Cardone leads Ashland

The Ashland University football team again is expected to be a contender for the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Association championship and a third straight berth in the NCAA Division II playoffs.

Hoping to show the way for the Eagles is redshirt senior tight end Frank Cardone from Austintown Fitch High, a team captain and in his third year as a starter for sixth-year coach Lee Owens.

Cardone (6-foot-2, 236 pounds) has proved to be a reliable blocker and improving pass receiver the past two seasons, helping Ashland to a 17-6 record, including 16-3 in the GLIAC and back-to-back runner-up finishes behind Grand Valley State.

Now Cardone is hoping to continue his improvement as a pass catcher and become even more of a leader as one of four team captains, as the Eagles try to find a way to unseat perennial Div. II power and No. 1-ranked Grand Valley State from its domination of the GLIAC the past four seasons.

“They use me mostly for blocking. Ever since I played offense in high school, that was my main asset,” said Cardone, who made All-GLIAC honorable mention last season. But, “I expect to get more passes this year. My offensive coordinator used to be a tight ends coach and he likes to get the tight ends involved in the offense.

“They are trying to work me into the pass-receiving scheme and trying to get me out on some routes.”

Last season as a junior, Cardone caught 13 passes for 189 yards and three TDs, after receiving nine passes for 101 yards and two TDs the year before as a sophomore.

Along with his blocking, he helped the Eagles to 9-4 record last year, including 8-2 in the GLIAC; after the team went 8-2 and 7-1 in 2007.

Helped by the two-year success, Ashland entered this season as the No. 2 pick in the GLIAC preseason coaches’ poll behind Grand Valley State, and the Eagles also were ranked No. 23 this week in both the American Football Coaches Association and D2football.com Top 25 polls.

Grand Valley State, which compiled a 51-2 record over the past four seasons, including a perfect 38-0 in the GLIAC, is ranked No. 1 in the nation in both polls, as well by USA Today Sports Weekly.

Ashland got off to a bad start this season by losing the season opener last Wednesday at Bloomsburg, 10-7, because of a sluggish offense. The Eagles hope to re-discover their offensive attack and regroup Saturday at Ferris State at 7 p.m.

Then the following Saturday, Sept, 12, Ashland will have added incentive when they play their home opener and first game in new Jack Miller Stadium at the Dwight Schar Athletic Complex against Michigan Tech at 1 p.m.

Cardone thinks Ashland has a good chance to beat Grand Valley State when they meet Oct. 24 in Ashland at 1 p.m.

“They are beatable. Ashland came close to beating them in the last three years. We came the closest to beating them in the league and maybe in the nation,” he said.

Cardone is majoring in sports management with a 3.4 grade-point average, and is a two-time selection to the GLIAC All-Academic Team. He is planning to graduate in May.

“I would like to become a graduate assistant [coach] and get my master’s degree and teacher’s license. I would like to become hopefully a high school teacher and football coach and eventually an athletic director,” said Cardone, the son of Frank and Denise Cardon.

His father is an Ursuline High graduate and played football for the Irish from 1972-74.

Cardone said he returned the “e” back to his last name because, “I did want to go back to the family roots and to the name that my family had when they came here from Italy,” he explained.

XJohn Kovach writes about college athletics for The Vindicator. E-mail him at kovach@vindy.com.