Around 10 a.m. Friday, a horn sounded across the golf course at Ashland Country Club to start the Ashland University Football Alumni Golf Outing. It was the beginning of one of the busiest days of the year for the football program.

A golf ball blasted from the tee, riding a gust of wind and taking one hard bounce before rolling five yards and coming to rest in the middle of a freshly cut fairway.

A 20-foot putt for eagle slamming into the back of the hole, causing near-hysteria on the part of both the head football coach and the president of the university.

A football, thrown with a perfect spiral, landing in the hands of a streaking receiver for a 96-yard touchdown.

A group alumni and incoming freshmen, having a conversation about the past and future of a great program while watching its present.

All were a part of Friday’s festivities, which included the golf outing and annual football Spring Game.

“It’s a long day,” Ashland head coach Lee Owens said, “but having the opportunity to have the golf outing, all the alumni back, our recruits on campus, have our incoming freshman class on campus, and then finish with the game and have a lot of the community here, a lot of the student body here, it just makes for a great day.”

The Alumni Golf Outing is a unique event put on by the football program each year the weekend of the Spring Game. It allows former players and others associated with the program to get together and touch base with the current squad, all for a good cause.

The outing helps raise money that goes to the football program, mostly towards recruiting.

This was the first year that the event was held at the Ashland Country Club, leading to the best turnout in the event’s history. Thirty groups, consisting of former Ashland football players, current coaches, sponsors and university president Fred Finks signed up, making for a total of around 120 golfers.

“We’ve played it at Brookside here in town and also at Mohican,” Athletic Director Bill Goldring said. “We’ve been treated great everywhere, I just think it’s kind of a special treat to play at our country club.”

The groups competed against each other in a scramble format. The group that won included both Owens and Finks.

“I think Dr. Finks had an outstanding putting day, is what contributed to this,” Goldring said. “I think he also had a natural eagle. Since they won by one, that probably was the winning shot.”

Finks was focused at the turn, but stopped to share some of his thoughts on the eventful day.

“It’s always a fun time,” he said. “It’s a fun time to see alumni coming back to the campus and a fun time just golfing.”

A.G. Kruger, an Olympian in the hammer throw and Ashland’s athletic trainer, also competed in the event.

“Beautiful day, beautiful course,” Kruger said. “It’s kind of fun to come out here, and like you always say, ‘It’s better than a day at work.’”

The Spring Game started at 7:30 and was played in front of over 1,000 people at Jack Miller Stadium. The Purple team beat the Gold team 32-7 in the intra-squad scrimmage.

On the first play from scrimmage, junior quarterback Taylor Housewright – the starter for Purple – connected on a 96-yard touchdown pass to freshman wide receiver Eric Thompkins.

“He ran a great route,” Housewright said. “Anybody could have thrown that. He got open and he showed his speed a little bit.”

Housewright went on to complete nine of 15 passes for 154 yards and two touchdowns and was named the Gridiron Club’s Outstanding Offensive Player of the Game.

On the ensuing drive, Gold starting quarterback Matt Skubik threw a ball over the middle that was intercepted by freshman defensive back Paul Ward. Ward took the ball 85 yards up the left sideline to give Purple a 13-0 lead. He was later named the Gridiron Club’s Outstanding Defensive Player of the Game.

After freshman running back Anthony Taylor broke off a 43-yard touchdown run to make it 19-0 with 1:37 remaining in the second quarter, Skubik led the Gold team’s only scoring drive. He connected on three passes to freshman wide receiver Alex Weber before sophomore running back Logan Slavinski ran the ball in from one yard out to make it 19-7 at halftime.

Skubik finished eight of 18 for 59 yards and just the one interception. Anthony Taylor was the leading rusher with 100 yards and a touchdown on 11 carries.

Housewright completed his second touchdown pass with 2:25 left in the third quarter, when he found sophomore wide receiver Ryan Moore from 10 yards out.

The final touchdown came on a 16-yard touchdown run by sophomore Michael Taylor.

Despite the fact that the temperature dropped dramatically between the kickoff and the end of the game, all in attendance had a good time. Owens was all smiles on the field after the game.

“The Spring Game’s more for the players to actually have some fun out here,” he said. “There’s not a lot we can tell as far as the strategy of the game, but we can tell who loves to play the game.”

Housewright – the leader of an offense that returns all of its starters from last season – was impressed with the way his team’s young defense played against him.

“I think they’re getting better, and I think as a team we’re getting better,” he said. “The defense – they’re fast. They did a nice job against us all spring, and we compete against them every day and make each other better.”

The lone weak spot that was exposed was the special teams’ unit. Replacing All-American kicker/punter Gregg Berkshire will not be easy. Ashland kickers missed two extra point attempts and had one blocked Friday. Owens said that no kicker locked up the starting role in the spring.

“We’re still struggling there,” he said.

After the game, both teams met at the middle of the field for a prayer led by Division II women’s basketball National Coach of the Year Sue Ramsey.

She’s a testament to how we want to do it,” Owens said. “We want to be where she was and we want to do it the way she did it: the right way… hopefully some of that rubs off on me.”

The event also raised $1,200 for the “Make-A-Wish” Foundation from admissions to the game.

Logan Gay and Radley Stahl also contributed to the reporting.