Big play Oredockers defeat Midgets

HURLEY - A one-score deficit might have been no problem. Even having two-touchdowns to make up in the second half would have been manageable.

But not three.

Especially not the way Ashland got the halftime lead to 24-0.

Hurley failed to score on fourth down inside the 5 to pull within a single touchdown and Ashland followed with a 94-yard drive that ended in a touchdown just before the half.

Ashland went on to win 38-14 and drop Hurley to 0-2.

"That was killer," Hurley coach Scott Erickson said. "We were playing so good defensively out there, making their option reads tough. And we made some critical mistakes offensively and then we had defensive breakdowns."

Ashland used two big plays to take a 16-0 lead yet Hurley looked to cut into that with that late second-quarter drive.

They got the ball by recovering a fumble at the Ashland 48. The Midgets drove all the way to the 6 where a turnover on downs just slowed them down briefly as Ashland fumbled it back to them on the next play.

Facing fourth and goal at the 3, Hurley fumbled the snap with 2:36 left and this time Ashland didn't give it back.

With four plays of over 10 yards in the drive, Ashland was quickly in Hurley territory. But Devon Lino came up with a big-time sack of Ashland's dual-threat quarterback, Jordan Brennan, putting the Oredockers back to the 26 yard line with 12 seconds left.

On the next play, though, 2nd and 23, Brennan threw a 26-yard touchdown pass to Zach Lindenberg.

And with the conversion, Ashland led 24-0 at the break.

Hurley still had another comeback bid in them, but it was quickly extinguished.

The Midgets scored on their first possession of the half as Andy Hamlin ran 38 yards for the touchdown. Kyle Kutz caught a pass from Jack Santini for the two-point conversion and pull Hurley within 24-8. Had they scored at the end of the first half, it could have been a whole new ballgame at this point.

Either way, Ashland had a fast answer here, too.

On the first play of the ensuing possession, Isaak Livingston busted loose for an 88-yard touchdown run. With the conversion, the lead was back to three touchdowns, 32-8.

Ashland got another one before the end of the third quarter. Hurley's other touchdown came as time expired on the game clock, on a four-yard run by Kodey Henning.

"I'm proud of our kids effort, they battled," Erickson said. "That's a junior-senior team, we're a senior-junior-sophomore-freshman team. We had a lot of young kids out there. We're making progress, that's the good part."

Ashland outgained Hurley 502-315. The teams were nearly identical on the ground, but Ashland added 176 passing yards to none for the Midgets.

Brennan passed for all 176 and ran for another 74 while accounting for four of Ashland's five touchdowns.

Whether it was on the ground or through the air, Ashland had a lot of big plays. Two of the touchdowns went for over 80 yards and all were at least 20.

"They scored on too many big plays," Erickson said. "It was the result of some poor tackling and the more tired we got, the poorer our tackling got and that's pretty typical."

Hamlin led what was a solid Hurley rushing attack with 143 yards on 16 carries.

The offense showed signs of turning the corner, especially in the second half as Hurley was able to move the football. But the Midgets missed too many opportunities while the game was close.

"Every time we get something good going, we'd drop a snap or have a turnover, shoot ourselves in the foot," Erickson said. "The boys have to lock her down at those critical times. Defensively, too, we had some big third downs to get off the field and give up the long play. We've got to lock it down in those cirticial downs."

Hurley (0-2) goes to Cameron next Friday night for their first of five road trips.

There's still no panic here.

"We've been 0-2, 0-3 before,"Erickson said. "Certainly we'd like get better and have a win on the board, but I think as a team we have improved and that's what you're looking for."

Ashland 8 16 14 0 - 38

Hurley 0 0 8 6 - 14

First Quarter

Ash - Zach Lindenberg 83 pass from Jordan Brennan (Justin Miller run), 6:07

Second Quarter

Ash - Brennan 39 run (Braden Stegmann pass from Brennan), 8:04

Ash - Lindenberg 26 pass from Brennan (Brennan run), :04

Third Quarter

Hur - Andy Hamlin 38 run (Kyle Kutz pass from Jack Santini), 9:51

Ash - Isaak Livingston 88 run (Billy Watland pass from Brennan), 8:44

Ash - Brennan 20 run (run failed), 2:46

Fourth Quarter

Hur - Kodey Henning 4 run (conversion not attempted), :00

Ash Hur

First downs 7 12

Rushes-yards 38-326 50-315

Comp-Att-Int 5-11-0 0-3-1

Passing 176 0

Total yards 502 315

Penalties-yards 3-25 3-35

Fumbles-lost 2-2 3-3

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING - Ashland, Isaak Livingston 9-129, Jordan Brennan 8-74, Zach Coffland 9-47, Billy Watland 2-40, Justin Miller 6-27, Sam Milanowski 1-6, Jaylen King 1-2, Jared Stricker 1-1, Carter Brown 1-0. Hurley, Andy Hamlin 16-143, Dakota Haanen 11-61, Ty Colassaco 8-53, Kodey Henning 8-42, Cameron Schuelke 2-14, Jack Santini 2-2, Corbin Taylor 4-0.

PASSING - Ashland, Jordan Brennan 5-11-176-0. Hurley, Corbin Taylor 0-2-0-0, Jack Santini, 0-1-0-1.

RECEIVING - Ashland, Zach Lindenberg 3-144, Ethan Brown 1-19, Braden Stegmann 1-13. Hurley, none.