Rams repeat

By ADAM VANKIRK - The Independent

ASHLAND September 01, 2008 05:16 pm

— Ashland running back Rashard Carter threw his hands up in disgust after being dragged down by Raceland senior Todd Selvage near the end zone in overtime on Friday night.
The display of emotion was fitting for a Tomcat team that came so close to a victory after a two-touchdown rally in the fourth quarter.
For the second straight season, the Rams beat Ashland with no time left on the clock. Last year was on a field goal as regulation expired. This year, it was in overtime as Raceland left Putnam Stadium with a 19-16 win on opening night.
“It was like a heavyweight fight,” Raceland coach Randy Vanderhoof said. “I hate to use a cliché like that but that’s what it was. Both teams went toe to toe all night and just kept punching until the end of the game.”
The fight, as Vanderhoof put it, ended on an 11-yard run off the left side by John Scott Carver. The carry put the senior over 100 yards on the night. He teamed with Bret Denton for 230 yards on 32 carries as the pair accounted for all three of Raceland’s scores.
While Carver put the cream on the cake, it was Selvage’s defensive play on Ashland’s first, and only possession of overtime, that made Carver’s score the game-winner.
Selvage brought down Carter, Ashland’s shifty running back, after the junior had broken free around the right side of the line of scrimmage on a sweep on second down. The one-on-one play kept the Tomcats from a sure touchdown, stopped them near the five-yard line, and after a failed run on third down forced Ashland to kick a field goal, giving Raceland the chance to put the game away on its first possession of OT.
After Selvage’s tackle, Carter, who led Ashland with 87 yards on 16 carries, was visibly upset he didn’t beat his man.
“Todd is a senior and has been in a lot of these kinds of game,” Vanderhoof said. “To make that play against a great outside runner like Carter, that was just a heck of a football play.”
However, the dramatics at game’s end looked as though they would never happen as the fourth quarter began. The Tomcats were down 13-0 before scoring plays on 5- and 1-yard runs evened things up.
In the fourth-quarter comeback, Ashland quarterback Drew Royalty, who struggled in the passing game (4-of-10 for 62 yards), picked up a first down on a fourth-and-one that led to a touchdown and scored himself on a sneak on fourth down.
On the tying score it looked as if Royalty would be stopped short of the goalline when he was hit behind the line of scrimmage. However, the junior surged forward and on a second effort made it in. The call came a couple seconds late from the line judge but he signaled the score as he ran in closer to the ball.
Before Royalty’s score made it 13-13 at the 5:03 mark of the fourth quarter, senior Josh Miller made a nice run to score from five yards out. He made a spin move near the goalline that gave him just enough to reach the end zone with 10:48 left in the game.
Ashland coach Leon Hart was pleased with the way his team fought back in the second half but said too many mistakes were made in the first half, creating the 6-0 deficit at halftime.
“We gave away the first half; we didn’t execute well on either side of the ball,” he said. “We battled back in the second half and got some turnovers and put some points on the board. But we just gave away too many opportunities to score and you’re not going to beat a good football team that way.”
Raceland scored on its first possession. Quarterback Tyler Boyles looked like he was going to take a sack near Ashland’s 30 but scrambled around and broke out of the pocket. He then threw across his body to a wide-open Carver in the far-left side of the end zone for six points and a 6-0 lead.
Boyles and Carver’s hookup was the only score of the first half.
Raceland missed a golden opportunity for a touchdown before a fumble inside Ashland’s five gave the ball back to the Tomcats late in the first quarter.
Each side had five first downs in the first half. In the second half, however, the offenses started to prove a little more productive with 19 more first downs.
Raceland came out with a nice drive to open the third quarter. Denton capped it off with a 6-yard touchdown burst through the left side of the line. After completing just two passes in the first half, Boyles completed three on the drive that lasted just over three minutes.
“It looked like we were going to control the ball (at that point),” Vanderhoof said. “But Ashland plays so hard with their tradition and they fought back.
“We could have lost this thing in regulation but we hung in there. My hat’s off to both teams. No one deserved to go home behind on the scoreboard the way these teams fought tonight.”
Raceland's win was its third consecutive in the series with the Tomcats.
ADAM VANKIRK can be reached at avankirk@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2664.

Copyright © 1999-2008 cnhi, inc.