ASHLAND —  Raceland’s football coach is noticing a more physical Ashland defense this season.

Scary observation, considering the Tomcats were downright nasty hosts to the Rams a year ago — the team in orange walked out of Putnam Stadium with nine punts, 116 total yards of offense (58 rushing on 32 attempts) and two turnovers to its name.

Does Ashland coach Leon Hart see what Rams head man T.J. Maynard is seeing? 

“I don’t think there’s any question about it,” Hart said.

When asked what concerned him most about Friday night’s matchup at Putnam, Maynard could only laugh.

“There’s a whole list of them,” he said.

Topping that list? The Tomcats’ experienced front seven on defense. He mentioned linebacker Shannon Justice by name.

“Ashland’s really really good up front. They come off the ball and they come off the ball low,” Maynard said. “It all starts with Justice. He gets to the football.

“This is one of the more physical Ashland teams I’ve seen in a while,” he continued. “We have to make sure we match that intensity up front.”

Size-wise, the Rams aren’t lacking. Raceland’s smallest offensive lineman is 6-foot, 250 pounds.

Asking them to protect junior quarterback Adam Elkins against Ashland’s aggressive group, on the other hand, isn’t exactly a piece of cake.

“If we get our pad level down, we’re OK,” Maynard said.

Raceland (1-0) was forced to play a slew of freshmen and sophomores in last year’s 58-12 blowout.

“It was tough to put them in that battle against a veteran group like Ashland in that atmosphere, but hopefully it has prepared our kids for down the road, and now,” Maynard said.

Elkins accounted for 303 total yards (223 passing, 80 rushing) in the Rams’ 38-6 win over East Carter last week. Daylin Beach and Rodney Vance each found the end zone multiple times.

“They’ve got four or five guys you don’t want to see get loose,” Hart said. “They can score from all over the field.”

Hart called Elkins “far more polished” after seeing him excel in a scrimmage game against Fleming County this preseason.

“Adam just continues to grow,” Maynard said. “As he grows, we can expand a little bit more in our offense.”

Maynard said the goal was to keep the ball out of Ashland’s hands. But if defensive end Cade O’Bryan’s opportunism surfaces again, that might be a tough task.

O’Bryan scored twice in a span of 1:24 on fumble recoveries for TDs in the first quarter last Friday.

“That was odd,” Hart said. “Cade had asked me, as every lineman does at some point, if he could run the football sometime because he’d never scored a touchdown as a Tomcat. I would tell him, ‘No. The only way you’re going to score is if you scoop and score.’ He did, and my gosh, watching him run, you get a really good glimpse of how athletic this big guy is.”

Ashland committed only six penalties in its 51-20 defeat of Lawrence County, but the ’Cats don’t want to duplicate last season’s turn of events.

“I think we started out like that a year ago too,” Hart said. “Then the Raceland game came and we made some mistakes. We had a multitude of penalties. We can’t have a relapse.”

A key player is set to return from injury for each team — Ashland’s Slater Swift and Raceland’s Devin Thomas. Both are seniors.

Ashland (1-0) has won three straight in the series following three in a row for Raceland.

Tomcat Reunion

Ashland’s annual Tomcat Reunion will be Sunday at the former Elks Country Lodge off 29th Street from 1 to 4 p.m.

The Tomcat Booster Club will provide hamburgers and hot dogs. Those attending are asked to bring a covered dish they can share.

Ram Reunion

The second annual Ram Reunion is scheduled for Aug. 31 before the Raceland’s home opener against Pikeville.

Festivities will begin at 4 p.m. at the high school’s old gymnasium.

Raceland will announce the opening of its football Hall of Fame at the event, which attracted about 250 people last year.

AARON SNYDER can be reached at asnyder@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2664.