Lexington Hosts Ashland For OCC Title

Since the beginning of the playoff era in Ohio high school football back in 1972, Lexington has won just four conference championships. Two of them were back to back in 1987 and 1988 when the dominant Minutemen went 4-1 two straight years in what was then the Ohio Heartland Conference. The other two championships came in the Ohio Cardinal Conference when Lexington went 7-0 back in 2008 and again in 2016 when Lexington went 5-1 and shared the title with Ashland. Coincidentally, it's the Ashland Arrows who come to Lexington Friday night looking for another OCC championship of their own.

The series between Ashland and Lexington started back in 1985 when the Arrows beat the Minutemen 20-14 on September 20th. For the last 40 years these two schools have played each other every single year. Ashland has largely owned the series with 30 wins to Lexington's 10. Since these two teams joined the OCC back in 2002, Ashland has enjoyed a dominant 19-3 record against Lexington. Oddly, Lexington is just 3-17 at home against Ashland all-time. I know, I know, it's been rough. But as the old saying goes, throw the record books out the door. None of the history matters when these two teams kick off on Friday night.

On paper, there may not be two more evenly matched teams in the area, and certainly in the conference. Ashland is 9-0 overall while Lexington is 8-1 this season with the only loss coming to the number one state ranked team in D-4, Shelby. Lexington and Ashland have scored the same amount of points this season, each with 374. Ashland has scored 34 points or more in all nine games this season, while Lexington has scored 31 or more in all eight of its wins. In conference play, these two teams have beaten opponents by similar scores all season long. Each team has a quarterback that is going on to play college football at the division one level next year. There are several other stars all over the field on each side as well, going on to play at the next level just a year from now. This game has everything you could want in a week 10 matchup with a championship on the line. This feels more like a state final four matchup than just another Lexington/Ashland matchup.

How did we get here? The anticipation of this game began on October 25, 2024 at Ashland Community Stadium when the Arrows beat the Minutemen 30-21. It was a heartbreaking night for Lex and one that the Minutmen felt they let slip away. Had Lexington won that game, it would have been a share for the OCC title. Instead, Ashland went on to win its ninth conference championship, the most by any team since the formation of the OCC back in 2002. Lexington's coaching staff has been incredibly focused all year on, "the next game".

Well, the next game is here and if we're being honest, anyone that watches football and has any fandom for Lexington knows that this is the game the Minutemen have had circled since that chilly fall night at Ashland just a year ago. After week 10 last year, the Minutemen went on to have a cinderella playoff run and were the lowest ranked seed to make it to the Sweet 16. The growth that Lexington showed after the Ashland game last year was a huge part of that run and has clearly carried over to this season. Lexington is currently on a seven game winning streak and have scored 41 or more in six straight games. In fact, all six of those games got into the running clock territory, with Lexington leading by 30 or more at some point in the game.

Last week, Lexington beat Madison for the tenth straight time. The Minutemen took a 42-3 lead into halftime and ran out the clock from there, ultimately winning 49-17. Lexington has now outscored opponents 283-48 in the first half of games this year with an average score at halftime of 32-5.

Leading the way this season in all-purpose yards is Joey Caudill with 1,823. Of those yards, 1,363 are passing, with 23 touchdowns to just five interceptions. Joey also leads the team in rushing with 449 yards and five touchdowns. Markale Martin is close behind with 408 yards and nine touchdowns, and missed a significant part of the season with an injury. He would have certainly eclipsed the 1,000 yard mark with a full 10 games. While the ground game has been dominant, the receiving corp is what sets this team apart. There are so many weapons that can cover the field and force the defense to use resources covering the secondary, opening up the run game. Seven Allen leads the Minutemen with 505 yards and six touchdowns catching the ball. He also adds another six touchdowns rushing. Brayden Fogle follows with 406 yards and seven touchdowns receiving. Avery Crawford has managed to score six touchdowns with just 249 yards to his name, showing that he is a great redzone threat for Caudill to find in the endzone. Dantrell Hughes is the fourth and final receiver for lexington to eclipse the century mark with 175 yards and two touchdowns of his own. Cohen Boozer and Cole Eichorn each have a touchdown catch as well.

Defensively, Lexington is led by Joey Caudill with 47.5 tackles. Cole Eichorn follows closely with 45. Eichorn also has three sacks, tied with Luke Triska for the team lead. Triska has two forced fumbles this year and Cole Eichorn has recoverd three. Seven Allen leads the talented secondary with three interceptions. The Lexington defense has 26 takeaways this season, just seven off of the school record of 33.

Friday night is the type of night that every football player dreams of. A chance to make history and win a conference championship. This was the first goal that the Lexington coaching staff presented to the players back in the off-season. They have done everything the right way to get to this point. As the coaches would tell you, this is just the next game. But to the people around Lexington it's a chance for bragging rights, pride, a story to tell forever, and one of the final memories this senior class will have on the gridiron.