Leatherneck was at the game. I can't wait to read his thoughts on the game. Plus, I can't wait to see what he has in store for Ram. :lol:

 

Even a blind squirrel finds a nut every now and then

Even a blind squirrel finds a nut every now and then

 

 

Come on now. I want to hear your thoughts on both Ashland and Johnson Central, and no way you let Ram off that easy.

You all can serve me crow all you want, I can take it. I was wrong, and I will admit it, but I think my point was made several weeks ago, several of us knew Ashland was going to be good and they are.

 

Congratulations to Johnson Central, they wanted it, and went out and got it. My hat is off to them.

Come on now. I want to hear your thoughts on both Ashland and Johnson Central, and no way you let Ram off that easy.

 

Family Tradition and our sidekick, T-Roy will give our thoughts later when we get home

Just getting home from the game.

 

Congratulations to Johnson Central! You played a good game and did what you needed to do to win. We didn’t – plain and simple.

 

JC’s QB, Hall was very good tonight - he always had a clutch play when it was needed. I also thought Ousley #44 was a difference maker on the line.

 

Ashland’s Trent Hardy seemed to nursing an ankle/leg injury. Does anyone know anything about that?

 

Dicky implied that Trent was cramping badly the second half. I don't believe he was injured....

 

Congrats to JC on a HUGE win !!!

I wouldn't categorize it as a major blow. It may just mean that they have to play Highlands one week earlier. :scared:

 

Your right and that is not good.:thumb:

Didn't someone on here say that Ashland would win the District?

 

Well to be honest with you JC has not won it yet.:laugh:

My thoughts and analysis of the game:

 

Bottom line, JC came well-prepared and focused. I mentioned in the pre-game thread that this would be the JC team everyone expected to see this year. JC started the game off with the ball and J.J. Jude busted off about a fifty yard run for a score. JC converted the two point conversion. Ashland got the ball and got an illegal shift penalty on their first play (Remember, I mentioned that penalities were a problem for this team in the pregame thread), throwing them out of sync. After Ashland punted, the Quarterback for JC , #5 (J.K. Hall?) scored on a long run to make it 14-0, and 16-0 after the two point conversion. Ashland drove the field and scored to cut the lead to ten but JC made a big play off of a deep pass to J.J. Jude to set up a score to make the lead 22-6. Ashland had a chance to score before halftime, getting to JC's three yard line, but was unable to punch it in.

 

Ashland came out more focused in the second half, scoring 22 straight points to take the lead at 28-22. After not turning the ball over in the first half, JC turned the ball over three or four times by fumbling, giving Ashland plenty of momentum. Ashland had a chance to open the game but didn't convert on a crucial fourth and two, giving the ball back to JC for their game winning drive. Even after J.C. scored to make it 29-28, Ashland had a chance to drive the field but ended up turning it over on downs.

 

 

As for my thoughts on JC, they have an excellent playmaker in J.J. Jude. He reminds me a lot of Thomas Varney of Belfry. He's very quick and one mistake against him could lead to a big play. To go along with his running ability, he catches the ball well. JC had a better passing game than expected. If they cut back on the fumbles, I expect them to play much better than in their previous games. The win tonight will give them plenty of confidence in their upcoming games.

 

Ashland looked more in tune offensively in the second half. They ran the ball more and while that went well, there were too many dropped passes, so many I lost count. I can think of three times during the game that we fumbled a snap on offense, but we were lucky enough to recover them. Defensively, we locked down better in the second half and prevented the huge plays, but the one drive in the fourth quarter was all it took for JC to seal the game. We performed well in some areas but we've played better overall games this year.

 

Going 10-0 would have been remarkable but it's hard for any team to do. I'm confident that Ashland will make the needed adjustments and will learn something from this loss. Keep your heads up Tomcats!

Edited October 10, 200916 yr by AshlandGolfer
typo

Well to be honest with you JC has not won it yet.:laugh:

 

Very true.

 

It was another nice trip to Paintsville. Kept ice on the knee most of the way and was entertained by Family Tradition and T-Roy talking about their youthful exploits, a phone call from Henry telling us to look out for tornados and a discussion involving which of our wives was going to have the most fun at the Boosters Bash (that we were missing to see this game). T-Roy's wife won that competition we later learned.

 

Interesting game to be honest with you.

 

Ashland had the better overall team speed, yet it was JC's speed on a few plays that seemed to make the difference in this game.

 

Nice to see No 10 (Nate Dillon) on the field. So much for rumors I'd heard that he quit the team. Maybe he had, but he was back last night. One heck of an athlete, particularly on defense. No. 5 (J.K. Hall) has some serious, and I mean serious wheels under him. I'd have let him run the ball a lot. No. 44 (Ousley?) played a tough game. Had his knees chopped out from under him by an Ashland running back in the 2nd quarter (are you allowed to do that?), but got back on the field and kept making plays. Tough kid. No. 42 (Bratton) played a very good game also.

 

Ashland has a very nice team. Very nice mix of running and passing the ball. No. 34 (Albers) runs the ball hard. Very nice running back. No. 2 (Hunter) played well. Threw the ball well, but had a few passes dropped.He scrambles very well and played heady ball. Impressive. Ashland receivers got behind the JC defenders multiple times but to no avail. Ashland's O and D lines moved very well. Nice quickness. From my observation of this one game, Ashland is improved from last year.

 

 

To be honest, either team could have won this game. My guess is that if the game was at Ashland, Ashland would have won the game.

 

I hope the man hurt in the fireworks accident is okay. Say a prayer for him.

 

Have to run and get some ice on the knee. Great job coaches and players on each team. Well played game.

Leatherneck: It’s always good to read your posts. And it’s good to get a neutral party’s observations and analysis to balance the typical “homer” reports.

 

Thanks for making the trip and your input.

 

 

 

PS - what happened to your knee? Hope you get better soon.

 

__________

 

 

Golfer - I also enjoyed your analysis. It was good seeing you at the game last night.

 

___________

 

 

Stats from the Independent:

 

 

First Downs, Ash =17, JC =12

 

Rushes-yards, Ash = 38-152, JC = 40-227

 

Passing, Ash = 9-25-0, JC = 3-4-0

 

Passing yards, Ash = 129, JC = 84

 

Fumbles – lost, Ash = 4-0, JC = 3-2

Edited October 10, 200916 yr by Graybeard
stats added

Some excerpts from the Independent:

 

According to Hart, the first half was the worst Ashland has played all season. “We executed poorly in the first half,” Hart said. “We didn’t do a good job of tackling and didn’t match up with them physically.”

 

“The kids showed a tremendous amount of courage and it was a tremendous effort to come back like we did,” Hart said.

 

 

“This is one of the classic games in my 28-year (coaching) career,” Matney said.

I think it was mentioned on here a few times that JC was not as bad as everyone seemed to think. I'm taking nothing away from Ashland, but JC has not fallen as far as the record seems to indicate. Are they on the level they were last year? I don't think so, but remember they have a few young players in key positions. As we all know it takes time for young players to really step up and fill the roles they are given. They will be ready by playoff time to make a run. Will they win the district? I still think they could stumble a little in the remaining district games but they should either win the district or finish 2nd in the district. JMO

Congratulations to JC, sounds like this was a good one.

Very true.

I hope the man hurt in the fireworks accident is okay. Say a prayer for him.

 

Have to run and get some ice on the knee. Great job coaches and players on each team. Well played game.

 

He's okay. Just needed some stitches on the face afterward.

 

Probably the best game I've ever seen played on Eagle Field, and I go back to 1990 watching football there.

I don't think the district title has been decided yet and I would sure put Ashland in the run for it. As much as I hate to say it, this may have been a good loss for them. I wonder if they were starting to feel a little too confident? I've seen all their games but one this year and in my opinion, they did not come into this game with the same fire and enthuiasm. They seemed flat the first half--defense didn't play well, too many dropped balls (entire game) and too many incompleted passes. If they had played the first half like they did the second, they would have come home with a win. But, you also have to remember, there are a lot of 10th and 11th graders in the starting line-ups. On a different note--did anyone notice there was less music played over the loud speakers the second half???