AU Eagles stay unbeaten in the GLIAC
ASHLAND - It was a near-perfect day for Ashland University's football team and its 95th Homecoming game — a touch of fall air, a crowd of more than 3,500 fan and, most importantly, a victory.
A 35-10 victory over winless Northwood on Saturday keeps the Eagles tied atop the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference heading into next Saturday's showdown at No. 6 Ferris State in a game to be streamed on ESPN3.
It was a day in which both Ashland's offense and defense were clicking. The offense rang up 483 yards (249 rushing, 234 passing), and the defense kept the Timberwolves to 152 yards while forcing a turnover.
Keying AU's balanced attack were tailbacks Luke Ogi and Andrew Vaughn, then by quarterback Austin Brenner and wide receiver Kamaron Green.
Ogi ran for 82 yards and touchdowns of four and 21 yards on just 10 carries, while Vaughn gained 80 yards on 13 carries. Brenner was 17 of 29 for 227 yards and his first two collegiate TD passes, both to Green, who finished with six catches for 92 yards.
"It's a learning process every week," Brenner said. "It's just been fun being out there with the guys and being able to do our thing."
Said Ashland head coach Lee Owens of Brenner, "He's got this calm demeanor about him. He doesn't change, his personality always stays the same. He has that 'it' factor at the quarterback position."
Defensively, inside linebacker Clay Shreve had 11 tackles, two sacks and two tackles for loss, sophomore inside linebacker Ryan Corkrean added eight tackles, one for loss, and end James Prater Jr. had seven tackles.
"No one's run the ball against us in four weeks," said Owens, whose defense is allowing 99.0 rushing yards per game and 2.8 yards per attempt this season. "We knew coming in that was the strength of our football team."
The Eagles (2-2 overall, 2-0 GLIAC) jumped on top quickly, with Ogi's first rushing touchdown coming just 3:10 into the game. Freshman tailback Ronald Lee followed with a one-yard scoring run just 9:30 into the contest. Ogi made the score 21-0 early in the second quarter with his second TD jaunt.
Brenner's back-to-back scoring passes to Green came with 8:42 left in the third quarter and 12:15 to go in the game.
In addition to Green, Ashland's receiving corps got solid contributions from wideouts Garrett Turnbaugh (5 catches, 66 yards) and Logan Bolin (4 grabs, 47 yards). For Turnbaugh, both of those figures were career highs.
Ashland had five scoring drives on Saturday, covering 90, 85, 75, 62 and 33 yards.
For the second game in a row, after not having done it in three years, Ashland turned in a game in which it rushed for at least 200 yards, allowed fewer than 100 rushing yards (94) and had a positive turnover ratio (plus-1).