An all-timer at Putnam Stadium goes the Tomcats' way. Two great teams that would not relent, the clock merely ran out while Ashland was ahead.

 

 

What an absolutely awesome game. I don’t know if many people thought Ashland had a chance with only :36 seconds to go down 36-34, but Jennings huge return gave them a chance and Strader found Duckworth wide open in the endzone with 3 seconds left to give Ashland a 40-36 lead. Why in the world Coach Tackett decided to kick the extra point is beyond me. That made zero sense.

54 minutes ago, LRCW said:

What an absolutely awesome game. I don’t know if many people thought Ashland had a chance with only :36 seconds to go down 36-34, but Jennings huge return gave them a chance and Strader found Duckworth wide open in the endzone with 3 seconds left to give Ashland a 40-36 lead. Why in the world Coach Tackett decided to kick the extra point is beyond me. That made zero sense.

I was thinking the same thing.

Great game I underestimated Ashland. JC pass defense is terrible I don’t understand how they leave receivers so open. 

Ashland travels to Independence next Friday.

4 hours ago, MorrowManiac said:

Great game I underestimated Ashland. JC pass defense is terrible I don’t understand how they leave receivers so open. 

I was only able to catch the last few minutes but I’m not sure how the Tomcats had a WR with no one 10 yards near them to take the lead with seconds left. They were in prevent! I can only imagine how it looks when it’s not a known passing situation.

LaBryant Strader threw six touchdown passes and zero picks on 19 of 26 attempts. Considering the opponent and big game atmosphere, this has to rank as one of the best games of his career as a Tomcat, and maybe the best. That's the kind of performance Ashland needs from him if they're going to make a late November push and challenge the upper echelon of 4A.

I'm a bit late to the topic on this one, but there is so much running through my mind on this. This is probably my favorite regular season game each year and I was so glad to see the two teams reunited in the same district a year ago. thinking of the situations with both coaches first off. Chad Tackett comes into Ashland spending 15 years as an assistant when he likely could have taken head coaching jobs (and likely be successful) elsewhere but was determined to learn under Ashland coaches Leon Hart in the 2000's and Tony Love in the 2010's. In the 2000's Coach Tackett actually spent nearly a half decade at Fairview prior to joining Ashland, winning two district titles. Many think that he had future NFL player Chris Jennings for both district title runs. That is correct for the first, but the year after he didn't have Jennings and would finish the season 8-2 after an 0-2 start with losses to Ashland and Frankfort. Fast forward to 2022 from 2004. Tackett takes over at Ashland and leads them to only their second state semifinal appearance since 1990 with a sophomore dominated team and continues to have success in his position.

Then on Johnson Central's side, Jesse Peck had to rally a fan base that just lost an amazing head coach and human being in Jim Matney - and with Coach Peck having been on staff for 10 years prior to that, you know how that had to impact him. Yet he stepped in, provided strong leadership for not just the players but a hurt community and has kept Johnson Central in contention. There is the saying that "injuries are a part of the game," but Coach Peck had to deal an inordinate amount of injuries his first two seasons. Yet in 2023 his game plan (the onside kick to start the second half Johnson Central recovered, bringing back the formerly injured Logan Music against a worn out Ashland defense in the fourth) was widely credited with the three point victory to win in a much improved district from the last time Johnson Central was in it. This is the first time he has been able to field a reasonably healthy team at this point in the season.

This was, like last year, another great game between these two programs. For Ashland, it's amazing to think about how far their offensive line has come looking back to how they struggled against Raceland, West Jessamine, and especially Harvest Prep. I don't think LaBryant Strader was sacked one time against Johnson Central, who is amongst the leaders in 4A in sacks. The line did a good job picking up the blitzes and Strader showed poise in the pocket, especially after starting the game 0-3 throwing the ball when #3 Seth Davis (14 tackles for loss, 8.5 sacks on season) batted down a couple of passes at the line of scrimmage. Then you have the superstar play of Braxton Jennings. On 4th down 5 at the Johnson Central 34 yard line, his team trailing 28-26, Braxton Jennings made a catch surrounded by Johnson Central players in the backfield only to find some way to break loose and score. Ashland would convert the two to go up 34-28. Then you have the kick return at the end where Jennings told his teammates to pitch him the ball on the return, that he would make a big play - and that he did, getting to the Johnson Central 27 yard line with around 14 seconds to go and Ashland having one timeout left. After an 11 yard first down pass conversion to Cam Davis which he got out of bounds followed by an incompletion, Ashland would line up Braxton Jennings and Dylan Duckwyler next to each other and since the Johnson Central defense heavily keyed on Jennings they were hoping that would set somebody up for a big play, which it did and Dylan Duckwyler would catch what would be the game winning touchdown pass.

Defensively, Ashland keyed heavily on Zack McCoart as he had 65 yards on 15 attempts - which is an outstanding job considering how dominant McCoart is. This is a back that carried the ball 40 times against Corbin and JC has no hesitancy going to him early and often. But since Ashland keyed on him so heavily and JC has such a great stable of backs, Logan Music would get loose running for 182, including a 33 yard run on the first drive for a score. Backs Christian Barnes and Logan Morrow would finish with 44 yards apiece and I think that number of yards drastically understates the impact they had. Multiple times during the game Barnes or Morrow would continue to churn their feet against an Ashland defense that was swarming them when they touched the ball, earning tough yardage and picking up first downs.

Johnson Central had a great strategy at the end to try to run the clock out and give Ashland little time to work with, especially knowing they only had one timeout. With a long return by Logan Music and just over six minutes remaining they took their time moving the ball, relying on the powerful runs of Morrow and Barnes to pick up four yards at a time before QB Austin Slone would make an excellent fake to take a six yard run for the score to tie it up. At this point I am unsure if Johnson Central watched the Harvest Prep game, but they came out in a formation for the two point conversion that was the exact same one that Harvest Prep came out in that Ashland had problems defending. Two blocking backs were placed behind one of the tight ends and Zack McCoart ran in on a sweep. Johnson Central had three two point conversions in the game on that play, the last (that they ran to the left side instead of the right like the other two) put them up 36-34. This was a Johnson Central team that while their pass defense struggled at times, offensively their rushing game is just so dominant. This is a team that can pass, but they don't often and didn't have to throw a single time against Ashland. The athletes are there defensively and I'm sure Johnson Central will spend their off week coming up tooling the pass defense and I feel confident they will be a tough out in the playoffs for anybody they are matched up against.

Congratulations to both teams for a hard fought game that will be talked about for years. What a thriller this was.