Ashley coach Kevin Saylor emphasized the importance of getting off to a good start after falling to Carson City-Crystal 51-14 on Sept. 22. “We started yet another game on the flat side,” Saylor said. “We allowed our opponents to get out to a 30-0 lead before we started to fight back. We challenged them at halftime to come out and win the second half and we did a good job of fighting through and losing it by only a touchdown.
“Mistakes at critical times are really plaguing this team. We had one turnover on a fumble when we were driving and we had iffy penalties for 81 yards (two of which were intentional grounding calls that not only lose yardage but the down). We have to get better at playing discipline football. We were without Nick Burlingame and that hurt but Tyler Johnson took up his slack and had 213 all purpose yards with a touchdown. Playoffs in my mind were a reality but when we continue to commit turnovers and penalties instead of executing the right way, that reality is quickly becoming a fantasy. I still believe in this team but we have to play perfect football here out.”