Scrimmage? Yes. But Jackson looked pretty good from those highlights. 

22 hours ago, Ram said:

Scrimmage? Yes. But Jackson looked pretty good from those highlights. 

They usually are.  I semi-follow the Ironmen.  I went to a regional playoff game there about 10 years ago.  Was blown away by the atmosphere, really electric and a huge crowd.

I went and watched this. Great scrimmage! Always enjoy when Jackson comes to town.

Before the analysis, a fun fact: Andy Hall, the Head Coach of Jackson, is the son of former Ashland football coach Larry Hall and Larry still helps him out on the sidelines. Larry has a great coaching background, being an assistant on Wheelersburg's 1989 state championship team and coaching at Ashland from 1999 - 2002, winning a district championship in 2002. They are having a lot of success at jackson, with Andy Hall having been the head coach since 2009. Over the past four seasons alone they have picked up 39 wins. For me personally, I am equally excited to see both Coach Halls (Who I don't get to see regularly) as I am the scrimmage. Great guys. 

Each team had the ball for ten plays at a time for three series before the JV teams took the field. 

1st Series

Jackson opened up with the football and got a fantastic drive off. QB Bodhi Wolford is committed to play football at Bryant, broke a long run and made an excellent read on play action, setting Jackson up on the goal line where they ran it in after five plays. Jackson's line looked physical, getting an excellent push up front.

Ashland adjusted and their defense held the next five plays. 

Ashland came out on their offensive series with freshman Tanner Stutler at quarterback. Probably to get him acclimated to the high school level. Ashland mostly utilized the running game and although they didn't rip off a huge run, they had a consistent drive getting around five yards per carry. Stutler made a nice throw and on another play ran it, not forcing it into the defense when there was nobody open. He would run it for a nice gain. Ashland has an excellent stable of runningbacks this year both from the sense of how they can run the ball and their ability to catch out of the backfield.

2nd Series

Jackson did score, but Ashland's defense stood strong for eight plays before Jackson completed a deep pass. Wolford is a clean, accurate passer who hits his teammates in stride and he couldn't have thrown a better ball while the receiver displayed great awareness and positioned himself nicely. Jackson got down to about the two yard line, running it in the next play. Ashland sent a lot of pressure at Jackson, and at times their line did a really good job picking it up. On others, Ashland sent guys from the outside, one more man than Jackson could block, and they were able to get to the quarterback.

Ashland had Justin Hughes at quarterback in this series, with Hughes having recently joined from the basketball team. Hughes, like Stutler who is a hard worker and a nice athlete, is a sophomore himself and still getting acclimated to this level of play. Ashland continued sticking with their run game and getting consistent yardage. At about the 40 yard line they ran a play action pass, with Hughes hitting Mason Wolfe with no one around him in the end zone on a busted coverage from Jackson. Ashland moved the ball on the remaining plays, with Hughes having a solid run on the last play.

3rd Series

Jackson connected on a deep ball early in the series, scoring again. They moved the ball a little bit here and there, one play that impressed me was when Ashland sent some pressure and it looked like Wolford would be sacked. He didn't panic, rolled out a little bit, and hit his receiver in stride for a first down. Later in the drive Jackson subbed out at QB.

Ashland utilized both Stutler and Hughes. Stutler threw more on this set and made some nice reads. Hughes came in and did the same including another touchdown pass with Mason Wolfe making an incredible play off of a curl route to break free. Whether it's Hughes or Stutler, I think either one will become a nice player at QB as the season goes along. Both made solid reads in the scrimmage.

JV Teams

The varsity teams shook hands and then the JVs took the field. Both JVs had a tremendous amount of energy and enthusiasm as the game was a defensive slugfest. Both teams made some hard hits and gave up little, but Ashland did get a score later in the JV scrimmage. The discipline both teams showed, defensively especially, was impressive.

Overall, a good scrimmage and I think Jackson will again be in contention in their class as they usually are. Having a player the caliber of Wolford in the backfield is always a plus and he is far from the only threat they have offensively. Their line showed good form and discipline and I thought they did a nice job defensively, you see some busted plays from time to time in scrimmages but they had only one. Ashland has some nice runners and this was an excellent experience for Stutler and Hughes at QB. Jackson had a solid defense and they both were patient, didn't force anything and when the opening was there they took it. Ashland has a lot of depth with runners. The defense had a slow start but in typical Ashland fashion as the scrimmage went along they did a nice job pursuing the football and flowing side to side. I am sure both teams will find value in this and will continue to build off of it.