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By Doug Haidet ASHLAND – History will remember this chapter in Ashland boys basketball. With one last Division II tournament approaching for seniors Paxon Ediger and Gabe Baith, it’s a moment that has nearly struck midnight, but the two Arrow guards have refused to let it slip away without adding their distinct bookmarks. To cut to the chase, Ediger and Baith are the first two players in the 118-year history of Ashland basketball to hit the 1,000-point mark in the same season

By Doug Haidet ASHLAND – It would be easy to view them as a trio of dominoes loaded with football talent, tipping over along a pathway to Ashland University. Ashland High School senior linebacker Gunner Lacey announced his commitment in mid-January to suit up for the Eagles. A few weeks later, his classmates – lineman Budda Martin and kicker Carson O’Brien – made the decision to follow in his footsteps. Ever the entertaining conversationalist, Martin thought about the situati

By Doug Haidet ASHLAND – He probably never really had the time to think about all the ways it made perfect sense. Gunner Lacey was too busy setting the Ashland High School record for tackles and becoming the first defensive player in team history to be named a first-team All-Ohioan twice. So the right moment for deep deliberation likely never arose. But last Thursday, on his official visit to Ashland University, it seemed like fate had finally arrived. Over time, becoming an

ASHLAND – The girls basketball program at Ashland High School started its first season in 1970. It’s been more than a half-century since then and there might never have been a more intriguing eight-day stretch of hoops combined between the AHS boys and girls squads than the one they’re in right now. Consider this: Between last Friday’s boys win over West Holmes and this Friday’s boys game against Dover, both AHS squads could lock in 1,000-point scorers and both could be at th

By Doug Haidet CUYAHOGA FALLS – There were enough narratives for the 2025 Walsh Jesuit football team to fill a semi-truck. * Monster season-opening win over an eventual state runner-up? Check. * Home win streak stretched to 24 games and still counting? Check. * Finally knocking off bitter nemesis and powerhouse Hoban in the playoffs? Check. * Final 11-2 record despite the second-toughest schedule of any Division II team in Ohio? Check. * Boasting the most seniors in team hist

By Doug Haidet ASHLAND – Boys basketball in the Ohio Cardinal Conference is nothing if not intriguing this season. After two monster home wins heading into the new year, Ashland is doing its part to raise eyebrows. On Dec. 19, Arrows senior guard Paxon Ediger broke the program scoring record with 44 points in a 70-65 win over Mansfield Senior – their first home win over the Tygers since 2022. Five days later, Ashland posted five players with double-digit points, squeezing pas

Written by Wesley Seyfang Ashland Arrows Remain Perfect at 8–0 Behind Hoffman, Lacey, and Relentless Team Effort The Ashland Arrows girls basketball team continued its undefeated run in impressive fashion, improving to 8–0 on the season with a statement road win over another previously unbeaten opponent. In a packed gym filled with black and orange, Ashland rose to the moment behind elite defense, explosive offense, and unmatched energy. Senior Madison Hoffman and junior Kenn

By Doug Haidet CUYAHOGA FALLS – Nobody will ever say Marty Tobin isn’t a great author. With his college football destination still up in the air and a daunting postseason path in front of him, the Walsh Jesuit senior penned one of the finest final chapters of anyone in his school’s football history. A vital piece to a Warriors’ team playing one of the toughest schedules in all of Ohio this season, Tobin’s 1,856 rushing yards in 2025 are the third-most in Walsh Jesuit’s record

By Doug Haidet TOLEDO – If Joe Horn was looking for the easy road, he took a wrong turn. When he landed his first football head coaching job nearly one year ago at St. John’s Jesuit, Horn walked into a program that was trying to dig out from a 1-9 finish in 2024. Doing so while playing in one of the premier football conferences in the country – the Detroit-based Catholic High School League – was like scaling a wall while wearing rollerskates. “It can be tough on the mind when

By Doug Haidet ASHLAND – It seems like Kennedy Lacey’s entire basketball career has revolved around sending warnings. In her first varsity game as an Ashland High School freshman, she posted a 16-point, 12-rebound double-double against Norwalk. Four days later, Lacey went for 12 and 10 against Mansfield Senior. By the end of her freshman campaign, the Ohio Cardinal Conference first-teamer had five double-doubles and six 20-point games, averaging 15.7 points per contest. The l

By Doug Haidet ASHLAND – The wheels didn’t just come falling off Saturday for the Minnesota Duluth offense. The Ashland defense ferociously ripped them off – then the Eagles scrapped the rest of the car, too. By the end of their first-round NCAA Division II playoff game inside Jack Miller Stadium, the visiting Bulldogs were stuck with a 32-7 trouncing and a long trip home. Ashland (10-2) forced turnovers on four consecutive drives in the second half, slowly burying Duluth (10

By Doug Haidet ASHLAND – Seven months after originally committing to play football at Appalachian State – and with the NCAA Division I early signing period (Dec. 3-5) closing in – Ashland High School senior quarterback Nathan Bernhard has flipped his commitment to the University of Maryland. Bernhard said that when the Arrows’ season ended November 7 in the playoffs at Columbus DeSales, he felt he was still headed to the Division I Sun Belt Conference school in Boone, North C

By Doug Haidet ASHLAND – If Michael Shimek was asking around for a hype man, the first guy in line would be Ashland University defensive ends coach Andy Tabler. Now in his sixth season on the AU staff, Tabler still remembers watching film of Shimek getting to the quarterback while starring as a first-team All-Ohioan at Hoover High School. The recollection is so vivid, Tabler even remembers the number on Shimek’s jersey – No. 18 – as if it was the passcode to his ATM card. “Yo

TOLEDO – For anyone looking to ride a bull, someone has to throw open the gate.That’s exactly what happened on one of the most unforgettable nights in St. John’s Jesuit football history this season. In Week 10 at Lyden Stadium against the University of Detroit Jesuit High School, first-year Titans head coach Joe Horn knew he had to lean on junior RJ Mays as his man out of the backfield. Top running back Sam Harshman – who had essentially split carries all season with Mays – w

By Doug Haidet ASHLAND – It’s been more than three decades since the Ashland girls basketball team was the hunted. After a transformational breakthrough for the program a year ago – including their first 20-win season and first district championship since 1979 – the Arrows are well aware of their new reality. “If you would have talked to me at the beginning of the year last year, I wouldn’t have told you we would have had the season that we did,” sixth-year Ashland head coach

By Doug Haidet ASHLAND – So much for the weakness residing in the trenches. After last spring’s graduation purged the vast majority of their key contributors, Ashland’s linemen of 2025 have spent the past 11 weeks proving any doubters wrong. “The only returning (full-season starter) we had was (senior Brandon Briggs), so coming into this year we thought our biggest problem would be our line,” senior two-way lineman Budda Martin said. “But I think our line has done great and i

By Doug Haidet ASHLAND – Gabe Baith didn’t have to say a word. Instead, he sent out a deafening warning with his feet on the very first play of the 2025 season. The senior returned the opening kickoff of Ashland’s opening game against Bay 89 yards for a touchdown. Within 13 seconds, teams were on notice, and Baith has rarely taken his foot off the gas since. “When I was on the sideline, I just had a feeling I was gonna take one back,” said Baith when recalling his off-to-the-

By Doug Haidet ASHLAND – Gunner Lacey probably would have hit a mailman had one walked across the turf at Community Stadium last Friday. The Ashland High School senior linebacker was in a rabid frenzy looking for tackles with Wooster in town, knowing he needed 15 more to set the AHS record for career tackles. But the Arrows blasted the Generals, 52-7, with Lacey even collecting the first defensive touchdown of his career on a fumble return, and he and the starting defense too

By Doug Haidet ASHLAND – After beating Madison in Week 6, Ashland senior quarterback Nathan Bernhard was handed a pair of game balls by AHS athletic director Jason Goings for posting the 100th and school-record-breaking 101st touchdowns of his career. Bernhard, an Appalachian State commit, has since bumped that number to 111 (64 passing, 47 rushing). Had Goings waited until the end of this season to give out such recognition for massive career numbers, he would have needed a

Written by Doug Haidet There is a case to be made that this week’s Ashland at Lexington collision is the biggest Week 10 face-off in the history of Ohio Cardinal Conference football. Since the league’s founding in 2003, only two other times has there been a winner-take-all meeting in the final week of the regular season between two league unbeatens (Orrville at Wooster in 2004 and Ashland at Lexington in 2007). This year’s version pits the Arrows (9-0, 5-0 OCC) against the Mi