ASHLAND - Kobi Johnson was starting sixth grade at Madison Junior High the last time the Rams beat Ashland at Community Stadium.
"We talked on our way over here that it's been a really long time since we've won here ... we gotta put an end to that," the Madison coach said.
Friday night they did just that in a 21-7 win over the Arrows snapping an 11-game losing streak and the first on Ashland's home turf since 2005 — back then it was still grass.
"The big thing was we wanted to come out and compete for 48 minutes, we've really struggled to do that the last two weeks," Johnson said. "For our guys to go through two tough losses to Wooster and West Holmes, put together a great week of practice, then come out here and play the way they did and battle against a good Ashland team ... I was just really proud of them."
The Rams set the tone on the opening drive chewing more than five minutes off the clock with a 14-play drive that ended in a Damarrion Lloyd 12-yard rushing touchdown. Defense then forced the Arrows into a field goal attempt on their first possession but the Rams blocked it and went to work again with an 11-play possession clocking in just shy of five minutes.
Ashland responded with a 12-play drive starting on the Arrows' 26 and marched down to the Madison 20 before Carson Graber threw an interception on fourth down to Camden Moysi. They would bounce back on the ensuing possession with a big punt return followed by Graber going 4-of-4 with the final pass going to Killian O'Brien for the go-ahead score (7-6) with 33 seconds in the second quarter — it was the 25th of his career tying him atop the program with Arrows legend Chris Thomas.
And with some momentum just before the half, coupled with a personal foul against Madison on the extra point attempt, coach Scott Valentine decided to gamble and kick an onside kick.
"We went back and forth with whether to do that or not," he said. "We had some timeouts and if we would get the ball then we're within striking distance. We just got some momentum there and it just went the opposite way."
The onside kick bounced and hit an Arrows player within the 10 yards with drew flags from the officials for illegal touching but presented an opportunity for sophomore starlet Daniel Norris who pounced on the ball and took off for the 64-yard kick return touchdown to flip a one-point deficit into a 14-7 lead at the half.
"We know you gotta make big plays and you gotta be solid in the special teams game," Johnson said. "I was a little disappointed, I got on our guys at halftime because we punted the ball to them and they have two great athletes back there returning, we just mis-hit the punt and it goes right to a really good player who makes a big return that leads to them scoring.
"But Daniel Norris makes a huge play there, we got our hands team in and they tried to onside kick ... it was a really heads up play by him because a lot of kids would get in an awkward spot there, but when that onside kick was coming up short, he attacked, made a great play on the ball, and ended up taking it to the house."
And Madison's pièce de résistance came on the second possession of the second half as the Rams strung together a 15-play, 89-yard drive that took 8:43 of game clock and ended in a game-icing seven-yard touchdown pass from Carson Cook to Norris.
"That's the kind of football we want to play," Johnson said. "We pride ourselves on being a physical football team up front. We've had our struggles, but our offensive line has continues to work, stuck together, and try to get better every single day in practice. When you have drives like that, it's a testament to your offensive line and our running backs.
"We want to be a big play team, which I think we have the potential with the athletes we have, but when you can put together a drive like that it makes a football coach very happy."
Cook finished 6-of-15 for 64 yards and a touchdown for the Rams, Lloyd logged 13 carries for 55 yards nad a touchdown, Norris caught two passes for 33 yards and two scores, Zaydien Longboat rushed 16 times for 118 yards, Camden Moysi snagged two interceptions.
Madison earned 12 first downs on the night and received two more on Ashland penalties. The Arrows had plenty of first downs in the first half but didn't manage to record one in the second half until the the midway point of the fourth quarter via a penalty against the Rams.
"We moved the ball, we just didn't get anything in the end zones except for the one," Valentine said. "We had some opportunities and just didn't execute down in the hole.
"We got a couple guys back that, coming in the year, we were planning on ... I thought we executed some things, but we're missing a couple guys up front and you gotta go through that. We're trying to do some things that we felt we could do witht he guys we got back."
Graber finished 23-of-44 for 224 yards, one touchdown, two interceptions while Grayson Baith made his return after an injury sidelined him the last few weeks rushing six times for 24 yards and catching four passes for 28 yards. O'Brien ended the night with a career-high 12 receptions for 93 yards and a touchdown, Hayden Reef rushed five times for 26 yards, Jeff Hickey caught four passes for 48 yards.
Ashland drops to 0-3 in the Ohio Cardinal Conference for the first time since joining the league in 2003, and it hasn't happened since 2000 and 2001 when the Arrows were in the final years of the Ohio Heartland Conference.
"The sun comes up the next day," Valentine said. "We gotta go back to work and figure out some things. We have four games left and we're .500, so there's a lot of football left to play. We just gotta get ourselves moving in the right direction."
zholden@gannett.com | 419-617-6018 | Twitter/X: @Zachary_Holden
This article originally appeared on Mansfield News Journal: Madison dictates game tempo to snap 11-game losing streak to Ashland