MADISON TOWNSHIP — If Ashland completes a perfect regular season, and the Arrows are more than halfway there, they can look back on Friday night as a difference maker in the 2024 campaign.
Coach Scott Valentine’s club survived a valiant performance from a game Madison squad, in front of its Homecoming crowd, before finally pulling out an incredible, 33-27 triple-overtime victory at Ram Field.
“We knew they were improved, and we were going to have to play four quarters,” Valentine said. “We played that and then some.”
The game finally ended when Ashland junior quarterback Nathan Bernhard took a shotgun snap and knifed through the middle of the field to score from 12 yards out to put an end to the more than three-hour marathon.
“He’s a guy that when you spread things out, he’s got to be able to run the ball and do some things for us, and he did,” Valentine said.
The result keeps Ashland undefeated and in control of its own destiny at 6-0 overall, 2-0 in the Ohio Cardinal Conference.
Bernhard threw for more than 200 yards in the first half, and pushed the Arrows in front on a 55-yard TD strike to Gabe Baith. Carson O’Brien’s 21-yard field goal expanded the margin to 10-0 heading to the second period.
But Kaleb Gordon’s 45-yard touchdown run got the Rams back into the game, and the two-point conversion made it 10-8. The hosts never went away.
“They beat Wooster, they went down to the end (at West Holmes) last week, we knew they were going to be tough,” Valentine said.
O’Brien booted another field goal, this one from 35 yards, to give the Arrows a 13-8 margin at intermission.
“I’m extremely proud of the effort,” Madison coach Brent Besancon said. “But I’ve gotta tell you, the kids, the staff, we’re tired of talking about the effort. We want to bring one home for them.”
It was the second straight week the Rams fell just short at the end, following a 23-21 loss on a field goal at the end against West Holmes.
Madison (1-5, 1-2) came oh so close again, thanks largely to a big defensive effort in the second half, and the bowling ball running of Ja’karri Favers. The 5-foot-5, 205-pound senior plunged in for three touchdowns in the second half, yet the Arrows survived each thrust.
The Rams fumbled on their second snap of the second half, and Ashland recovered at the 13. Bernhard scored a couple of plays later on a 1-yard plunge to make it 20-8.
“Our defense getting that turnover to start the second half, that was big,” Valentine said.
But Favers roared in on a 3-yard plunge to slice the deficit to 20-14 heading to the fourth quarter.
Favers scored again with 6:20 remaining, but the Arrows blocked the potential game-winning PAT to keep things knotted at 20-20. It stayed that way into overtime.
Favers added his final touchdown in the first OT, and Camden Moysi’s PAT pushed the Rams’ edge to 27-20.
But Bernhard struck again with a 1-yard dive on fourth-down and the extra point led to a second overtime.
Neither squad scored in the second OT, with Madison missing a 29-yard field goal that could have won it.
The Arrows defense held on downs to start the final session, and Bernhard finished it with his jaunt up the middle.
“These kids have been through a lot, three coaches in four years,” Besancon said. “When you get close like this … it hurts.”
The Arrows host Mansfield Senior next week.
Madison travels to New Philadelphia on Friday night.