[GOREDDEVILS]

Late touchdown pass spoils Ashland comeback, 29-28
By AARON SNYDER — The Independent
PAINTSVILLE — All the speculation that Johnson Central was having a down year was emphatically erased on Friday night.

The Golden Eagles upset Ashland 29-28 on their home turf with a play that will be remembered for a long time in a game that will be considered an all-time classic in the series.

Ashland marched back from a 22-6 halftime deficit to score on three consecutive drives and took a 28-22 lead.

After Johnson Central’s second fumble of the second half, Ashland looked to increase its six-point lead.

However, the Golden Eagles’ defense responded, stopping Tomcats quarterback Sam Hunter short of a first down on fourth-and-two.

With 6:30 remaining, Johnson Central put together a bundle of key plays, including a pass from J.K. Hall to Nathan Curnell that was threaded between two defenders for 25 yards.

Ashland (6-1) fought back to put the Golden Eagles in a do-or-die situation after Trent Hardy came up with a huge sack.

Johnson Central (3-4) needed a play to win it.

Golden Eagles coach Jim Matney and crew gambled and it paid off. Ross Sanor, a sophomore quarterback, came off the bench as Hall, who played quarterback the entire game to that point, became a wide receiver.

Sanor took the snap on 4th-and-10 from the 13-yard line and looked for Hall. He let it fly to the back of the end zone and Hall leaped up and snatched it out of the air, landing in the last inches of black in the end zone.

The extra point by Trent Davis put Johnson Central ahead by the eventual final score.

“We actually used our timeout and drew that play up on the spot,” Matney said.

“They’re not a team that throws the ball very much and they ended up winning on a pass,” said Ashland coach Leon Hart. “That’s kind of ironic that they put their backup quarterback in and threw to their quarterback.”

Matney was impressed with Sanor off the bench.

“Can you imagine that?” Matney said. “Fourth down and you come off the bench and make a perfect throw? What kind of pressure is that?”

Ashland still had 1:42 to work with, but its best chance to win was negated when Hunter’s pass to Trey Rogers was broken up. Rogers beat his defender down the left sideline, but Hall flew over to hit Rogers as the ball arrived.

“Hall’s the best player on their football team,” Hart said. “He covered a lot of ground to come over and knock that ball down.”

Hall helped jumpstart the Johnson Central offense, which rushed for 151 yards in the first quarter.

J.J. Jude and Hall each had long touchdown runs which were followed by two-point conversions to put the Golden Eagles ahead, 16-0, in the first quarter. The two together tallied 178 yards on the ground.

Ashland and Johnson Central split six-point scores in the second quarter with Hunter on a three-yard rush for Ashland and a one-yard push by Tanner Bratton for Johnson Central.

Bratton and D.J. Ousley provided punctual plays for the Golden Eagles to prevent a Tomcats’ score before the half.

According to Hart, the first half was the worst Ashland has played all season.

“We executed poorly in the first half,” Hart said. “We didn’t do a good job of tackling and didn’t match up with them physically.”

The Tomcats turned the tide in the third quarter, with control of the clock and the ball, using 20 plays to gain 136 yards on two combined drives that took more than eight total minutes.

Senior Josh Alber scored twice in the third period. He finished with 93 yards on 19 carries and helped Dom DeMartino and Connor Swift lead Ashland’s defensive effort.

“The kids showed a tremendous amount of courage and it was a tremendous effort to come back like we did,” Hart said.

The go-ahead score was a 25-yard TD connection from Hunter to Rogers in which Rogers slipped two defenders to reach paydirt.

But it would be trumped by Sanor and Hall.

“This is one of the classic games in my 28-year (coaching) career,” Matney said. “That tough schedule did pay off.”

The game gave Ashland its first loss of the season, and put the Tomcats at 0-1 in the district. Johnson Central has won three straight games after losing its first four and is 1-0 in the district.