BELLVILLE, Ohio — They don’t play in the band and they don’t sing in the choir, but Madison’s Tresten Vail and Tyrell Ajian projected a lyrical refrain on Friday night.
Vail to Ajian, touchdown. That phrase was repeated four times at Clear Fork High School as the Rams (4-3) routed the Colts 33-13 in an Ohio Cardinal Conference encounter.
“We had those two guys in my office today and we talked about getting (Aijan) the ball downfield,” Madison coach Jami Masi said. “We’ve gotten it to him in the screen game but not downfield.
“The kid is an All-American. I’ve never had an All-American before. When you have an All-American, you get him the ball, and he’s going to make a play.”
That factoid was proven less than a minute into the game when Vail took the flip off a double reverse and fired a 55-yard scoring strike to Ajian down the left sideline.
Vail to Ajian, touchdown.
“They play man-to-man coverage and we felt like we could take advantage of it,” Ajian said.
Unstoppable: Just a junior, the 6-foot-1 Ajian has already been offered by Notre Dame and Michigan. Ohio State is in the picture, too. Ohio Cardinal Conference coaches will be glad to hand him off to the next level. He shredded the Colts for nine catches, 173 yards and four touchdowns.
With that deep threat wreaking havoc, Madison’s running game flourished, too. Senior Kanyon Tackett scored on a 19-yard dash with 1:55 showing in the first quarter to stake the Rams to a 13-0 lead.
But the Colts (2-5) responded when Mitch Dulin snagged a 24-yard TD pass from sophomore Thomas Staab to slice the deficit to 13-7. That was as close as Clear Fork would get.
Vail to Ajian, touchdown.
This one was from 22 yards into the corner of the end zone.
Three minutes later there was an encore performance. Vail to Ajian, touchdown. Same pattern same result, from 18 yards.
“He’s an extremely blessed athlete,” Clear Fork coach Dave Carroll said. “We couldn’t have had better coverage on a couple of those, but that was an example of a Division I athlete.
“When a kid like that gets separation on you, he’s going to go. He’s the fastest kid by far in the OCC that I’ve seen. He’s just a tremendous athlete.”
The final refrain came with 7:57 remaining. From 52 yards. It was a curtain call, Vail to Ajian, touchdown.
“Our quarterback is playing very well right now,”Masi said. “He’s a junior starting to play like a senior.”
Vail finished 12 of 18 for 201 yards and four touchdowns.
Signs of Life: Clear Fork (2-5) added a late touchdown when Staab connected with Jacob Lowe on an 11-yard aerial. For the game Staab had 113 yards rushing on 23 carries and a pair of TD passes.
“We’re getting better,” Carroll said. “I know that’s no solace for our fans, but these kids are working hard and they’re getting better.”
