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 – 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

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 – 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 – 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

Ashland High School standout Tyler Sauder has been a key figure on both sides of the football this season — a dynamic wide receiver and a...