'Cats come out of fog, hold off Raiders

Oct. 9—GRAYSON — Ashland and East Carter turned their district opener into a wild, dramatic fight to the finish with three touchdowns in a span of 26 seconds late in the second quarter on Friday night.

Then the Tomcats found timely defensive and special teams play to finally put the Raiders away. With East Carter down just eight points and driving with about seven minutes to play, Ashland stud lineman Zane Christian pounced on a Raiders fumble at the East Carter 45-yard line.

The Tomcats drove to the Raiders 9 before East Carter stiffened defensively. But SJ Lycans was true from 37 yards out with 4:39 to play.

That stretched Ashland's lead back to two possessions, and the Tomcats held strong from there in a 31-20 victory in the fog and the mud at Steve Womack Field.

Tony Love wasn't surprised to see Ashland turn the game on a defensive play, especially one made by Christian.

"It's something that I don't want to say you get used to, but you come to expect," the Tomcats' coach said of the play of Christian, Ethan Ratliff and other seniors up front, "because that's what they expect out of themselves, so they go out there and they work extremely hard in practice and in the weight room."

East Carter got the ball back down 11 points with 4:38 remaining, but turned it over on downs 11 plays later at the Ashland 42.

The Raiders stayed within striking distance deep into the fourth quarter against the Tomcats for the first time in nearly four decades by countering every Ashland big offensive play.

That was best illustrated by a second-quarter sequence. The Tomcats pulled ahead 14-0 on Ricky Padron's 16-yard scoring reception from Bailey Thacker and Lycans's boot with 8:53 to go in the first half. East Carter in response assembled a seven-play drive, which Charlie Terry concluded by spinning to avoid a tackler and sauntering 31 yards to paydirt to convert a fourth-and-2 at the 5:42 mark.

Ashland needed only one offensive play to get that TD back as Terell Jordan ran under Thacker's high-arcing toss from 64 yards out.

The Raiders didn't even need their offense to answer again. Connor Goodman took an extra beat to field the ensuing kickoff at his own 1-yard line, but he wasted no time sprinting up the sideline for a 99-yard score with 5:16 still remaining in the half.

Twenty-six seconds, three touchdowns and a frenetic pace that tested the mettle of defending district and state champion Ashland.

"We're down two scores, they'd kinda taken the wind out of our sails a little bit," East Carter coach Tim Champlin set the scene, "so for (Goodman) to be able to take that all the way back to the house, get us within seven again ... it gave us some life and excitement. ... That was a huge boost there in morale and momentum."

The Raiders couldn't spin it into coming all the way back to tie or take the lead, though. They had the ball three times after that down one possession and were unsuccessful in getting even.

Braiden Bellew recovered an onside kick after Goodman's TD that set East Carter up at the Ashland 29, but that drive lost six yards and went three-and-out. And the Raiders got the ball first in the second half and marched to the Ashland 37 before stalling.

The Tomcats capitalized, with Brett Mullins running for a 2-yard TD with 5:21 to go in the third quarter. East Carter countered with Isaac Boggs's 2-yard scoring reception from Kanyon Kozee with 9:58 to play, and the Raiders forced a three-and-out on Ashland's next possession to get it back down 28-20 with 8:24 remaining.

Goodman provided another chunk play, a 40-yard reception to convert third-and-8, but two plays later, a mishandled handoff exchange found the turf. Christian was there to recover for the Tomcats.

"It was a huge shift in momentum," Christian said of the play. "We had to get the ball back, and that pretty much solidified the game."

Ball security has been a recurring issue for the Raiders this year, Champlin said, and popped up Friday at the worst possible moment. East Carter also lost a fumble in the first quarter that Padron recovered before turning it into his first of two scoring receptions.

"We've gotta do better on our ball control," Champlin said. "When you play great teams like Ashland, you can't afford to do that."

Thacker threw for three first-half touchdowns for Ashland (5-3, 1-0 Class 3A, District 7) and completed 9 of 11 passes for 157 yards. Padron caught six of them for 76 yards — consistently getting wide open — and Jordan added two receptions for 70 yards.

"(Offensive coordinator) coach (Jimmy) Peyton, he's one of those guys that if (opposing defenses) want to challenge with safeties coming up on the run game, he's very detailed in observing a lot of things that go on in a game," Love said. "He did a fantastic job, and Bailey did a great job of making those connections."

Vinincio Palladino ran for 92 yards on 14 carries for Ashland.

Kozee completed 9 of 17 passes for 138 yards and no picks — a rebound from throwing three interceptions a week earlier at Estill County.

"He's a competitor, man, and he wants the ball in his hands and does a great job with it," Champlin said. "I thought he played well tonight at times, had some great balls downfield, really loosened (Ashland) up and exposed them."

Terry rushed 18 times for 83 yards. Goodman caught three passes for 80 yards for East Carter (5-2, 0-1 district).

The win was Ashland's 79th under Love, which moved the ninth-year coach into second place by himself on the Tomcats' career victories list.

(606) 326-2658 — zklemme@dailyindependent.com

ASHLAND 7 14 7 3 — 31

E. CARTER 0 14 0 6 — 20

FIRST QUARTER

A — Ricky Padron 13 pass from Bailey Thacker (SJ Lycans kick), 4:20

SECOND QUARTER

A — Padron 16 pass from Thacker (Lycans kick), 8:53

EC — Charlie Terry 31 run (run fails), 5:42

A — Terell Jordan 64 pass from Thacker (Lycans kick), 5:29

EC — Connor Goodman 99 kickoff return (Kanyon Kozee run), 5:16

THIRD QUARTER

A — Brett Mullins 2 run (Lycans kick), 5:21

FOURTH QUARTER

EC — Isaac Boggs 2 pass from Kozee (run fails), 9:58

A — Lycans 37 FG, 4:39

A EC

First Downs 10 13

Rushes-Yards 25-154 41-124

Comp-Att-Int 9-11-0 9-17-0

Passing Yards 157 138

Fumbles-Lost 2-1 2-2

Punts-Avg. 4-47.3 4-27.8

Penalties-Yards 5-66 2-7

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Ashland rushing: Palladino 14-92, Mullins 5-37, Padron 1-17, Thacker 2-10, Jordan 1-3, Team 2-(-5).

East Carter rushing: Terry 18-83, Kozee 16-40, Barnett 5-7, Team 2-(-6).

Ashland passing: Thacker 9 of 11 for 157 yards.

East Carter passing: Kozee 9 of 17 for 138 yards.

Ashland receiving: Padron 6-76, Jordan 2-70, Mullins 1-11.

East Carter receiving: C. Goodman 3-80, Boggs 3-32, M. Hall 2-23, Terry 1-3.