It has been slightly over nine months since the Ashland University football team has taken the field for a competitive contest.

Within those nine months starting quarterback Austin Brenner started and finished his recovery after a season-ending injury, and yesterday, Brenner did the unthinkable starting against the Notre Dame Falcons.

With 361 days since the last time these two teams took on one another with the Eagles falling in overtime, the stage was set for the Eagles to take revenge into their own hands.

Head Coach Lee Owens said in the Week 1 press conference earlier in the week that he was confident that his team was going to play hard against the #10 nationally ranked Notre Dame.

“There are games you lose that stick with you. This has been one of them. It was tough to walk off the field after losing in overtime,” said Owens. “I know our guys marked it on the calendar and we have all worked extremely hard to get to the point where we are now.”

The Eagles most certainly marked it on their calendar as they came out swinging from the jump against the Falcons.

In the first quarter the Eagle offense received to start the game and their opening drive was short. Austin Brenner opened the drive for a 14-yard scramble showing a spark of life from the 6th-year senior. However, the Falcons’ defense proved why they were ranked #10 in the country as they forced a quick three and out.

The defense was also able to secure a defensive stop as they forced a turnover on downs for the Falcon offense to give the Brenner-led Eagle offense a chance to strike first.

With their second possession, Brenner would connect for 34 passing yards and running back Larry Martin would showcase his dominance inside the hash marks as he rushed for 41 yards.

Although a multitude of Eagles were involved in the second drive, the scoring mark would come from fullback Isaac Hadley who would score from a yard out.

They put seven on the board to start, and the defense for the Eagles would continue to force two more three-and-out scenarios with sophomore cornerback Devin Prude securing an interception to start the first play of the second quarter.

The interception for Prude would be the first of his career, and it gave a spark to the offense to get the job done on the opposite end.

A 13-yard drive for the Eagles would be capped off with a 39-yard field goal from senior Storm Elsesser.

In the second quarter, the offense would continue to have its ups and downs, but the defense held Falcon quarterback Chris Brimm to just 56 passing yards and an interception heading into halftime.

The Eagles would strike once more, securing a 17-0 lead off a 64-yard touchdown from Gei’Vonni Washington with under a minute to play.

At halftime the first half stats favored the Eagles tremendously as Brenner threw for over 100 passing yards and on the ground the running attack had 232 rushing yards at halftime. 

“We stopped them, they didn’t score, we did score,” Owens said at halftime. “We have to make sure we come out strong here in the second half. They are the #10 team in the country, we know we are going to have to play them till the last play of the game. We are just going to keep the foot on the gas and play hard.”

In the second half, the Notre Dame Falcons would flip the script and come out hot torching the Ashland defense. At the eight-minute mark in the third quarter Brimm would find sophomore wideout Reece Perkins for a 45-yard touchdown to lessen the score gap to 17-7.

It was at that point where Brimm started to showcase a slice of the talent he displayed in his 3,000 passing yard and 31 touchdown season in the 2021 campaign. 

The following possession for the Eagles would end in a throw-up interception off a phenomenal diving catch from Falcon junior cornerback Jacalyn Morrison. The Falcon faithful that showed up to the Jack Miller Stadium was on its feet riled up and cheering for the team to make a comeback on the road.

Notre Dame’s possession after the interception would waste a grand total of eight minutes off the clock, but would end with an eight-yard rushing touchdown from starting running back Idris Lawrence who caught fire in the second half.

Now with the score 17-14, the offense had to come out strong and piece together a possession that could either waste time or put more points on the board.

After a few plays to start their drive, they would be put in a fourth and nine position and the Eagles were going to need to rely on team leader Brenner to make something magical happen.

On fourth and nine Brenner would fake a handoff to moving running back Patrick Blubaugh before slinging it to him a yard in front of the line of scrimmage as he took it for 14-yards to secure the first down.

The Eagles would do nothing less but secure the game on the following play as running back Larry Martin took it 22 yards to the house to extend the lead to 24-14. 

The Falcons attempted to make a comeback on the following play, but senior safety Justin Moore ended the game with a bobbling interception. 

That would be Brimms’ second thrown interception of the day, ultimately putting the Falcons’ day to rest.

On the following possession, Washington would take off for 34 yards, and Martin would break off another massive run, this time for 37 yards, where he would find the endzone securing a 31-14 upset victory for the Eagles.

“They had all the momentum in the world at that point,” Owens said. “Larry ran the play to perfection.”

The running attack would prove to be the ultimate outlier in the contest, as the Eagles had 323 rushing yards with Washington recording 150 and Martin recording 122. All four of the touchdowns came from the running attack as well with Washington having one, Martin with two and fullback Isaac Hadley with one.

Brenner ended the game with 14-26 passing with 126 yards and an interception.

“It’s awesome. To quote Coach O, the better the team, the bigger the game, the sweeter the victory,” Brenner said.

The defensive spotlights fell on senior linebacker Michael Ayers and senior safety Jourdan Swett who recorded a dozen tackles a piece. Other notables were safety Justin Moore who recorded an interception and cornerback Devin Prude who did the same.

Ashland will begin Great Midwest Athletic Conference play as they take on the Findlay Oilers in Week 2 on Sept. 10th at 6 p.m.