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Hillers can’t stop Ashland’s ground game in Thanksgiving loss

by | Nov 28, 2024 | Featured: Sports, Sports

Like the rain that fell at Hopkinton High School’s David Hughes Stadium on Thursday morning, the Ashland running game left Hopkinton feeling all wet. The Clockers pounded the ball up and down the field all game, scoring on every possession to take a 34-14 victory in the 100th meeting of the Thanksgiving Day rivals.

The Hillers (2-9) got off to a great start, taking the opening kickoff to their 44 and then marching 56 yards on eight plays — all runs, six of which came from quarterback Josh Buentello. His final carry was a 3-yard touchdown run.

Ashland (6-5) answered with a 62-yard drive to the end zone, capped by a 6-yard burst up the middle from running back Kevin Ozulumba.

Both teams failed on their PAT, leaving the score tied.

Hopkinton’s next possession started at its 35, but it went nowhere. On fourth down, the Hillers went to punt, but the punter fielded a low snap with his knee on the ground, giving the ball to Ashland at the 30 early in the second quarter.

The Clockers proceeded to run a series of tight-formation carries. On the fourth such play, from the 17, quarterback Devin O’Brien tried to go right up the middle. Running into a wall of blockers, he switched to the outside and cruised into the left corner of the end zone. Ozulumba ran in the conversion for a 14-6 lead.

Hopkinton started its next drive on its 40. With Laurent Rivard now rotated in at QB, the Hillers went on the move. Key plays included long third-down passes to Buentello and Nick Pedroli and a 4-yard run on fourth-and-3 by Buentello to keep the drive alive.

On fourth-and-5 from 18, Buentello took a shotgun snap, ran right, then flipped it to Pedroli on a reverse. The speedy senior got a key block from Evan Fitzpatrick and then outran the defense to the left corner of the end zone. Fitzpatrick then caught the 2-point conversion pass from Buentello to tie the score at 14 late in the second quarter.

A solid return put the ball right at midfield for Ashland, and a 25-yard run by Cauan Amirault on the first play had the Clockers back in business. With 16 seconds remaining in the half, Ashland again went tight formation, and O’Brien was able to follow the pile in from the 1-yard line for the go-ahead score. Amirault ran in the conversion for a 22-14 lead.

Ashland started the second half with the ball at its 28 and again embarked on a methodical march down the field via the run. Amirault punched it in from the 1 with 3:29 left in the third quarter. The Hillers stopped the conversion to keep the score at 28-14.

With the momentum on Ashland’s side, Hopkinton started its next drive at its 43 and showed some grit. On third-and-7 from the 46, Buentello ran for 9 yards. Then on third-and 10 from the Ashland 41, Buentello found Liam Grady for a 13-yard pass. However, on fourth-and-12 from the 15, Aaron Butkus took a screen pass and came up a couple of yards short of a first down early in the fourth quarter.

From their 5, the Clockers again went to work on the ground, culminating with a 1-yard TD run by Nolan Soderberg and the 34-14 final score.

With its second straight T-Day win, Ashland now has 41 victories in the series. Hopkinton has won 54 times. There have been five ties.

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