Ashland Football

After being a .500 team last fall on the gridiron with a large group of younger athletes participating in the program Coach Andrew McKay is hoping that with a year under their belts they’ll be able to contribute this season. Playing in the Tri Valley League will be a little different this year as Norwood joins the league and schools get split into two divisions.
“This will be our first year in the large division of the TVL and it will have its challenges,” the Clocker Coach said. “We’re talented enough that I believe we can still compete for the league. We should progress throughout the year and hopefully be one of the few competitors left at the end.”
Although the Clocker athletes are still getting their feet wet and looking to figure out their identity during the early stages, McKay is not worried.
“This team is as deep as we have ever been,” the coach said. “We have a lot of skilled players that should help us score a lot more points than we give up.”
Ashland will be returning some talented athletes this season beginning with the team’s tri-captains Jackson Hornung, Dominic Cavanaugh and Ben College, who will be leading the squad on the field this fall. College is a linebacker and wide receiver, while Hornung and Cavanaugh will play quarterback and safety. The dual quarterbacks will give Ashland’s foes twice as much to prepare for.
“We will use both quarterbacks this year, something we’ve never done before at Ashland,” McKay said. “They are both very athletic individuals and we’ll take it game by game to how we use them both.”
Hornung started a few games for the Clockers last season so he has some experience in game situations, but having both able to run plays leaves the Clocker coaches excited about the upcoming season.
Offensively College and Jake Latessa will line up at the wide receiver position to catch balls from either of the two quarterbacks. Both receivers are not only skilled at their position but are highly athletic football players according to their coach. On the ground McKay is looking to go with a running back by committee approach with junior James Merloni being the main back.
Defensively the Clockers will have senior linebacker Brody Assenca as the leader of the defense. Assenca will not only bring toughness to the Ashland defensive line, but will also bring his football skills to the field having played the game just about his whole life.