August 20, 1999

Tornadoes win 20-7 over Ashland

Columbian's first-team offense scored three of the four times it had the ball, and the Tornadoes went on to post a 20-7 win over Ashland during the preview portion of the two schools' scrimmage Thursday.

The Tornadoes also posted a touchdown earlier in the day during the controlled scrimmage, held at the TC practice field.

Due to the new expanded playoffs teams are limited to just one three -hour scrimmage against an opponent. As a result, the Tornadoes and Arrows squared off in both a scrimmage and a two-quarter preview.

"I was real pleased with the way we scrimmaged," Columbian coach Steve Gilbert said. "We really came ready for this. The big thing was that we were able to get some questions answered.

"More than anything we got to run some plays on film," he said. "And the coaches got to look at a lot of different players."

Columbian drove deep into Ashland territory on its first possession, but quarterback Brent Wise fired an interception, and the drive was stalled.

A few plays later, however, Columbian's Chris Brooks picked off an Arrow pass and returned 35 yards for a touchdown. Mike Porter's PAT kick made it 7-0.

Ashland pieced together an 80-yard scoring drive, capped by a short TD run to knot the score at 7-7 with time running out in the first.

Wise then led TC to a pair of scores on its next two drives. He first hit Brooks out of the backfield for a 20-yard score, and followed that with a 32-yard strike to wideout Brad Snyder.

"I'm happy with what Chris did, and Brent did a good job of checking off and getting us into the right play," Gilbert said. "That touchdown to Brad was a check off."

The Tornadoes open the regular season Aug. 27 against Fostoria in the newly-renovated Frost-Kalnow Stadium.