Six and counting: Ashland looks to extend winning streak against Kentucky Wesleyan
The Ashland University football team that stumbled to a 1-3 start will have the opportunity to close out the regular season with seven straight wins when the Eagles visit Kentucky Wesleyan on Saturday.
AU (7-3, 7-1) will meet the Panthers (4-6, 3-5) in a 5 p.m. game Saturday in Owensboro, Kentucky. All six consecutive Ashland wins have been Great Midwest Athletic Conference games, and the Eagles remain one game behind undefeated league leader Tiffin with one game remaining.
Ashland would need a win Saturday and a Tiffin loss to Findlay to claim a share of the league title.
'I guess we needed 37': Ashland needs four OTs to beat rival Findlay
“We’re just worried about us right now,” AU coach Doug Geiser said. “That’s the only thing we can control. Our goal in the fourth quarter of the season was to go 4-0. We’re 3-0 at this point and have a chance to go 4-0.”
Despite the early losses to Indiana of Pennsylvania, Ferris State and Tiffin, Geiser said his team’s confidence never faltered. The streak of six victories so far have come against Ohio Dominican, Walsh, Northwood, Lake Erie, Thomas More and Findlay.
The latest game in the streak was a four-overtime thriller that produced a 37-35 victory over rival Findlay.
“There’s a really good culture here,” Geiser said. “We get good kids. The tradition here definitely helped us in that respect. The kids kept fighting, kept believing.
“I told them (after the start) we’re not going to worry about getting eight wins in one week. Let’s just start stacking them one at a time. To their credit, they trusted the process, they prepared and now we have a chance to get that eighth win.”
The Kentucky Wesleyan team the Eagles will face in the final regular season game Saturday also is coming off an overtime victory.
Suffering through a five-game GMAC losing streak, the Panthers took an early 14-0 lead over Lake Erie last Saturday, but found themselves trailing the Storm by 17 points with less than six minutes left in the game.
That’s when backup quarterback Joey Cambron led Wesleyan on a seven-play, 88-yard drive to tie the score.
In extra time, the Panther defense forced a missed field goal from Lake Erie, then won it 43-37 on a Deonco Wilkerson rushing touchdown.
“They’ve got a moxie about them,” Geiser said. “They had lost five straight and had to go to Lake Erie at night. It would be very easy to pack it in.
“They were down in the fourth quarter and they came back and won. You have the moxie and the strength to do that, that’s very impressive. And that was with the backup quarterback.
“They’re a tough football team at home. They’re a dangerous football team. We’ve got a big challenge this week.”
The Panthers likely will have to go with Cambron at QB this week against AU. Starter and GMAC passing leader Christian Arrambide was ejected late in the win over Lake Erie and probably will have to sit this week.
Before his ejection, Arrambide was 18-for-30 passing with two touchdown throws, two rushing touchdowns and three interceptions.
In his one drive, Cambron went 3-for-5 for 70 yards and a touchdown.
On the season, Arrambide has 155 completions in 298 attempts for 2,262 yards with 16 touchdowns and 12 interceptions. He also has rushed 127 times for 207 yards and nine touchdowns.
In four games, Cambron is 10-of-22 passing for 173 yards with two touchdowns. He has five rushes for 30 yards.
Running back Landon Newman is the team’s leading ground gainer with 49 carries for 224 yards.
Camden Williams leads the receivers with 34 catches for 646 yards with eight touchdowns. Three other receivers have between 22 and 31 catches on the season.
“On offense, they’ve added an option component,” Geiser said. “They’ll still play traditional offense but now they’ll run the quarterback a little bit more. They give you some dilemmas there you usually don’t see.
“They play four down on defense. They play a lot of man coverage (in the secondary), flood the box and try to take away the run that way. They’ve got some skill on the flank to be able to defend you on the perimeter.”
AU will be able to challenge that edge with two players coming off their best games as Eagles in the overtime win over Findlay.
Quarterback Trevor Bycznski completed 20-of-30 attempts for 341 yards with three touchdowns and an interception, and calmly led the Eagles through the four extra periods against the Oilers.
In 10 games, Bycznski has completed 168-of-282 for 2,085 yards with a GMAC-leading 21 touchdowns and just four interceptions.
Senior wide receiver Dezmin Lyburtus had 11 receptions for 220 yards and two touchdowns, and a two-point conversion catch in the third overtime.
On Monday, Lyburtus was named a GMAC Athlete of the Week. He is the first Eagle to have double-digit receptions in a game since 2016, and is the first AU receiver with a 200-plus yards game since 2017.
For the season, Lyburtus has caught 61 passes for 729 yards and nine touchdowns. All three figures lead the GMAC receiving categories.
“I can really sense a jump (in Bycznski’s game) the last two weeks,” Geiser said. “You could sense it was his team.
“The staff has done a great job of melding the offense to what his strengths are and our package has always been big enough to be able to do that.
“Now it helps having Dezmin Lyburtus and Jent Joseph has really stepped forward this year. Jake McLoughlin has stepped forward as one of our best leaders. Tony Pannunzio, same thing. Both of our tight ends. There are a lot of weapons there.”
In two seasons in the GMAC, the Eagles own a pair of victories over the Panthers. AU was a 41-10 winner last year at home to wrap up the league title, and a 17-0 winner in 2021 at Kentucky Wesleyan.
The Eagles will leave for Owensboro on Friday morning after meetings and breakfast, then try to make game day as routine as possible before kickoff and the chance to close out the regular season on a high note.
“I don’t want this to come off as arrogant but when we were 0-2 and 1-3 and you couldn’t tell our kids they weren’t good,” Geiser said.
“There was never a waver in their confidence but they knew they could play better. I’m really proud of them.”
This article originally appeared on The Daily Record: College Football: Ashland looks to close out regular season strong
