Class 3A championship: Ashland shuts down state’s best offense to finish perfect season
In a year that for so many reasons will be hard to forget, Ashland Blazer gave its town something it’ll want to remember.
The Tomcats’ football team defeated Elizabethtown, 35-14, to complete an undefeated season — their program’s first — and claim the 2020 UK Orthopedic/KHSAA Class 3A State Football Championship for its own.
Ashland won its third state football title, and first since 1990 (also in Class 3A). Its only other championship was as a Class 2A school in 1967.
CLASS 3A BOX SCORE: Ashland Blazer 35, Elizabethtown 14
As for every champion crowned at Kroger Field this weekend, their moment was the culmination of a season unlike no other, one plagued by postponements, cancellations and doubt about whether it would be realized to a true end — a win or loss — rather than a bowing out of the postseason due to an invisible virus.
One undefeated team from Ashland lost its chance at a title in March, when the KHSAA canceled the boys’ Sweet Sixteen amid the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. This one, because of a positive coronavirus test, didn’t get to start its season until two weeks after it was supposed to do so.
“It just felt like you never wanted to let your guard down,” Ashland head coach Tony Love said. “These guys have heard me about the masks, hand sanitizer, just beating it into their head. We’re getting into the season and I’m thinking, ‘No, somebody’s gonna get COVID and we get shut down.’ It’s just been a test when it comes to that, and these guys, they made this fun.
“They didn’t flinch a bit. You would never have thought they were up or down. They were just cool customers out there.”
Ashland played cool all season and on Saturday. The Tomcats outscored their first six opponents 189-35 then didn’t allow a point over their next four games. They surrendered just 10 points in the postseason prior to the finals, and went up 21-0 against Elizabethtown before giving up two second-half scores.
The Tomcats rushed for 415 yards. Keontae Pittman, an Army commit, took MVP honors after piling up 253 yards and three touchdowns — including a 58-yard dagger in the final minutes to seal the deal — on 32 carries. Hunter Gillum rushed only nine times but made the most of them, earning 115 yards and two scores.
“That was a classic Ashland football game today,” Love said. “Downhill ground and pound. I’m proud of these guys. It’s been phenomenal.”
Elizabethtown (12-1) entered having scored more points (541) than any other team in Class 3A and was the top-ranked squad in the KHSAA’s RPI (Ashland was No. 2). The Panthers’ ability to move the ball ebbed and flow, but they ultimately were tripped up by multiple scoring opportunities that ended in goose eggs.
Their first drive, which would have answered an Ashland score to open the game, ended at the Tomcats’ 9-yard line and saw two would-be touchdowns dropped in the end zone. A pair of penalties and a 32-yard rush put E-town in great position to cut the Tomcats’ lead to 14-7 as the third quarter got underway, but that drive ended with a pair of incomplete passes and a turnover on downs; Ashland on its ensuing possession drove 89 yards on nine plays to push its lead to 21-0 with 5:30 left in the period.
The Panthers got on the board a few minutes later but Ashland pushed the lead back to 21 points quickly thereafter. Their second score was likely inconsequential, as they couldn’t recover an onside kick with 1:52 remaining. Pittman’s 58-yard burst on the Blazers’ next play from scrimmage left no doubt about the outcome.
“We’ve been doubted this whole year and just wanted to prove everybody wrong,” Pittman said.
