CALEDONIA, Mich. – Ashland University’s defense flexed its muscle Saturday, and squeezed a 31-6 victory out of Davenport in this Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference game.
“The story of the game was defense, once again,” said Eagles head coach Lee Owens. “Two great defensive football teams, and besides one play, I don’t know how we could have played any better.”
Ashland allowed just six points, nine first downs and 149 yards of total offense. AU registered six sacks, nine tackles for loss, two forced fumbles, a fumble-recovery touchdown and seven pass breakups.
“We made a pretty good statement about how we’ve played defense all year long,” Owens said.
The Eagles ran their winning streak to three games while improving to 5-3 overall, 5-1 in the GLIAC. The Panthers fell to 6-3, 3-3, after a third straight loss.
Redshirt freshman quarterback Austin Brenner pushed Ashland to an early lead on a 23-yard touchdown run at the 7:01 mark of the first quarter.
Davenport quarterback Haiden Majewski answered with a 30-yard scoring run, but the missed PAT kept AU on top 7-6. The Panthers would not score again.
The AU defense created a little breathing room when Clay Shreve pounced on a fumble in the end zone for a 14-6 advantage.
Luke Ogi’s 15-yard third-quarter TD dash capped a 12-play, 78-yard drive to make it 21-6.
Satchel Denton’s 28-yard field goal pushed the margin to 24-6 early in the fourth period. Freshman tailback Ronald Lee’s 9-yard touchdown run finished the scoring.
Ogi ran 24 times for 106 yards and a score.
“Luke stepped up big,” Owens said. “We ran the ball really well when we needed to, and made some plays when we had to.”
Junior Tristan Reichelderfer notched eight tackles with 1½ sacks, 2½ tackles for loss, a forced fumble and a pass breakup.
Next Saturday Ashland has a 7 p.m. date at No. 9-ranked Grand Valley State.
