Rare air: Tomcats have unbeaten regular season at stake Friday

Ashland will try and become the 13th team in Tomcat history to have an undefeated regular season Friday night when it visits Lexington Catholic.

Ashland secured the Class 4A district championship with a 48-28 victory over Johnson Central on Friday night. With a win this week, they would become only the fifth Tomcat team since 1942 to be unbeaten in the regular season. Joining the 1942 team are 1958, 1975 and 2020. That’s it. Both the 1967 and 1990 state championship teams suffered their only loss during the regular season.

The KHSAA playoff system did not start until 1959. The Tomcats claimed mythical championships through the years prior to the playoff system. The 1931 team that went 10-0 clobbered Decatur, Ga., 80-6 at Armco Field in a game that was set up late to determine the top team in Dixie. Five decades later, in 1981, a news service poll that was checking up on national rankings from the 1930s declared the Tomcats as the best team in the country in 1931, per research from Tomcat radio voice Tyler Rowland.

Ashland’s last undefeated team came in the COVID-shortened 2020 season. The Tomcats finished 11-0. They were 6-0 in the regular season with several games cancelled because of COVID and then ran the table in the postseason to perfection.

Coach Tony Love celebrates the state championship in 2020 alongside Gage Layman. That team was the last one to have an undefeated regular season. The won six games in the regular season and then five in the playoffs to finish 11-0 in a COVID-shortened season. Besides them, only three other Tomcat teams have had an undefeated regular season since 1942.

These Tomcats have secured the opportunity to play more home games when the postseason begins a week from Friday. Ashland goes into the last regular-season game with the top RPI ranking in Class 4A. They need to win Friday to keep that standing and then would still have to potentially (likely?) battle through the northern Kentucky gauntlet of Covington Catholic and Fort Thomas Highlands before the RPI seeding takes real effect.

Covington Catholic wasn’t in the top 10 of the RPI but make no mistake, the Colonels are good but they have an interesting first round game with Johnson Central, the most dangerous 3-7 team in Kentucky.

I saw Covington Catholic in person throttle Class 6A Ryle in the opening game of the season. And Highlands is Highlands, the district champion and one of the favorites to win Class 4A.

A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of meeting with Ashland’s coaches and players to present them with my new book and that day I asked them: How do you want to be remembered? They have the chance to etch their name in rare air with a win on Friday night. An unbeaten regular season makes you memorable.

Below are the years that Ashland had a perfect regular season, Eight of those seasons came between 1926-1935 including six in a row from 1926-1931. They had a 60-0-4 streak ended on a last-second play against Erie, Pennsylvania, at Armco Field in 1932.

Here are the dozen Tomcat teams that had an undefeated regular season.

1926

1927

1928

1929

1930

1931

1933

1935

1942

1958

1975

2020

Rist and reward: GameDay behind the scenes at Putnam Stadium

Until Friday night, I didn’t realize what a production GameDay in Putnam Stadium has become and how professional those working behind the scenes make it look so impressive.

While most Ashland Tomcat fans know that Chuck Rist is the public address announcer – he’s been doing the job he loves for more than three decades – watching him work with the operation team in the pressbox gave me an even greater appreciation of what the consummate professional does so effortlessly and how he leads a team that provides a valuable service.

It used to be the PA announcer told us who was carrying the ball and who made the tackle. Push the mic on and off, make the call, rinse and repeat. If he had a good spotter, that made it an easier night. Nothing is easy now. It’s an entire production.

Chuck still has a spotter – Tierra Kingery – and she is good. Make that great. I sat beside her Friday night watching her give Chuck the numbers of the ball carriers and tacklers (she doesn’t miss either) and has the added job of running the controls for the Jumbotron scoreboard’s various videos, advertisements and graphics. She and Chuck work like clockwork, talking through what needs to be shown and when, never getting rattled or flustered. Nobody gets missed on the PA calls, and the giant scoreboard becomes a big part of the game.

The view from the pressbox in Putnam Stadium with enough screens to make you dizzy.

They also have a camerawoman that’s associated with the scoreboard in Jessica Taylor, the daughter of the late Mel Smith, who was Chuck’s spotter for more than 30 years. She is equal opportunity, too, Friday night she focused attention on the Boyd County band as well as Ashland’s band.

Tierra with daughter Khyler from 2022 with Chuck.

Much like Tierra, she needs no instruction. She’s top-notch on the camera. In basketball season, Jessica controls the video board along with her daughter, Gracie, in Anderson gym.

Chuck is on the PA in basketball, too, and Tierra is the official scorer for basketball.

On the other side of the football pressbox, Tierra’s brother, Demacrus Caslisle, handles the scoreboard clock and down-and-distance and he’s also the timer in basketball. Those jobs demand complete concentration with no room for error

Chuck’s name is probably the only one that most Tomcat fans knew was working in the pressbox but there’s a lot more activity than eating Giovanni’s pizza. Chuck is the “coach” but his operations partners are the best, and a team just like the one playing on the field. Either you work together or you get embarrassed.

Jessica and Gracie Taylor with Chuck Rist at Anderson gymnasium.

Ashland’s GameDay experience is second to none on the high school level. The bells and whistles associated with the rebuild of Clark’s Pump-N-Shop Putnam Stadium make it a GameDay experience supreme.

My Town TV has provided impressive hype videos that are played on the scoreboard, giving the stadium a college atmosphere. Putnam Stadium is certainly a showcase and the Jumbotron gives them another level of information and entertainment with an operation crew that serves on a championship level.

I’m personally thankful for My Town’s excellent coverage since moving to northern Kentucky in 2022. I’ve hardly missed a snap, but when the Tomcats are on the road, radio voice Tyler Rowland often becomes my eyes.

Hello, again

Charlie Chatfield, the last radio partner in Dicky Martin’s long and accomplished career of covering the Tomcats, was back in the press box as a guest sidekick for Rowland.

Charlie, as he so often did with Dicky, fit right into the flow of the game, providing informative nuggets and analyses as needed. He was happy to be there but said it was tough, and emotional, to be back in that seat without his longtime partner beside him. Charlie partnered in home and nearby football games for several seasons with Dicky, who passed away a year ago this coming Thursday.  

Grace Runner Amy Compston shines in Air Force Marathon

DAYTON, Ohio — Running has always been part of Amy Compston’s life.

For the past several years, however, the miles have taken her in a different direction.

An iliotibial band injury eight years ago curtailed her competitive running about the same time her Amy For Africa ministry began growing rapidly. Between serving, traveling, fundraising and praying over a ministry reaching children and families in Uganda, running races had to wait.

Until Saturday.

By the grace of God, Compston was a marathon runner again.

Amy Compston competed in the Air Force Marathon in Dayton on Saturday, reaching her goal of finishing in under four hours.

Compston, 42, competed in the Air Force Marathon in Dayton with her husband, Chris, serving in the familiar role of her biggest supporter. She had spent months preparing for the 26.2-mile race, including logging training miles in the heat of Uganda while serving with Amy For Africa.

Her goal was to finish in less than four hours.

She did it — with room to spare.

Compston crossed the finish line in 3 hours, 55 minutes and 17 seconds, averaging 8:59 per mile. She finished ninth among 64 runners in the women’s 40-44 age group, 53rd among 544 female runners and 295th among 1,777 overall competitors.

It was an impressive return to marathon competition for someone whose running journey has been intertwined with her faith for more than a decade.

Thirteen years ago, Compston ran the Boston Marathon in about 3½ hours. Her finishing time, however, wasn’t what she remembered most about that day.

Compston crossed the finish line about 30 minutes before two bombs exploded nearby in the 2013 Boston Marathon terrorist attack. Twenty-two family members who were there to celebrate with her at the finish line, left only minutes before the bombs exploded. They were safe while walking down an alley but clearly heard the explosions.

The experience became another defining moment in her life.

Compston believed God had already spared her from a life involving drugs and alcohol and from a serious automobile accident. Now she had been just minutes removed from the site of a terrorist attack.

Amy with her Air Force Marathon medal and Chris, her biggest supporter with her in Dayton.

She had already given her life to Christ, but Boston deepened her conviction to surrender everything to Him. That commitment eventually became the foundation for Amy For Africa.

Running continued to be part of her life.

Compston completed a 50-mile ultramarathon in November 2013 and ran seven marathons with Chris alongside her in 2014. She returned to the Boston Marathon two more times and competed in the New York City and Chicago marathons, along with numerous other races.

Eventually, injury slowed her competitive running.

But it never extinguished the desire.

The Air Force Marathon gave Compston something to chase again.

She trained with the determination that had characterized her earlier running career, preparing physically, mentally and spiritually for another 26.2-mile test.

Saturday, the work paid off.

Mile 24 was particularly difficult. But Compston knew if she could maintain a 10-minute-per-mile pace over the closing miles, she would break the four-hour barrier.

Amy Compston promoting her life calling to others.

She leaned on something even more familiar than running.

Prayer.

“I prayed the whole way,” she said. “At least 98 percent.”

Prayer has long been central to Compston’s life and ministry. Her competitive drive isn’t far behind, and she sees a connection between the two.

“It’s GOD’s grace,” she said. “HE knew I would need the relentless drive to do HIS will. I praise HIM for it.”

That drive has been evident in the work Amy and Chris have done through Amy For Africa.

The couple has devoted much of their lives to serving in Uganda, where the ministry operates Christian schools and works with children and families. Through years of construction projects, fundraising challenges and ministry opportunities, the Compstons have watched Amy For Africa grow far beyond what they once imagined.

They credit God for providing the resources and opportunities that have allowed the ministry to reach hundreds of people with the gospel.

Even Compston’s marathon training sometimes provided moments that made her wonder about God’s provision.

About a month before Saturday’s race, she set out on her longest training run — 14 miles through Uganda.

As she left the gated area where she was staying, Compston noticed a dog she had never seen before. When she started running, the dog followed.

And kept following.

For all 14 miles.

Running alone as a woman in Uganda can carry risks, but the dog remained alongside Compston throughout the run. Afterward, neither Amy nor Chris saw the dog again.

Maybe it was simply a dog that wanted to run.

Or maybe, Compston wondered, it was protection at just the right time.

Saturday in Dayton, there was no mysterious running companion beside her for 26.2 miles.

But Compston didn’t believe she was running alone.

From the opening mile through the difficult 24th and finally across the finish line in under four hours, the runner who has built her life around faith, prayer and perseverance believed God was with her every step of the way.

Amy Compston, who has run in three Boston Marathons included the 2013 race with the terrorist attack, was running again Sept. 19 in Dayton.

Read about the 1975 JAWS Tomcats in the new book

Book No. 12 is about another great Ashland Tomcat season – “The Boys They Called JAWS.” It chronicles the 1975 season when Ashland won its first 14 games before losing to St. Xavier in the first Class AAAA championship game. It pitted the Class AAAA state at-large champions against the Jefferson County champion. The book is available in softback ($25) or hardback ($35). Follow the link to order today! https://www.paypal.com/ncp/payment/TU53F77YFGW5Y