ASHLAND The first game of the season was 48-minutes long, but it came down to 1.6 seconds.
That’s how much time was on the clock when Raceland called timeout in a 14-14 tie with Ashland on Friday.
That’s all Jacob Waller needed.
The dual quarterback-kicker led his team into the red zone and drilled a 36-yard field goal to win the season-opener 17-14.
“Our strategy all along was try to get to field goal range,” Raceland coach Mike Salmons said. “We’ve got the utmost confidence (in Waller). We have two kickers and have confidence in both; that was just the right situation for Jacob tonight. He showed it.”
Waller was confident with the kick when it left his foot.
“I knew it was in,” Waller said. “At the beginning, I thought it was a little short, but then, once it got closer, I knew it was in, I just started celebrating. But practice, repetition of that field goal every single day, really helps.”
The score staved off what could’ve been a Tomcats comeback, after the Rams went up early on the night.
Ashland had trouble finding offensive rhythm in the first half, but as the game progressed, the home squad became more productive under quarterback Justin Hughes, entering his first year under center.
“I was really proud of the way we stuck together,” Ashland coach Chad Tackett said. “And (we) overcame all that adversity. I think every series, (Hughes) got better throughout the game. You just saw him getting comfortable, the progression of him as a quarterback. But every series that we took the field, he got a little bit better, a little bit better, a little bit better.”
It took Raceland just one snap to take its first lead, thanks to a 71-yard touchdown run from Landen Stiltner.
Two drives later, the Rams strung together an 11-play drive that was capped off by Jonah Arnett, who punched it in on a one-yard rush.
With Raceland up 14-0, the game from there became a defensive struggle.
“We played a quality opponent tonight,” Salmons said. “And we knew they weren’t going to roll over and play dead. You’re not going to let you sit there and knock them out. They’re going to fight back and I think what we were most proud about our guys was, they counterpunched and then we counterpunched.”
The Tomcats had a promising drive to start the second quarter, getting to the Raceland 21 yard line on 13 plays, but back-to-back incomplete passes resulted in a turnover-on-downs.
Ashland had similar bad luck to close the first half, as the Tomcats drove into Rams’ territory, but elected to not call a timeout in the waning seconds.
Both teams traded fumbles in the second half.
Ashland had another long drive come up empty to start the third quarter, with a 12-play drive ending in a fumble.
Three plays later, the Tomcats got the ball back with a fumble recovery of their own.
Ashland immediately converted the turnover into points with a 41-yard touchdown pass from Justin Hughes to Mason Wolfe.
That cut the Rams’ lead to 14-6 but the Tomcats weren’t done erasing the deficit.
After a three-and-out drive from Raceland, Ashland drilled it into Rams’ territory before Hughes called his own number on a nine-yard touchdown run and a 2-point conversion to knot the contest at 14-apiece.
“(We) gave ourselves a chance to win at the end, it just didn’t bounce our way tonight,” Tackett said. “And there’s a lot of positives to take from this and there’ll be some learning points, too, but, I was just super proud of their effort and the way they fought.”
Salmons hopes his team keeps growing following the win.
“This is week one and nobody’s getting sized for rings on Monday,” Salmons said. “We’re going to go back to work. Obviously, you want to go 1-0 every week. But beyond that, we really have to learn from this game and try to take a big step forward. I’m really proud of our seniors leading us in a hostile environment and really laying it on the line for 48 minutes. And lluckily there at the end, we made one more play than they did.”
RACELAND 14 0 0 3 — 17
ASHLAND 0 0 14 0 — 14
FIRST QUARTER
R— Landen Stiltner 71 run (Jacob Waller kick), 11:36
R— Jonah Arnett 1 run (Waller kick), 0:26
THIRD QUARTER
A— Mason Wolfe 41 pass from Justin Hughes (no kick), 5:25
A— Hughes 9 run (Hughes run), 2:10
FOURTH QUARTER
R— Waller 36 kick, 0:01
R A
First Downs 13 15
Rushes-Yards 41-249 32-186
Comp-Att-Int 1-6-1 11-21-0
Passing Yards 3 97
Fumbles-Lost 2-2 2-1
Punts-Avg. 3-31 3-26.3
Penalties-Yards 3-30 6-50
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Raceland rushing: Landen Stiltner 13-124, Shannon Marushi 10-63, Jonah Arnett 12-50, Jacob Waller 4-21.
Ashland rushing: Cam Davis 17-77, Justin Hughes 5-43, Daylen Farrow 3-22, Luke McCoy 1-17, Brody Simpkins 2-12, Maverick Ashby 3-11, Dylan Duckwyler 1-4.
Raceland passing: Jacob Waller 1 of 5 for 3 yards and 1 interceptions, Jonah Arnett 0 of 1 for 0 yards and 0 interceptions.
Ashland passing: Justin Hughes 11 of 21 for 97 and 0 interceptions.
Raceland receiving: Eli Evans 1-3.
Ashland receiving: Mason Wolfe 5-68, Sam Lyons 2-20, Dylan Duckwyler 2-10, Cam Davis 2-(-1).
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