” noted Strance. “I could have walked in.”

Once the Eagles got the lead, Wayne State was in major trouble. Even though the rain stopped in the first half, the surface would only deteriorate throughout the afternoon. Trying to mount a comeback on a slow track is difficult. Doing it against a defense that’s allowing 10.0 ppg., is like doing the backstroke in quicksand.

“You have to adapt to the game,” pointed out Owens. “We put a plan together in case it got this bad.”

Ashland outgained the Warriors, 400-170. That’s the third time in the last four weeks AU has had 399 or more yards in total offense. WSU running back Chris Middlebrooks had posted four consecutive 100-yard games coming into this week. AU held him to 19 yards on 11 carries. Wayne State rushed for 21 yards on 28 carries, an average of 0.8 yards per carry.

The Eagles sacked WSU quarterbacks Nolan Martin and Chad Blair four times. Martin was 10-of-21 for 133 yards with two interceptions before he was roughed up by the Eagles and forced out of the game. Blair was 3-for-10 for 16 yards.

Still, on a gloomy afternoon, the most impressive numbers belonged to Schwalm.

“Coach Geiser came up to us, probably in the third quarter, and said Schwalm needed 100 yards to get over 1,000 for the season,” said senior offensive lineman Blake Dickson. “That was our focus. Just getting first downs was our focus.”

That and playing Power Ball, which resulted in the Eagles hitting the jackpot.