ASHLAND – The Arrows were running out of time to turn in their best game of the year.
With a playoff berth on the line Friday inside Community Stadium against rival Lexington, Ashland delivered without a single regular-season game to spare.
The Arrows entered Week 10 as one of eight teams fighting for two available playoff spots in Division II, Region 7.
Behind a historic night from senior receiver Killian O’Brien, a breakthrough performance from junior quarterback Liam Hubacher and more than a few contributions from their seniors on Senior Night, it was a 49-7 explosion of a victory.
Unofficially, the win clinched a first-round trip to Canal Winchester (7-3) next week for Ashland (6-4, 3-4 Ohio Cardinal Conference), which now has made the playoffs five years in a row for the first time in its history.
“This was the seniors’ night,” coach Scott Valentine said. “We wanted to send them out right and I thought everybody came out focused and we executed things. It was a great four quarters.
“For us to put things together tonight, I was happy for our kids because we’ve had some struggles this year.”
Pictured on Senior Night at Community Stadium on Friday are, from left, seniors JJ Beverly, Nevin LaRue, Greyson Blough, Avion Woodard, Grayson Baith, Jeff Hickey, Killian O’Brien, Landen Cooke, Anthony Gambino and Nathan Booth. Photo by Doug Haidet
The Arrows lost sophomore starting quarterback Carson Graber to injury after their second offensive play of the game, but Hubacher – who was the team’s starter to open the season – stepped in and had a sizzling night.
The dual-threat junior finished 16-of-19 through the air and had career-high totals in passing yards (300) and passing touchdowns (4) while also running it in for scores of 2 and 19 yards.
“I’ve gotten a lot of second-team and mental reps (at quarterback since Graber took over) and that’s all I needed,” Hubacher said. “It paid off tonight.”
O’Brien was the biggest beneficiary.
The star senior – who announced his commitment to NCAA Division II West Liberty prior to the game – had what he called the best game of his career, and it was hard to argue.
O’Brien finished with eight catches for a career-best 175 yards, pulling in touchdown grabs from 52 and 33 yards in the second quarter.
The senior also had interceptions on back-to-back Lexington drives in the second half.
He said connecting on so many plays with Hubacher made it feel like he was playing with graduated star quarterback Nathan Bernhard again.
The 49 points represented the most the Arrows have scored on Lexington since the inception of the OCC in 2003. Their previous high point total this year was 30.
“I could not have asked for a better night,” O’Brien said. “It felt like I had Nathan back (at quarterback). I missed the ‘Air Raid Arrows’ and putting up points like that.
“We just went in with the mentality that (the rivalry) is personal – the way it always is for Lex and Ashland,” he added. “It doesn’t matter what the record is, it’s a rivalry game and anything can happen, so we stayed focused all week and we came out and played well.”
O’Brien went over 1,000 receiving yards in a season for the first time and, in the process, surpassed former record holder Jon Metzger for the AHS all-time mark in career receiving yards (now unofficially 2,559).
He already had the Ashland record for career receiving touchdowns (now 31), and needs just four catches in next week’s playoff game for the single-season AHS record in receptions (currently held by Trey Smith at 86 in 2014).
Hubacher, who also hit senior Jeff Hickey for touchdown connections of 7 and 25 yards, said it felt good to play a role in a huge night for his senior teammates.
“I knew I had to try to get my seniors touchdowns if I was in there at quarterback,” he said. “They were great with the ball in their hands tonight.”
Ashland senior Nevin LaRue chipped in two catches for 26 yards and also took the first play from scrimmage in the second half for a 52-yard touchdown run.
That score stretched the Arrows’ lead to 35-7 after Layton Roop’s fifth of seven PATs, and it gave the hosts their most points scored in a game all season with nearly a full half to play.
Despite the litany of numbers for Ashland, it didn’t look like it would be such a runaway early on.
For Lexington (1-9, 1-6), sophomore quarterback Jayden Perkins was in the midst of a big night of his own.
After the Arrows went ahead 14-0 late in the first quarter, Perkins (14 carries, 72 yards) accounted for all the offense on a 65-yard drive to open the second quarter.
His 7-yard touchdown run made it 14-7, and he proceeded to intercept Hubacher on a deep pass on the ensuing drive.
Unfortunately, the 6-foot-1 sophomore was hurt on a third-down play after being dropped by Arrow senior J.J. Beverly and sophomore Teagan Sauder with 4:40 showing before halftime.
Perkins, who finished his season with nearly 800 rushing yards and more than 600 passing yards, never returned.
Ashland quickly struck with both of O’Brien’s receiving touchdowns to carry its 28-7 lead into intermission and the Minutemen never got anything going from there.
“Our kids have fought all year long, but we just had to make more plays,” first-year Lexington coach Jacob Owens said. “We’re young, playing a lot of sophomores, juniors and a couple freshmen, but we’ve got to make sure we’re better next year.”
Sophomore receiver Jackson Eichorn led the team with 32 yards on three catches, but Lex had just four completions and roughly 100 yards of offense for the game.
Ashland sophomore Blake Lewis added an interception of backup quarterback Lucas Welter in the fourth quarter after a running clock was triggered.
Seniors Avion Woodard and Grayson Baith (10 carries, 60 yards) also collected a variety of tackles for the Arrows.
It closed out a trying campaign for the Minutemen, who suffered the tragic passing of former head coach Andrew Saris in late June.
Owens then had to try to help his squad navigate one of the more brutal four-week stretches in the state of Ohio to start the year.
Lexington opened with losses to playoff qualifiers Ontario (9-1), Shelby (10-0), Clear Fork (8-2) and Dover (8-2) through four weeks. And after a 44-30 victory over Wooster in Week 5, the Minutemen couldn’t find a way back into the win column.
“Our kids have been through a lot of adversity this year, our coaches have been through a lot of adversity this year,” Owens said. “So for us to weather the storm and to get a win and be competitive all year long, it’s been special.
“We were a couple plays away from being a three- or four-win team, but I’ve just tried to encourage our kids to get better.”
The night certainly carried less weight than the previous two meetings between the rivals.
In 2025, 9-0 Ashland met 8-1 Lexington in a winner-take-all battle for the OCC crown, with the Minutemen winning 43-35.
In 2024, the Arrows topped Lex 30-21 to finish with a 10-0 regular season before both squads reached the regional semifinals.
“Each year is different and both of us lost really good senior classes (from last season),” Valentine said. “It was different than playing for the conference championship last year, but for our kids, we wanted to make sure we finished it out right.”
Ashland senior two-way lineman Greyson Blough – who has been injured on and off throughout the season – said his senior class’s home finale was one to remember.
“It will look different (in the playoffs) because we’re going in as a lower seed as opposed to the last two years,” Blough said. “But it’s a blessing to be able to play more than just 10 games.
“It’s been awesome to be a part of all three years I’ve been on varsity.”
Ashland is headed to the playoffs for the 17th time in its history. It’s the 14th trip for the program under Valentine, who was honored after Friday’s game with a tribute video on the scoreboard for capturing his 200th career win a week earlier at Wooster.
“I’ve got a great coaching staff and am blessed to have them; they work hard and coach these guys up,” Valentine said. “Then all the players, each group is different, but they’ve all responded in a way that has represented our program well over the years.”
Dover takes the OCC
The Dover Crimson Tornadoes didn’t waste any time making themselves comfortable in the OCC.
As first-year members of the league, the team swept through OCC play with its 32-28 win Friday at longtime rival New Philadelphia.
It marks the first time since the OCC’s inception in 2003 that five different teams have won the conference crown in a five-year span (West Holmes, Mansfield Senior, Ashland, Lexington and Dover since 2022).
Unofficially, Dover (8-2) heads into playoffs with a first-round home game against Columbus South (8-2) in Division III, Region 11.
West Holmes (8-2, 6-1) landed in second place following its 42-14 win at Wooster on Friday and will have a first-round bye in Division IV, Region 15.
The rest of the league rounded out in the following order: New Philadelphia (4-6, 4-3), Ashland (6-4, 3-4), Madison (5-5, 3-4), Wooster (3-7, 3-4), Lexington (1-9, 1-6) and Mansfield Senior (1-9, 1-6).