After falling last week to the Hillsdale Chargers, the Ashland University football team rebounded well downing the Lake Erie Storm, 31-23, on the road.

The Eagles and Storm went back and forth throughout the majority of the contest, but after a stifling second-half performance from the defense, the Eagles were able to squeak out a victory.

To start the contest the Lake Erie Storm marched down the field and scored the first points of the game. After their first drive fell short of scoring, the second drive is where they found a rhythm.

Storm quarterback Gerald Gardner found sophomore tight end, Koraun Perdue, from seven yards out to strike first. With the no-huddle play calling catching the defense off guard, the Storm were able to go up 7-0 early.

On the following drive, the Eagle offense wasted six minutes off the clock driving down the field and putting three points up on the board from redshirt-freshman kicker A.J. Rhodes.

Now with the score 7-3 still in favor of the Storm, the Eagles needed to show up on defense.

At the start of the second quarter, the Storm were able to find three more points to push the lead to seven after a 26-yard field goal was connected on by Nathan Tager.

Starting Quarterback Austin Brenner knew he needed to tie the game back up, and that’s exactly what he did.

While marching down the field in the second quarter, Brenner was able to find wideout Garrett Turnbaugh from 20 yards out for a touchdown. Turnbaugh, who recorded three straight games with 100+ yards receiving, looked to continue his impressive play.

The following possession saw the Eagle defense forced a speedy three and out.

Now with an increase in momentum, tailback Larry Martin joined in on the action for the Eagles marching down the field and putting seven more up on the board to extend the lead to 17-10.

With two minutes remaining until halftime, the Storm got the ball back. Gardner loaded up his right arm and delivered a cannonball shot to wideout Peyton Brown who took off for 72 yards.

The Eagle defense started to back peddle and was caught off guard as Gardner found Brown once again for an 18-yard touchdown.

At halftime, the Eagles regrouped well and headed into the second half with their heads hung high.

With the game tied at 17 a piece, the defense prepared for a dominating second half.

The Storm received coming out of halftime and quickly scored a 38-yard touchdown to go up by six. When the PAT was tried, sophomore Andrew Douglas blocked it and kept the lead to just six.

That would be the last time the Storm scored.

On the following possession, the Eagles would utilize a trick play as wideout Logan Bolin found Brenner for a 17-yard gain and first down.

Just two plays later Brenner would find Bolin who would take it in from 14 yards out for the score. With the PAT being good from Rhodes the Eagles went back ahead by one, 24-23.

The next points of the contest would not be scored until the fourth quarter of play. Brenner would once again find Bolin on the left side for a nine-yard touchdown.

The Storm struggled when getting the ball back and turned the ball over on fourth down with 5:15 remaining in the game.

With a time amount that large, the Storm had hoped they would get another chance at tieing the game back up.

Unfortunately, that would not be the case as incredible time management would keep the Storm offense off the field and the Eagles would walk away with the victory.

Brenner finished the contest with 179 passing yards, three touchdowns and one interception. Wideouts Tunrbaugh, Bolin and Malik Wooldridge combined for 133 of those 179 yards. Bolin finished with two touchdowns and Turnbaugh finished with one.

In the rushing attack, Martin had himself a day. He finished with 228 yards and one touchdown through 40 rushing attempts. Alongside Martin, backup running back Eli Potts finished with 56 yards.

The defense did not see much jump out statistically, but defensive back Justin Moore finished with five tackles, two for a loss and one sack.

The Eagles, now with an 8-1 record, look to their last home game of the regular season against the Kentucky Wesleyan Panthers. Kickoff is set for Nov. 12 at 1 p.m. at Jack Miller Stadium in Ashland, Ohio.