2026 Ashland Tomcats

January 13Jan 13

What an interesting year it was for the Ashland Tomcats. They finished 7-5, taking care of business for the most part against less talented teams but never beating a solid quality team. Towards the end of the year they were blown out by Johnson Central and of course they had their season ended in a blow out loss at Highlands. I think if you look at the arc of those 3 teams specifically, Ashland failed to adapt, diversify, or hit that next gear. They did what they did all year and that was rush the ball. A lot. Defensively, they could contain teams where they had the physical advantage but they couldn't convert that into success against decently built offenses. In fact, Greenup County was the first team to really expose them defensively in my opinion.

So now we turn to 2026. Cam Davis, the powerful rusher who accounted for over 80 of their 242 rushing yards per game, is graduating. Brody Simpkins should be the lead back but will also have Trevonte Taylor looking to get touches. At quarterback the Tomcats have to choose between Tanner Stutler and Justin Hughes. Stutler threw for 615 yards, 6 touchdowns and 2 interceptions as a freshman. The sophomore Hughes had 484 yards, 5 touchdowns and 3 interceptions. Even though the passing game wasn't their main squeeze, it is still noteworthy that they graduate 4 of their 5 leading receivers. The one who remains? Justin Hughes. May make that an easy decision to go with Stutler, especially with the stats in his favor.

Defensively, Simpkins led the team in total tackles, nearly doubling the second leading tackler. He had 109. Luke McCoy and JJ Keyes look to be the other defensive leaders but the Tomcats have some significant shoes to fill from graduation, especially in the secondary.

I think there is opportunity here for the Tomcats, but I also think there is a lot of ways this can go. Without Davis, of course they could be prone to a slide. However, their depth of possible offensive weapons may mean improvement. Or they could just simply repeat the fairly average performance they concluded with this year. 2027, if this team stays intact, is probably the year they make serious noise as really Simpkins looks to be the biggest loss after this season.