By Ray Schaeffer -- For the Independent
VERSAILLES — The field at Woodford County Community Park had standing water and lots of divots in the turf, and Saturday’s game-time temperature was 47 degrees.
To Ashland junior Trey Rogers, it apparently was 80 degrees and sunny. He plowed through the slop for 270 yards and four touchdowns on the way to a 36-7 victory over the Yellowjackets.
Ashland coach Leon Hart called Rogers a “mudder.”
“Some guys, the mud doesn’t slow them down,” Hart said of Rogers. “He did a good job with yards after contact. He just kept his feet going.”
Rogers giggled a little when told what Hart had said, mostly because he didn’t think he could run in the mud.
“Even when I look at a muddy field, I just fall down,” Rogers said. “I usually like to juke and all that stuff. So, I guess it was really good blocking, is what I can say.”
Here are two other impressive numbers involving Rogers: he averaged 15.9 yards per carry; and he accounted for just under 74 percent of Ashland’s offense.
The Ashland defense was stingy, too. It held Woodford County to just 119 yards for the game.
Hart would have loved to play Woodford County on a dry field, but his team played well last night.
“We talked about playing a full game on offense and not wait until the second half to get started like we did the last two weeks,” Hart said. “I think it showed.”
Indeed, Ashland (8-1, 2-1 district) overwhelmed Woodford County early – as in 22-0 after one quarter – and Rogers scored from 26, 24 and 64 yards.
The Tomcats needed Rogers’ running. Senior Josh Alber, the team’s leading rusher, sprained an ankle this week and gained just 26 yards on six carries last night.
Before the game, Ashland physical therapist David Apts called the field “the worst conditions of any field I’ve seen in years,” and Hart worried the muddy field would negate his team’s speed.
It forevermore didn’t bother Rogers – he finished the first half with 246 yards on only 13 carries.
And to think it all started with a brief chat with assistant coach Chad Tackett, who told Rogers to keep his weight over his toes after he slipped a couple times.
From the opening minutes, the Yellowjacket defenders mostly slid whenever Ashland ran its counter trap through the middle of the line.
On the first three Tomcat scores, Rogers respectively carried four times for 52 yards, twice for 30 and a one-play drive with the 64-yarder around right end.
Senior Connor Swift broke up the string with a 10-yard run with 3:33 left in the half. Rogers’ 44-yarder with 1:25 to go in the half left two Yellowjackets in the mud nursing minor injuries.
“They just outexecuted us,” Woodford County coach Chris Tracy said. “It wasn’t anything tricky.”
Woodford County sophomore Brandon Campbell closed the scoring with a 2-yard run with 1:13 left in the game.
The Tomcats finished second in Class 5A District 6 and will thus host Dixie Heights in the first round of the Class 5A playoffs Nov. 6 at Putnam Stadium. Woodford County (5-4, 1-2) is the No. 3 seed and will face Covington Catholic Nov. 7 in Park Hills.
To Rogers, one more home game means a lot.
“I love Putnam, the atmosphere and everything,” he said. “This is the whole reason why we play the game so hard, just so we can play back at Putnam one more time.”
