Teays Valley held off some late trickeration from host Ashland on Friday to emerge with a hard-fought 23-21 non-league win.
The Vikings produced 428 yards of total offense as they moved to 3-0 for the first time since the 2014 season.
Quarterback Tyler Love was 8 of 16 passing for 200 yards and a touchdown, with wide receiver Harrison Payne catching the scoring pass and finishing with five grabs for 138 yards.
Peyton Weiler paced the Vikings’ ground game with 13 carries for 103 yards with Love turning in 43 yards rushing on 14 totes and Camden McDanel covering 42 yards on 11 carries and a touchdown.
The Vikings used a 34-yard pass from Love to Landon Thompson on a wheel route and an 18-yard run on a counter play from Weiler to eventually penetrate down to the Ashland 17. The drive stalled there, but Cale Clifton came on to drill a 34-yard field goal to put the Vikings ahead 3-0.
Teays Valley extended its lead to 10-0 early in the second quarter when Love connected with Payne on a seam route that went 68 yards to the house.
Ashland (0-3) finally reached the scoreboard with 2:03 remaining before halftime on a three-yard run by Cayden Spotts.
The Vikings went back to the pass with Love hitting Payne for chunks of 26 and 16 yards to eventually set up a 44-yard field goal off the kicking foot of Clifton with 16 seconds left before intermission, making the score 13-7.
Thomas Williams short circuited an Ashland drive to open the second half when he intercepted a tipped pass on his own eight-yard line.
Teays Valley then methodically moved down the field on a 12-play, 92-yard drive. A 12-yard carry by Weiler early in the drive on third-and-four kept the chains moving, and McDanel eventually capped the possession with a two-yard scoring run to put the Vikings ahead 20-7.
Spotts provided the answer for the Arrows with a six-yard touchdown run to shave the TV lead to 20-14 entering the final period of play.
The Vikings drained seven minutes and four seconds off the fourth quarter clock with another drive that culminated with Clifton connecting on a 35-yard field goal to make it 23-14 with 3:50 remaining.
That’s when the Arrows pulled a trick play on a double pass from Landon McFrederick to Ryan Thompson, who hit a wide open Grayson Steury for a 60-yard strike with 3:36 remaining.
Ashland had its final possession with less than a minute left, but McDanel dropped a scrambling McFrederick on fourth down to give the Vikings the ball back with just 20 seconds left.
Teays Valley dominated yardage, outgaining Ashland 428-176, but 95 yards in penalties and a pair of turnovers slowed down some of its progress.
The Vikings open Mid-State League Buckeye Division play next week at Fairfield Union (1-2), a 26-12 winner over Lakewood last night.
Teays Valley 23, Ashland 21
Score by Quarters 1 2 3 4 F
Teays Valley 3 10 7 3 23
Ashland 0 7 7 7 21
First Quarter
TV – Cale Clifton 34 field goal, 2:52.
Second Quarter
TV – Harrison Payne 68 pass from Tyler Love (Cale Clifton kick), 11:06.
AH – Cayden Spotts 3 run (Isaac Roop kick), 2:03.
TV – Cale Clifton 44 field goal, 0:16.
Third Quarter
TV – Camden McDanel 2 run (Cale Clifton kick), 3:16.
AH – Cayden Spotts 6 run (Isaac Roop kick), 2:15.
Fourth Quarter
TV – Cale Clifton 35 field goal, 3:50.
AH – Grayson Steury 60 pass from Ryan Thompson (Isaac Roop kick), 3:36.