[Tomcat68]

Game of the week without question. Earlier I thought Russell would win rather easily despite this being Ashland's state championship game. After their tough performance against Ironton Ashland has to be pumped up. I still think Russell will win but it will be a game like their first meeting with Mason last year.I hope both teams come out of this meeting without a lot of injuries.

GO RED DEVILS!

Year in and year out, the Russell game is typically the 3rd and occassionally the 4th biggest game on the Ashland player's schedule, although there are also many years when the game cracks #2. Ironton is always a lock at #1 followed by a district champion challenger at #2 (Johnson Central, Mason County, Lawrence Co, Sheldon Clark), then comes a toss up between Russell and Boyd Co.

Anyways, with that note out of the way, Ashland only has 1 way to win this game. They must keep the ball on the ground offensively. Ashland has had more than a half dozen drives stall this year because of inefficiencies in the passing game. In most of those situations, they weren't forced to pass, but chose to do so in 1st and 10 situations placing the rest of the downs of the drive in jeopardy.

I feel confident in Ashland's ability to contain, maintain, and slow down (not stop) Russell's rushing attack as long as assignments are played correctly on the backside. Russell's big plays will most likely be a result of their much improving passing game which will be deciding factor within the game. If Russell is able to move the ball through the air with efficiency, they will win this game. If Ashland can stop the Russell passing game, they will win.

Ashland - 23
Russell - 20
F/2OT