ASHLAND — Lee Owens offered a reasonable explanation for Ashland University’s sleepy first half performance after Saturday’s 31-19 win over Saginaw Valley State at Jack Miller Stadium.
His Eagles were watching the wrong game film in preparation for the Cardinals.
“Believe it or not, our guys look at social media and all they saw on social media all week long was Aidan making the field goal to beat Grand Valley,” AU’s veteran coach said of kicker Aidan Simenc’s 29-yard walk-off winner in AU’s 34-31 victory over the Lakers last week. “They were looking at that a whole lot more than they were looking at Saginaw Valley.
“It’s just how it is. No matter what you tell them, they don’t hear you.”
No. 10 AU snapped out of its slumber after halftime, outscoring SVSU 21-6 in the second half to clinch its first outright Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championship since 2012. The Eagles (10-1, 9-0) will likely be at home again next week in the opening round of the Division II playoffs. AU will learn its postseason fate during Sunday’s tournament selection special.
“We dug ourselves a little bit of a whole early, but I don’t think we ever lost faith in each other,” said record-setting quarterback Travis Tarnwoski after throwing for three second half touchdowns. “We came out a little flat, but we recovered.”
Saginaw Valley (5-6, 3-6) led 13-3 deep into the second quarter before AU finally showed some signs of life. Fullback Mack Mikulski capped a 12-play, 80-yard drive with a 1 yard touchdown run to cut SVSU’s advantage to 13-10 just 26 seconds before halftime.
“We didn’t have as much energy as we normally do,” Owens said. “Thank goodness we’ve got some warriors.”
The Eagles received the second-half kickoff and marched 65 yards on six plays, taking a 17-13 on redshirt freshman receiver Logan Bolin’s 8 yard TD catch. AU wouldn’t trail again, although it remained a one-score game until midway through the fourth quarter. Ashland finally got some breathing room on Stanley Jackson Jr.’s 15 yard TD grab with 6:06 remaining in the fourth. The Eagles extended their lead to 31-13 when Tarnowski hooked up with Mikulski on a 4 yard scoring strike with 4:45 remaining. The abbreviated three-play, eight-yard drive was set up by Dale Irby’s interception deep in SVSU territory.
Irby had five tackles and broke up two passes to go with his interception. Defensive end James Prater Jr. matched AU’s single-game record with 3.5 sacks.
“It’s pretty exciting,” Prater said. “Honestly it’s pressure by other guys. That allows me to make plays.”
The Eagles played without running back Andrew Vaughn, who was injured in last week’s win over Grand Valley. Vaughn’s status for the playoffs is unknown.
“We need to get healthy,” Owens said. “Every team in America in Week 11 is beat up. It’s just the nature of it.”
AU was ranked third in Super Region 3 in the most recent regional rankings. The top seven teams in each of the four super regions qualify for the playoffs.
“We’re going to let them enjoy this for about 24 hours,” Owens said. “If they perform in season two like they did in season one, we might be playing for a while.”
Coverage of Ashland University Eagles athletics is produced in partnership with OhioHealth, the official sports medicine provider for Ashland University.
