For just the eighth time in 25 years, the Ashley football team opened its season with a victory. <\/p>\n
An interception from sophomore cornerback RJ Tindall in the fourth quarter helped seal a 16-12 comeback win at Sanderson in the debut of first-year coach Adam Purzitza. <\/p>\n
“The thing that excited me the most was seeing the guys celebrate after the game,” Purzitza said. “I came in and have been preaching a message about toughness and hard work, so to see them go up to Raleigh and get a win made me really happy.”<\/p>\n
The teams also played a low-scoring game in Wilmington to begin the 2025 season, with the Spartans securing a 13-6 victory.<\/p>\n
Sanderson received the opening kickoff and took a quick 6-0 lead on a 48-yard pass on fourth-and-7. Later in the quarter, the home team again found the end zone on fourth-and-goal from the 1-yard line to make it 12-0 after a second consecutive extra point was missed.<\/p>\n
Ashley (1-0) answered by going 65-yard in eight plays to get on the scoreboard on an 8-yard run from Michael Miller Jr.<\/p>\n
A successful fake punt kept the drive alive. Two plays later, quarterback Raleigh Sutton connected with freshman wide receiver Josiah Isom for a 42-yard gain. <\/p>\n
After forcing a three-and-out, the Screaming Eagles put together another nice drive that ended in a 24-yard field goal from Bodey Porter with less than two minutes remaining in the first half that cut the deficit to 12-10. <\/p>\n
The teams traded punts to open the third quarter. On Ashley’s second possession, Miller gained 31 yards on three straight runs to move the ball down to the Sanderson 14-yard line. <\/p>\n
A screen pass to Jeremiah Isom for 13 more yards made it first-and-goal, and Miller plowed into the end zone on the next play to give the Screaming Eagles the lead for good. <\/p>\n
“The run game was great tonight, and then we were really efficient in the pass game,” Purzitza said. “I thought our offensive line did a very good job.”<\/p>\n
The Spartans were set up with a first-and-goal from the 5-yard line on the ensuing possession, but failed to score. On third down from the 3, pressure from the defensive line forced an errant throw that was easily intercepted in the end zone by Tindall. <\/p>\n
Sanderson had two more possessions, but never got close to scoring. <\/p>\n
“We started out slow, but coach (Ashaad) Yeoman and the defensive staff did a phenomenal job of making adjustments on the sideline,” Putzitza said. “We’re going to hang our hat on our defense, and they played three quarters of scoreless football.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
For just the eighth time in 25 years, the Ashley football team opened its season with a victory. An interception from sophomore cornerback RJ Tindall in the fourth quarter helped seal a 16-12 comeback win at Sanderson in the debut of first-year coach Adam Purzitza. “The thing that excited me the most was seeing the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9839,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[191],"tags":[325],"class_list":["post-9838","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","tag-ashley"],"yoast_head":"\n