Playoff preview: Ashland up next for Truckers

NORWALK — The perfect model awaits. When the Norwalk football team visits Ashland in a Division III Region 10 quarterfinal on Friday, it will face a program that has been a consistent winner for 15 years and counting. The Truckers (4-3) are hoping they are in the early part of a similar run the Arrows (6-1) have had since 2006, a stretch that has seen them reach the state playoffs 10 times — including nine times in the last 12 seasons. Norwalk is in the playoffs for a third straight year, and following last week's 17-10 win over Copley, the Truckers are 5-2 in the postseason since 2018. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. at Community Stadium in Ashland, with the winner advancing to next week's regional semifinals against either Bowling Green or Parma Hts. Holy Name. "They had a couple years that weren't their usual standards, but they really turned it back on this season to that level where they have been for such a long time," Norwalk coach Todd Fox said of the Arrows. "They are actually a team we tried to get on the schedule in 2012 but we just couldn't get it to work — and now we get to play them in a big game in 2020 instead." The Arrows are coming off a 35-22 home playoff win over Ohio Cardinal Conference rival Mansfield Senior, who it beat 13-6 on Sept. 18. Ashland is averaging 29.8 points per game on offense. Senior Declan Rohr (6-foot-1, 175) leads the unit at quarterback, as he's thrown for 1,564 yards and 18 touchdowns while rushing for 349 yards and 4 TDs. Senior running back Ethan Harltey (5-11, 190) has 94 rushes for 558 yards and 7 TDs while catching 24 passes for 412 yards and 4 TDs. He caught five passes for 132 yards and 2 TDs in last week's win over the Tigers. The other top target for Rohr is senior Jayden Jones (5-8, 155), who has 32 catches for 314 yards ad 2 TDs. Sophomore Landon McFrederick (5-11, 150) added four catches for 49 yards and 2 TDs last week as well. "I think the thing with Rohr is you can see he's really improved as the season has progressed," fox said. "Hartley has been their main weapon, but Rohr has been excellent of late. He throws the ball downfield well, he has good timing with his receivers — and he can also take off and run at any time." Fox said the Arrows will line up in an empty backfield, but also use a lot of motion, then still shift back to a traditional formation to run the ball with Rohr and Hartley. "They are different in that sense," he said. "They go from empty backfield and thinking they will pass, but yet are pretty 50-50 as a balanced attack with a good offensive line that protects the quarterback. Defensively we're going to have to play at the same level we did last week." On defense, Norwalk is facing a unit that has forced at least one turnover in all seven games this season, totaling 14 through seven weeks — which included three in last week's win over Senior. The Arrows are a 3-4 defensive front and allow 14.8 points per game. Senior linebacker Jakob Beverly (6-1, 215) leads Ashland with 109 tackles and three sacks. Junior free safety Kadin Schmitz (6-1, 200) has 89 tackles, which included eight last week with an interception. Sophomore defensive back Jonathan Metzger (5-10, 170) has 53 tackles and added an interception last week, while senior strong safety Chase Dillow (5-9, 165) has three interceptions this season. "They are big up front and have a fast group of linebackers and defensive backs that swarm to the football," Fox said of the Ashland defense. "They replicate a lot of what we've seen in the SBC Lake — a 3-4 defense that is kind of similar to Columbian and what we saw against them. They are not as much of a blitz happy unit as Columbian was, but they are very sound and fundamental." Norwalk will counter with an offense that found the end zone just one time last week off a short field against a Copley defense that featured college recruits to Vanderbilt and Lehigh. The Truckers average 266 yards and 20.3 points per game. Senior quarterback Garrett Chapin will make his 34th career start Friday, and needs just 14 yards to reach 5,000 for his career. In seven games this season, Chapin is 109-of-187 passing for 1,268 yards with 7 TDs and 6 INTs. He adds four rushing touchdowns. Receivers Ethan Phillips (43 catches for 532 yards, 2 TDs) and Kade Staley 25 catches for 269 yards are the top targets. Sam Battles (13 catches, 114 yards) and Oliver Maloney (11 catches, 151 yards, TD) are next, while in five games, junior Daniel Traczek leads the ground game with 377 yards and 2 TDs on 72 attempts. Kicker Garrison Smith is averaging 6.6 points per game, and has made 85 consecutive extra points as well as 10 field goals this season — including seven from 45 yards or longer. That included just before halftime of last week's 17-10 win over Copley, when he broke his own record again with a 57-yard field goal — the fifth-longest reported field goal in OHSAA history and the second longest in a playoff game. On defense, the Truckers allow 275 yards and 22.6 points per game. In the win over Copley, Norwalk allowed a 70-yard TD on the Indians' second play from scrimmage, then a field goal when they got a short field off an interception. But the Truckers didn't allow Copley to score again over the final 43-plus minutes of the game. Linebackers Traczek (58 tackles), Maloney (49 tackles), Drew Shope (47 tackles) and Andrew Mozina (45 tackles, INT) lead a balanced statistical effort. Phillips at safety adds 50 tackles and 2 INTs, and Kade Staley has 2 INTs. Defensive tackle Jakob Stebel has 38 tackles and 4 sacks, while Mason Hughes next to him up front has 39 tackles and three sacks. Fox also believes Norwalk's schedule helped with last week's win in particular. The Truckers lost to SBC Bay champion Huron (7-0), SBC Lake champion and state-ranked Bellevue (7-0) and Region 10 No. 1 seed Tiffin Columbian (6-1). The only loss among the three teams is Tiffin's 20-13 loss at Bellevue. The Truckers also beat defending Div. IV state champion Clyde (5-3) before handing Copley — which was ranked in the cleveland.com Top 25 — its first loss of the season. "If you look at future schedules, on top of the Lake Division we're going to be playing Olmsted Falls and Columbus Hartley," Fox said. "Those are great teams that win or lose, prepares you for big games. I think had we not played Huron and the Lake teams, I'm not sure if we're competing in fourth quarter like we were last week. "It prepares us for playoffs," he added. "You want to win every game, but this schedule prepares you to win the big games. We have a long way to get where we want to be, but it has prepared us to the position we're in right now." Friday mark's Norwalk's eighth playoff game since 2018. It is 5-2 in the previous seven playoff games, and 8-4 overall in six playoff appearances with one state championships (1974) and two state semifinals (2018). "It does feel good for our guys because it means our seniors are 5-2 in the playoffs," Fox said. "They've been here and had seven playoff games. For our program, that's our goal … but also the goal is to become that consistent playoff competitor and steadily win games beyond the regular season."