By John Raffel
Ashley dropped its season opener to Deckerville 28-0 on Friday.
On defense, Aaron Drummond had 5 solos 4 assists; Korvin Bradley had one solo and one interception and a 23-yard return. Cole Keller had two solo and two assists.
“We were 18.9 seconds from finishing the first quarter before the lightning and rain rolled in,” coach Kevin Saylor said. “We knew Deckerville would be tough but we didn’t expect to have 4 turnovers and not cross the 50. I’ve told the boys from the summer months that we have to be mistake free and Thursday night was definitely not that. We’ll get back on the practice field and hopefully shore up the turnovers and get after it with Merritt next week.”
Ashley plays in the North Central Thumb-Red (8 man).
“The highlight of (2018) was our win against Bay City All Saints. Our star wide receiver, Korvin Bradley, had two 75-yard TD catches that he outfought the opposing team for and then out ran them, followed up by four takeaways in the second half that preserved the win for us,” Saylor said. “Ethan Malek was a lineman that we lost in the first half of the first game last year and we missed his presence, but he was at every practice and his leadership was valued.”
Key players are: Brennen Felton, SR, FB/MLB, Korvin Bradley, SR, QB/CB Jimmy Fabus, JR, RB/DE Aaron Drummond, JR, G/OLB Timmy Nierescher, JR, C/DT.
“How these young men go, we will go,” Saylor said. “I expect to compete in every game and come out of the season with enough wins to qualify for the playoffs for the first time in a long time at Ashley.”
Saylor is looking for a strong run game and solid defense to help his team
But they will have to work on “conditioning,” Saylor said. “We have 11 guys to play a long season. (We have to) attention to details, we can’t beat ourselves.
“I imagine we played a stronger schedule last season with 7 out of the 9 teams we played making the playoffs; that being said, we enter into a league that has the defending state champs (Morrice) in it and teams that are always tough and have had great programs for a long time. I’m a firm believer in the fact that you have to beat the champ to unseat them, so until that happens, I’ll have to say Morrice is the favorite and we hope to push the top teams and try to be one ourselves.”
Roster:
3 Korvin Bradley
42 Cole Keller
62 Brennen Felton
34 Jimmy Fabus
54 Aaron Drummond
60 Timmy Nierescher
82 Holden Wirt
33 Dillan Beebe
10 Logan Drummond
20 Jacob Long
21 Bailey Long