BELLVILLE – Clear Fork football coach Dave Carroll didn’t hesitate Friday night when asked what legacy his four-member senior class will leave behind.
“Their legacy is they are great young men and that way over-trumps being a great football player or a great athlete,” the veteran coach said. “They have not exhibited one ounce of negative behavior this season. It’s easy when you are winning. It’s not so easy when things are not going so well.
“These (seniors) love the game of football. They are respectful. They love the camaraderie of the spot. I am extremely proud of them,” Carroll said.
Those seniors, led by star quarterback Kadin Chrastina, dropped the final game in the Colt Corral on Friday night, 42-7, to an Ashland Arrows team that just swamped the Colts in points, in size and in numbers.
Ashland, now 5-3 overall and 4-1 in the Ohio Cardinal Conference, have 60 players on its roster in grades 10-12, including 18 seniors. Clear Fork, now 3-5 overall and 1-4 in the OCC, is the smallest school in the conference and their roster this year has 40 players in grades 9 through 12, 26 of which are sophomores and freshmen.
“When we are having a good season, winning lots of games, we have a hard time matching up with a school the size of Ashland,” Carroll said. “We saw this coming a few years ago when it was clear that football was not popular with this senior class and the one behind it.
“I understand some people are negative about us this season. But the people who understand football understand our situation. We are playing a lot of young people – and this is a tough sport to play when you’re young because it’s a physical game. Our young men were facing a lot of adversity out there tonight and they were fighting at the end. I didn’t see anyone quitting. This may have been our best hitting game of the season in terms of tackling.”
Sophomore Sensation: Sophomore Grant Denbow (6-5, 190) is just the latest in a long string of great quarterbacks for Ashland. All he did Friday night was complete 16 of 23 passes for 346 yards and five touchdowns in about two and a half quarters. Four of the scores came in the first half when he passed for 280 yards as the Arrows built a 28-7 edge at the intermission enroute to their third straight win.
“We have been very fortunate (in the QB department),” Ashland coach Scott Valentine said. “We have had young men come through that are willing to accept the responsibility of playing the position and have worked at it. They have learned from the guys who played before them and have had success.”
Denbow, who came in leading the area in passing at 246 yards per game, had great success throwing the “skinny post” down the center of the field, hitting senior wide receiver Trey Smith on TD passes of 38, 34, 15 and 44 yards. His other score was a 59-yard strike to junior wide receiver Nich Bernhard.
“We play a combination of pass defenses and do the best job we can of disguising them,” Carroll said. “Obviously, we didn’t do a very good of that tonight.”
Chrastina Contained: The Clear Fork senior was harassed by the Arrows defense all night, including five sacks, despite his running ability. Sacks included, Chrastina had 29 yards on 24 carries. He completed 10 of 17 passes for 128 yards, including a 26-yard TD pass to freshman Thomas Staab late in the second quarter. Chrastina’s longest run of the night was a 27-yard burst during that scoring drive.
“That was the scary thing tonight,” Valentine said. “(Chrastina) is such a great player. He hurt us last year. The scary thing was what could we do to contain him tonight.”
Despite the three-game losing streak, Chrastina has still passed for more than 900 yards and rushed for more than 850 with two games left to play.
“He is on track for another 1,000/1,000 yard season,” Carroll said. “No one else in the history of our school has done it once and he is going to do it twice.”
Up Next: Clear Fork finishes its season with two road games. The Colts play at Orrville (2-6, 1-4) next week and finish the season at league-leading West Holmes (5-3, 5-0). Ashland, with serious playoff aspirations in mind, play at Madison (5-3, 3-2) next Friday and then host winless Lexington in the final week of the regular season.
