Published: August 29, 2009 12:03 pm      

Defense triggers Tomcats’ shutout

Ashland — On Ashland JFL Night, the Tomcats put on a show for the little ones and the whole crowd at Putnam Stadium.

A geared-up Ashland defense made sure that Raceland’s three-game winning streak in the series didn’t make it through Friday night.



The Tomcats blocked a punt to set up one touchdown, came up with a safety and sophomore Chris Prichard’s interception led to another score in a 31-0 victory over the Rams.

“All I could think of all week was beating them,’’ said Ashland senior Dom DeMartino, who helped spearhead the defensive charge. “We worked hard all week preparing for their passing game and running game. We used our speed, and everybody on our defense stepped up.’’

Ashland limited a dangerous Raceland offensive attack to 51 yards while pulling away to a 31-point lead in the third quarter.

“Our kids were relentless on defense all night,’’ said Tomcats coach Leon Hart. “We got a big play from our special teams again and that was huge.’’

After Josh Alber’s 45-yard run set up quarterback Sam Hunter’s 5-yard sneak for a TD, Ashland’s Nik Kosakowski blocked a punt and fell on the ball at Raceland’s 12-yard line.

On the next play, DeMartino took a pitchout and went 12 yards untouched to end zone with 1:30 still remaining in the first quarter. Hunter’s two-point pass to Cody Withrow made it 16-0.

“That’s a really good Ashland football team,’’ said Raceland coach Randy Vanderhoof. “They can really run on the defensive side. At times, it seemed like there were 14 or 15 Tomcats out there.’’

Raceland (1-1) reached Ashland’ 8 in the second quarter, but the Tomcats turned the threat away. After a Tyler Farley incompletion, Martino and linebacker Connor Swift stopped Loren Huffman for a two-yard loss after his third-down catch. The Rams then missed a 35-yard field goal attempt.

Ashland applied the knockout punch with 15 points in the third quarter.

Raceland’s first series of the second half only went backwards. Alber broke through for an eight-yard sack on third down and the punt snap sailed over Farley’s head and went out of the end zone for a safety.

Ryan Whetsel returned the free kick 25 yards to Raceland’s 43 and Ashland rode the momentum for another score. After Alber and Hunter picked up 19 and 18 yards, respectively, Alber went up the middle for an 8-yard TD to make it 24-0.

On Raceland’s next series, Ashland pressured Farley on third down and his pass was picked off by Prichard and returned 36 yards to Raceland’s 7.

Thre plays later, Hunter rolled to his right and found Withrow open in the back of the end zone for a 5-yard TD.

Farley, a junior, finished 14 of 26 for only 53 yards.

“I think our speed on defense was evident,’’ Hart said. “We’ve seen them on video complete long passes, but they didn’t get those tonight. Every time I looked up, Dom was making a big play. He did a great job of shutting down the bubble screen they like to use.’’

The Tomcats turned in the impressive performance without senior Rashard Carter, who is no longer with the team. Hart said Carter had a problem with his foster home that resulted in him being removed and placed in another home outside the Ashland district.

“It was a very emotional night for me,’’ said Alber, one of Carter’s good friends. “I wanted to have a good game for him.’’

Alber finished with 112 yards rushing along with his outstanding linebacker play.

Ashland improved to 2-0 and got a monkey off its back at the same time.

“It’s been three pretty frustrating years coming into this one,’’ Hart said. “I don’t want to take anything away from Raceland, because they have played well, but I think tonight we all feel a little better looking at the scoreboard ... actually, it feels considerably better.’’

ROCKY STANLEY can be reached at rstanley@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2671.