ASHLAND — Fortune favors the bold and Lee Owens made one of the boldest play calls of his coaching career midway through the fourth quarter of Ashland University’s season-opening 31-14 win over No. 10 Notre Dame College at AU’s Jack Miller Stadium on Thursday.
The Eagles, who all but squandered a 17-0 halftime advantage, were clinging to a 17-14 lead and facing a fourth-and-nine at the Notre Dame 38-yard line. With momentum squarely on the side of the visiting Falcons, Owens called timeout and dialed up one of the most important plays in AU’s recent history.
Quarterback Austin Brenner, who returned from a gruesome season-ending leg injury last October, found fourth-string tailback Patrick Blubaugh on a swing pass out of the backfield and Blubaugh picked his way for a 12-yard gain and a critical first down at the Notre Dame 26. Two plays later, Larry Martin blasted through the middle of the Notre Dame defense for a 22-yard touchdown to give the Eagles a 24-14 advantage.
“It’s fourth and forever and we have to convert,” Owens said. “They have all the momentum in the world at that point and (Blubaugh) ran the play to perfection. … We had those three receivers clear things out and they lost him and Austin did a great job of checking it down to him just at the right time.
“That was, in my opinion, the play of the game. Somebody had to step up and make a play. We didn’t know it was going to be our fourth tailback.”
Notre Dame’s ensuing possession ended with an interception by AU’s Justin Moore at the Ashland 21-yard line. Martin iced it with a 37-yard scoring run four plays later, sending the Eagles to their seventh win over a Top 10 team nationally during Owens’ 19 seasons.
“You put your offense in a situation where they had to put a drive together and score and they did. Then you had to make first downs and finish and they did,” Owens said. “All the things we talked about needing to do, we were able to do.
“The better team you play, the sweeter the win and they are a pretty good football team.”
Brenner, whose 2021 season came to an end when he broke the tibia and fibula in his right leg during a Week 5 home loss to Ohio Dominican, never hesitated on the fateful fourth-down call.
“That running back on the swing is our last read. He’s our last check-down,” said Brenner, who completed 14-of-26 passes for 128 yards. “I worked through my progression and snapped my hips over to the running back and thankfully (the Notre Dame defense) had lost him in the shuffle.
“It was natural … to get him the ball and he made a play.”
It didn’t look like the Eagles would need any late-game heroics after racing to a 17-0 halftime lead. Fullback Isaac Hadley scored on a 1-yard plunge with 4:52 showing in the first quarter to give Ashland a 7-0 lead. Storm Elsesser pushed the advantage to 10-0 with a 39-yard field goal with 8:10 remaining in the second.
It stayed that way until late in the first half.
The Eagles forced a turnover on downs at their own 36-yard line with 54 seconds remaining. Content to run out the clock and take a 10-0 lead to the half, Owens called what appeared to be a conservative run play for tailback Gei’vonni Washington. The speedy 5-foot-7 junior broke through the line and found nothing but open field in front of him, racing 64 yards for a touchdown and a 17-0 lead.
“I just saw my big boys up there kicking butt as they always do,” Washington said. “When I saw that … I’m fast so you’ve got to get there. If I didn’t get there, I’m sure my linemen would have been mad at me.”
Washington rushed for 150 yards before suffering leg cramps in the second half. Martin added 122 yards as AU piled up 323 yards rushing.
“We’ve been working our butts off every day,” Washington said. “Every day at practice we compete to push each other and maximize our potential. That’s what we did today.”
As good as the offense was, AU’s stingy defense was even better. The Eagles limited a talented Notre Dame team to 28 yards of total offense in the first half, including negative-6 yards rushing through two quarters.
“Our D-line played an outstanding game,” said linebacker Michael Ayers, who had 12 tackles and 2.5 tackles for loss. “I give a lot of credit to the D-line because they played a great game. And our secondary covered really well. That’s what led to a great defensive game.”
Notre Dame got back into it in the second half. The Falcons cut AU’s lead to 17-7 with 7:51 to play in the third on tight end Reece Perkins’ 45-yard touchdown from Chris Brimm. An 8-yard touchdown run by Idris Lawrence with 11:13 left made it 17-14.
“They are 10th in the country for a reason. They are going to make a run,” Ayers said. “We just had to weather the storm and overcome it and I’m glad we did.”
