[kybaseball]

Correct me if I am wrong but this was Russell first tough opponet this season. Ivan will make sure this won't happen again this year.

[DevilsWin]

By the way guys, Did anybody bother to check on Devilologist before you left the stadium?

LOL I saw him wandering around by the concession stand when I left with 4 minutes left.

[ryanparker]

In my opinion, Ashland and Russell are similar in talent. I think this has been the case throughout the years.

It is just that tonight Ashland played like a team that had already played 3 more than respectable teams, been beaten by 2 of them, and frankly, was hungry for a win. Russell played like a team who had played 3 non-quality opponents and had yet to see an opponent the caliber of Ashland. Needless to say, they didn't respond as we Russell fans had hoped.

I think Russell and Ashland are closer in talent than tonight's score indicates. Ashland just plays a much more difficult schedule so their record will almost always look worse at the end of the year.

[Tomcat68]

I think pretty much everyone summed up the game very well. I think Ashland benefited tremendously from their tough schedule to this point as well. The play of the lines on both sides of the ball sealed the fate of this game. Ashland's run defense is very, very good this season, although we need a lot of work on passing defense which did look much better at times tonight.

All in all, very happy with how the team played especially with 2 linemen out with injuries. Freshman QB Sam Hunter made lots of mistakes, but also showed how hard nosed of a player he was when he was able to turn several busted plays into positive yardage. Turnovers by the 'Cats must be addressed, though. 4 turnovers will cost us the game almost any night.

[DevilsWin]

The last time Russell was beat by 26 pts or more was September 28, 2001 against Wheelersburg, Ohio.

I was there and it was ugly!

This was that kind of night.

[DevilsWin]

Not that it would have changed the outcome of the game but the officiating tonight, I thought was horrible. Especially when the game was starting to get out of hand for Russell.

[Devil09]

Good game Tomcats.

[ryanparker]

That was my impression as well. If Ashland could clean up the turnover problems, they could really have a shot against some of the better teams on their schedule. The turnovers seemed to come, though, when they got some of the other players besides Carter and Albers (I think that is the fullback's name) involved. Those 2 guys are a great 1-2 punch. Carter has the speed and elusiveness and Albers ran from the FB position with a lot of desire. I really don't understand people who told me Ashland wasn't very good. Have they played the rest of their games with the kind of passion they showed tonight?

[Beetle01]

We only threw 4 passes when the game was on the line???
YOU MUST BE KIDDING ME

I know Russell is traditionally a running team. We don't have the line to run Abrams on 26, 20 times a game against 10 men in the box and come away with the win.

This team will beat good teams by throwing the ball. IF the coaches can't understand that then they are wasting this teams ability. The pass was wide open all night, but we threw one on one routes on the short side of the field and only on 3rd and long. They have to mix it up and throw on first down sometimes and keep teams honest.

Ashland put 8-10 men in the box and brought the house and we ran over and over and over.

Now, the defense got ran over, but we made no adjustments, they had a freshman at qb with no arm and we didn't bring in more beef and linebackers. Russell should have went into a 6-3 also and they could have stopped that.

This team can't run the same play over and over with this line, they are young and not deep. Our playmakers have no chance to do anything when they get hit as soon as they touch the ball.


If Mcglone can't break his old habits with this team they will have a tough year. I honestly believed they would come out and throw and throw and throw after how open Ironton's recievers were last week, and I know they watched that film

[ryanparker]

There were a lot of Ashland defenders within 5 yards of the line of scrimmage and within the ends. I agree with the fact that every time a Russell back touched the ball, it was up to them to break multiple tackles if they were going to gain positive yardage.

I've always thought Russell could benefit to throwing to the big TE occasionally and mix in some screen passes to the good backs. Hopefully they figure it out on offense as the year goes on.

The defense, however, appeared to just be dominated. Do they have players they could have brought in to stop that? Isn't Garry Morris thought of to be a good defensive coach? I always just assume he'll come up with something. :-)

It seems like this is one of the disadvantages to having so many players that play both ways, too. Ashland executes a demoralizing drive on offense and then you ask pretty much the same 11 guys to go out and turn things around on offense. It just sort of snowballed tonight.

[FBALL]

We only threw 4 passes when the game was on the line???
YOU MUST BE KIDDING ME

I know Russell is traditionally a running team. We don't have the line to run Abrams on 26, 20 times a game against 10 men in the box and come away with the win.

This team will beat good teams by throwing the ball. IF the coaches can't understand that then they are wasting this teams ability. The pass was wide open all night, but we threw one on one routes on the short side of the field and only on 3rd and long. They have to mix it up and throw on first down sometimes and keep teams honest.

Ashland put 8-10 men in the box and brought the house and we ran over and over and over.

Now, the defense got ran over, but we made no adjustments, they had a freshman at qb with no arm and we didn't bring in more beef and linebackers. Russell should have went into a 6-3 also and they could have stopped that.



Russell's defense was a whole other story. Alot of that was due to Ashlands offensive line. Most of it was due to some really poor tackling. That is two games now where the was alot of reaching and very little hitting. That to me is attitude.

This team can't run the same play over and over with this line, they are young and not deep. Our playmakers have no chance to do anything when they get hit as soon as they touch the ball.


If Mcglone can't break his old habits with this team they will have a tough year. I honestly believed they would come out and throw and throw and throw after how open Ironton's recievers were last week, and I know they watched that film

They couldn't have passed tonight. Ashland's staff did an outstanding job gameplanning for this one. They brought heat against a largely inexperienced line and just kept bringing it. The shifts along the defensive front really confused Russell's linemen. There was no time to throw.

Actually Abrams was really close to breaking some big runs on the off tackle trap. There were about 4 or 5 times where one guy just got him by the shoes to trip him up or he would have been off to the races.

That said there were some things that could have been done to slow down that penetration by Ashland. Screens and swing passes to the running backs would have helped alot. I don't understand why Russell hasn't used them either. With so many guys flying to the strong side if you could just get the ball there the back side was wide open. Also the dives and Power would have worked well I think. Use the quick hitters to keep them from just pinning back their ears and tailing the gaurds.

But you still have to give Ashland alot of Credit. They made so many one on one tackles. There outside guys did a great job containing and attacking. All of that commotion up front also kept the Russell blockers off of the Ashland linebackers. There were a number of plays were Swift and Albers were just not touched.And DeMartino is outstanding and I think Ashland's overall best player.

[BlackcatAlum]

Very surprising score. Thought that this would be much more closer but looks like the Tomcats wanted this one much more.

Congrats Tomcats!

[FBALL]

This is another shocker game for me. Is Ashland that much better of a team than Russell.

No.

Ashland is a greatly improved team this year and capable of beating anybody they play.

It was 6-3 at halftime and 13-10 late in the third quarter. Alot of things just kind of snowballed late in the game. This is also the first time I can remember just seeing a Russell team just lay down when things weren't going their way. Not every player on the team but alot of them just quit.

Talent wise they are about even. On this night Ashland was much better.

[FBALL]

When handicapping horse racing it is important to look at a horse's past results and know which races should be "thrown out" because of uncontrollable events and just not having the goods when the opposition runs the race of their life. Conversely you have to know which races give the true account of that horse.

As of right now I am throwing this race out for Russell. Now if history repeats itself later in the season against Simon Kenton or Mason County, well, that's a different story. But I find it very ahrd to believe that the Russell team who laid an egg tonight will be anywhere close to resembling the Russell team taking the field in November.

Russell, much like the team you love, usually is a much better team late in the year. The coaching staff generally plays very basic early in the year. They did very little tonight to try and change things. I think this is one of those lesson games.

At least I hope so.

[stroked]

......every great team is due a wake up call, russell has had the status of great for a while. everyone needs a kick in the you know where to get them back on track. just be happy it happened this week and not in November. it could be a blessing.

[highschoolfootballfan]

We only threw 4 passes when the game was on the line???
YOU MUST BE KIDDING ME

I know Russell is traditionally a running team. We don't have the line to run Abrams on 26, 20 times a game against 10 men in the box and come away with the win.

This team will beat good teams by throwing the ball. IF the coaches can't understand that then they are wasting this teams ability. The pass was wide open all night, but we threw one on one routes on the short side of the field and only on 3rd and long. They have to mix it up and throw on first down sometimes and keep teams honest.

Ashland put 8-10 men in the box and brought the house and we ran over and over and over.

Now, the defense got ran over, but we made no adjustments, they had a freshman at qb with no arm and we didn't bring in more beef and linebackers. Russell should have went into a 6-3 also and they could have stopped that.

This team can't run the same play over and over with this line, they are young and not deep. Our playmakers have no chance to do anything when they get hit as soon as they touch the ball.


If Mcglone can't break his old habits with this team they will have a tough year. I honestly believed they would come out and throw and throw and throw after how open Ironton's recievers were last week, and I know they watched that film

Well why pass when the line cant sustain their blocks and aj gets sacked? and when he does get the ball off a receiver drops it later in the game?

[qbdad2011]

Well why pass when the line cant sustain their blocks and aj gets sacked? and when he does get the ball off a receiver drops it later in the game?

I couldn't agree more, you know sometimes the other 10 players on the field have to play.

[devil58]

Not that it would have changed the outcome of the game but the officiating tonight, I thought was horrible. Especially when the game was starting to get out of hand for Russell.

It wasn't the officiating that was terrible last night...

The team didn't quit in the first half down only 6-3 but they looked like a fighter that was stunned by a huge right hand and not sure they wanted to get hit again...Am I the only one who got that sense?? I felt like we were lucky to be down only 6-3...

I said it before, I was at the Ashland/Raceland game and they outplayed the Rams in the second half...If Albers doesn't get hurt I believe Ashland wins that game...Even with that said, they played much better last night than they did against Raceland...They looked hungrier...

Not time to push the panic button...Russell will regroup...

[bucslover68]

It wasn't the officiating that was terrible last night...

The team didn't quit in the first half down only 6-3 but they looked like a fighter that was stunned by a huge right hand and not sure they wanted to get hit again...Am I the only one who got that sense?? I felt like we were lucky to be down only 6-3...

I said it before, I was at the Ashland/Raceland game and they outplayed the Rams in the second half...If Albers doesn't get hurt I believe Ashland wins that game...Even with that said, they played much better last night than they did against Raceland...They looked hungrier...

Not time to push the panic button...Russell will regroup...

Yes it is way to early to panic. Russell has good coaches with the experience to make adjustments and motivate the players in practice. At Belfry, the fans panic if there is a close game. Russell will be fine, and a solid playoff team. That being said, there must be some chinks in the armor that have to be solidified before they become a real contender.

[ryanparker]

It wasn't the officiating that was terrible last night...

The team didn't quit in the first half down only 6-3 but they looked like a fighter that was stunned by a huge right hand and not sure they wanted to get hit again...Am I the only one who got that sense?? I felt like we were lucky to be down only 6-3...

I said it before, I was at the Ashland/Raceland game and they outplayed the Rams in the second half...If Albers doesn't get hurt I believe Ashland wins that game...Even with that said, they played much better last night than they did against Raceland...They looked hungrier...

Not time to push the panic button...Russell will regroup...

You are right. Russell was lucky to be down only 3 at the half. I agree that they didn't quit in the 1st half. However, it was more than obvious that they were in a bit of shock from playing a team that was both very good and highly motivated. They clearly didn't want any more of what Ashland was bringing as the 2nd half progressed.

I can understand this Ashland team losing to Ironton as we always expect teams on this side of the river to do...but I still can't understand an Ashland team this good losing to Raceland. I didn't see the game, but according to the message boards (I believe everything I read on the Internet :-)), Raceland would have destroyed Ashland had it not been for some turnovers and mistakes. Ashland either tanked that game or Raceland is really really good.

[SmackDaddy2]

Congrats Tomcats!! Russell's passing game was ineffective mainly because they mostly threw in 3rd and long situations, and Ashland was bringing the house! No line will protect the QB long in that situation! Ashland was prepared well for Russell and Russell responded poorly this time! But all is not lost and the Devils will bounce back as Ashland did after losses to Raceland and Ironton! I would love to see them throw more on first or second downs, I would guarantee it would catch some off guard! In my opinion this is one of the better passing teams Russell has had in quite awhile! I hope they take advantage of it! Sure wcould have helped had they thrown a few passes to Big Mike Dillion over the middle while Asland was bringing all those rushers!!!!!!! Good Luck the rest of the season Devils!!

[DEVILOLOGIST]

Some passes to Mikey would be good, BUT you can not have a kid walking on the field, coming on with his helmet off, standing around on the sidelines. If you are playing inthe game the helmet stays on....... After reading the posts so far .. I agree with most.. In the second half,, late..... it just seemes like they wanted it to end.. they were like ALI on the ropes,, trying to ride the storm out by getting drilled punch after punch, after punch... The problem was they were done and had no counter punch to regain the momentum........
I think that this game will be a great learning lesson for the DEVILS and you may seem some changes coming from it......

[Midee1]

Was it just me or did the entire team look like they could care less if they played or not? I seem to recall not to long in the past looking out at the sidelines and most every player had their helmets on, were watching the game and looked like they were ready for action if they were called upon. Last night I only saw two players on the sidelines that looked ready. Many of them were talking back and forth to one another seemingly oblivious to the game being played on the field.

[jgrubby]

Was it just me or did the entire team look like they could care less if they played or not? I seem to recall not to long in the past looking out at the sidelines and most every player had their helmets on, were watching the game and looked like they were ready for action if they were called upon. Last night I only saw two players on the sidelines that looked ready. Many of them were talking back and forth to one another seemingly oblivious to the game being played on the field.

I agree, Ashland was about to score in the first half and all of Russell's defense had their hands on their hips in disgust. The sidelines were there just to drink the water I guess. Didn't hear a cheer or yell from anyone. Were they overwhelmed by the atmosphere? I would really hate to be at Russell's practice next week!!!

[pitchfork]

You could see this coming. Ashland just totally dominated the Red Devils. Russell looked totally lethargic from the opening kick off. The Offensive & Defensive line stayed at home tonight. Some changes got to be made or there will be more of this. Possibly 4 more times. How can you not get fired up for a game like this ?????? I'm sure there is more kids on that sideline that if put in the game could have not done any worse and maybe give the starters a wake up call even if they are a CAPTAIN.
Ashland looked really good and made adjustments that only made them better. The Fr QB looked good and will only get better. The line beat Russell off the ball every down. Russell Defense line was 2 steps back every play and the O line was just to slow and to weak. Ashland looked hungry, ready , determined to embarrass Russell at every aspect of the game. They were a totally different team tonight. Than the 1st game and last game.
If it serves me right. Is not this the 2008 2-A State Weight Lifting Champs.
What was up going into the locker room when you have the ball, down 6 - 3 and not go for it, then with 1:01 left on the last kick off and tell your player to down it on the 11 yrd line. No matter what you don't quit !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Russell needs to make major changes on the line. And get that DEVIL heart back.
Congrats to the Tomcats.

[Some_Kid]

The Tackles for Russell just got man worked over... The Ashland team was keyed on Abrams but Ivan wouldn't call anything else till late in the game. The D looked like they were well playing Soccer or something and yes practice is going to be rough come monday.

[GOREDDEVILS]

They didn't look like they wanted to be out there, they looked would have rather been at home playing their ps3/xbox360 in the 2nd half.

[EKUAlum05]

Russell, much like the team you love, usually is a much better team late in the year. The coaching staff generally plays very basic early in the year. They did very little tonight to try and change things. I think this is one of those lesson games.

At least I hope so.

Just to continue with my horse racing references. Thusfar Russell had been racing in claiming races, then they decided to step up to a Stakes Race.

I have very similar concerns with how Belfry will react when they finally face a team who will punch them in the mouth (Sheldon Clark? Johnson Central?). Last year belfry opened in an Stakes Race against Corbin, this year they played Holy Cross who is the equivolent of a very cheap Allowance race at best.

This will be a very good game for Russell, and in particular, their young line and defense. The Devils are a work in progress right now and to be honest it will be tough to judge them until they play Simon Kenton (Raceland is a GOOD 1A team, Mason County is a question mark). I have confidence though that McGlone will get this horse ready to run for the roses come late October.

[DEVILOLOGIST]

hate to say it but Raceland will kill this team if they play like they did last night.. I watched the game today and I would rewind it and watch blocks and defense flow... Well there were neither blocks or flow... I actually watched a captain stand and watch a kid run by him last night and he never tried to make the tackle...... Terrible.. just plain terrible................ I can not speak of this game again on here without calling out names.. I am done....

[Jeepman]

I am alright, I had to leave and drive to WV for a family issue... I saw alot of Russell players walking around, not blocking. I saw Drew Abrams try to run back a kickoff and the entire front lne was standing there watching him get hit..... Our line sucked tonight.... please let me say that either our line sucked or Ashland was that much better than us...... If that is the case Raceland will kill us and Russell fans alike willnever hear the end of it after week 10..... Sometimes the pass opens the run,, but when no one blocks the pas gets your QB killed and you loose 1-15 yards a pop......
We stunk up the field.. I told my son tonight,,, Thats what you guys looked like last week against the Lewis County 6th grade team. You got behind and you quit... It definitely reminded me of the Boyd game in 2005... I just hope the final result will be the same.........
Better talk to Mark Cole about erasing that tape before it hits the airwaves.... oh yea to late,,,,, Ashland has just busted the all time record for copy write enfringements tonight when it re-played at 11.....
Get ready to claw your way to the top.... It just gets worse from here on out.....

On the kickoff that you are talking about not one Ashland player was blocked. Not one. It looked like as if the players did not care. I know they do care but that is what it looked like.