Tomcats use big play to take down Musketeers

LLOYD — After enduring a strong second half rally by Greenup County, the Ashland Tomcats used a late 4th down stop and two long touchdown runs from Trevonte Taylor to pull away and beat the upset minded Musketeers 35-21 on Friday night.

The Tomcats had to endure a very physical test from Greenup and its rushing duo of Jasper Davis and Ashur Wireman. The duo combined for 208 yards on the ground and Davis threw for an additional 128 to lead the Musketeers.

But in the end, it was the big play abilities of the Tomcats that proved to make the difference.

Despite the Musketeers ground and pound approach controlling the time of possession, Taylor wound up pacing the Ashland offense carrying the ball 11 times for 200 of the Tomcats 271 rushing yards.

Ashland took the opening kickoff and quickly went right down the field to score the games' first points.

On the second play from scrimmage, Stutler rolled to his right and hit Strader on a short curl and Strader turned up the field and bounced out to the far sideline and gained 38 yards before being knocked out of bounds at the Greenup 16.

Two plays later, Stutler tossed a lateral pass to Taylor and the junior back went the final 13 yards for the score. Max McAllister kicked the extra point to make it 7-0.

The Tomcats threatened to double up their lead on their second possession, as Taylor churned out of some big chunks of yards and a pair of barreling runs from Luke McCoy helped the Tomcats move into the Greenup red zone.

But the drive would come to a screeching halt when Stutler's third down pass was intercepted by a diving Lewis Landry to give the ball back to the Musketeers at the 4:34 mark of the first.

But the Musketeers couldn't make anything of the takeaway, and were forced to punt from their own end zone.

However, the punt would be shanked and the Tomcats (6-0) would take advantage of the ball on the Greenup 8 to begin their next drive.

On the ensuing play, Brody Simpkins marched his way into the end zone to make it 14-0 after one quarter.

The Musketeers (4-2) got their first big offensive play from the night from Davis, who turned a disaster into a masterpiece.

Facing a 3rd-and-11, Davis was flushed from the pocket and appeared to be brought down of just a gain of two. But Davis did not touch the ground, as he rolled over top of the defender bringing him down, pushed himself up and took off for a 45-yard gain to the Ashland 30.

Three plays later, Eric Campbell slipped out of the backfield on a screen pass from Davis and went 32-yards to cut into the deficit.

After another defensive stop, the Musketeers had a chance to tie the game up before halftime as they moved into Ashland territory.

But they would get no further than the 27, as a pair of sacks by Simpkins and Maverick Ashby halted the drive and preserved the Tomcats 14-7 lead at the break.

Disaster would strike for Greenup on their opening drive of the second half, as Tanner Woodman would knock the ball loose on a second down play and Avian Lee came up with the ball to give the Tomcats the ball at the Musketeer 34.

The turnover would prove to be costly as Strader took a pitch on a jet sweep and went the distance on the very next play to add to Ashland's lead. McAllister's extra point made it 21-7 just 28 seconds into the third.

Greenup answered with their best drive of the night, grinding out 74 yards in 14 plays to score on a drive the featured a pair of fourth down conversions.

The final play of the drive saw Wireman initially fine a hole to his right, then make a series of cuts around defenders and go virtually untouched 17 yards in for the score and make it 21-14 with 4:01 left in the third.

A miscue on a handoff by Ashland saw the loose pork skin be recovered by Campbell and give the Musketeers the ball back at the Tomcat 47.

Greenup's drive would lead them to the Ashland 9, but face a fourth-and-goal situation just two minutes into the final period.

Davis took the snap and rolled to his right and directed traffic in the end zone and threw a pass to a sliding Landry Lewis for the touchdown. Carter Nunley's extra point made it 21-all with 10:14 left to play.

But as he's done much of the season, Taylor came up with a game-changing play when the Tomcats needed it.

Taylor took a handoff going right, slipped out of traffic and the line of scrimmage and dodged another tackler and galloped 78 yards to put the Tomcats back ahead 28-21.t

A 28-yard pitch-and-catch by Davis and Nolan Clarkson, along with a facemask penalty pushed the Musketeers deep in Ashland territory.

But again faced with another fourth down play — this time a 4th-and-1 — the Musketeers would not convert this time. JJ Keyes would fly in from his linebacking spot and make the initial hit on Wireman and the interior of the Ashland defense swallowed up the play to stop the drive.

Ashland couldn't move the chains and line up to punt on 4th-and-2 from their own 28. But the Tomcats rolled the dice and pulled off a fake punt as Woodman nosed his way just past the line to gain to give Ashland a first down with just over 3 minutes remaining.

Taylor would finally break the backs of the Musketeers as he broke free for another touchdown dash to give the Tomcats a 35-21 lead with 2:05 remaining.

Next Friday, the Tomcats will open district play on the road against Greenup County while Russell will host Fleming County in their district opener.

Ashland 14 0 7 14 = 35

Greenup Co. 0 7 7 7 = 21

First Quarter

Ash — Trevonte Taylor 13 run (Max McAllister kick), 10:16.

Ash — Brody Simpkins 8 run (Max McAllister kick), 0:58:

Second Quarter

GC — Eric Campbell 32 pass from Jasper Davis (Carter Nunley kick), 9:39.

Third Quarter

Ash — Jaylan Strader 32 pass from Tanner Stutler (Max McAllister kick), 11:32.

GC — Ashur Wireman 17 run (Carter Nunley kick), 4:01.

Fourth Quarter

GC — Landry Lewis 17 pass from Jasper Davis (Carter Nunley kick), 10:14.

Ash — Trevonte Taylor run (Max McAllister kick), 2:05.

———

Ash GC

First downs 10 19

Rushes-yards 25-271 48-213

Passing yards 71 128

Total yards 342 241

Cmp-Att-Int 6-9-1 7-16-0

Fumbles-lost 1-1 2-1

Penalties-yards 9-105 7-45

Punts-average 1-41.0 2-9.0

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Individual Leaders

RUSHING – Ashland: Daylen Farrow1-minus 3, Brody Simpkins 4-17 TD, Tanner Woodman 1-2, Maverick Ashby 1-1, Jaylan Strader 3-44 TD, Tanner Stutler 1-minus 5, Trevonte Taylor 11-200 2-TD, Luke McCoy 2-15; Greenup County: Jasper Davis 14-80, Ashur Wireman 31-128 TD, Collin Melvin 3-5.

PASSING – Ashland: Tanner Stutler 6-9-1 71 TD; Greenup County: Jasper Davis 7-16-0 128 2-TD.

RECEIVING – Ashland: Justin Hughes 3-12, Jaylan Strader 3-59 TD; Greenup County: Nolan Clarkson 2-42, Eric Campbell 2-32 TD, Jacoby Holland 1-16, Landry Lewis 2-38 TD.

MISSED FIELD GOALS – None.