Wildcats lose heartbreaker to Ashland

MARQUETTE — It was another tough one for Northern Michigan to swallow as they fall to Ashland 41–40. The Wildcats were down 21–0 early in the second quarter. Then the offense came alive, scoring 29 unanswered points, including the go–ahead touchdown with less than 4 minutes to go. But the Eagles would drive down the field and score with seven seconds remaining in the game, winning by one point. Afterwards the team talked about the crushing defeat and if it could be looked at as a moral victory.

“At the end of the year, it’s going to be a loss. If you lose by 70 or you lose by a point, there’s not going to be a little asterisk by it. No I don’t but at the same time, I do understand how far we’ve come as a program. The strives we have made have been extraordinary in three years. We’re just taking the long path. We need the football gods to maybe throw some dust on us but we’ll keep working at it,” head coach Chris Ostrowsky said.

“We showed we can stick around with a top ten team in the country, even though it didn’t go out as we planned. It’s little things we should’ve done differently that we could’ve won…catching balls, kicking field goals. But at the same time, we had a good game and came up short,” said wide receiver Keyondre Craig.

“This team has a lot of heart. We fight to the end. We never really count ourselves out of a game. We look to both sides of the ball to really keep us in the game and make plays. We like to give ourselves a chance because we know a lot of people in this country don’t so that’s one thing we take pride in,” running back Jake Mayon said.

The Wildcats fall to 4–4 and will look to bounce back this weekend on the road as they take on Walsh.