When asked how it felt to be playing for one of the top ranked JC football teams in the country, running back Ken Ashley, 21, communications major couldn’t help but smile.
“Who doesn’t like winning? It’s the best feeling in the world,” Ashley said.
He has helped lead EC to the No. 5 ranked team in the nation, according to JCGridiron.com
Ashley has been carrying the load for the Warriors and has played in all nine games with 671 net yards for the season so far, his longest carry being 58 yards, and an average of 7.1 yards per carry with 13 touchdowns.
But football was not always Ashely’s No.1 choice. While attending Servite High School, an all-boys Catholic school in Venice, Ca, he tried out many different sports.
After trying out soccer, basketball, baseball and football, he decided that football was the sport he was “truly in love with.”
“It came down to football and baseball. I did them both, but I just fell in love with football more,” Ashley said.
While doing research to decide what school to attend, he came across EC and saw that the football team won the state championship in 2006.
Football coach John Featherstone says that the Warriors have benefited from Ashley, who is a vital player on the team.
“He has all the respect of the players, there’s no question about it, and he’s a good leader on our team,” Featherstone said.
“He’s a real powerful runner. Plus, he knows how to catch balls out the back field, which is really invaluable,” Featherstone said.
“Plus he’s a good blocker, so he’s kind of a triple-threat kind of guy.”
Team captin Tony Sekona is also impressed is also impressed with Ashley’s skills on the field.
“He runs the ball hard and he executes almost every time he touches the ball,” Sekona said.
While playing his first year on the team in the season of 2007, Ashley said he learned a lot of patience.
“You really learn how to be patient. My freshman year we had a lot of guys that deserved to play, and I had to sit out (because of my shoulder injury), and they would tell me to be patient, that my time would come,” Ashley said.
Even though Ashley sat out for the rest of 2007 to let his shoulder recuperate, he never felt so “truly tied” to a football
program until he joined the team.
“It’s not comparison to any other school I’ve been to. Even when I went to USC for a few months, it’s different here from them. I’m having a better time and having the best coaches coaching me,” Ashley said.
The coaches and team are like a family, Ashley said, and coaches do not only look at the players as a team, but as individuals as well.
“With some of the coaches, you can go talk to them about anything. If you have a problem, they understand that you have an outside life, not just football here,” Ashley said.
He believes this is one of the best football programs out there, and it hurts that there are people who do not understand how great this program really is.
The players hang out on and off the field, and Ashley can take care of his temmates both on and off the field, quarterback Matt Simms said.
“He’s a good person and loves to joke around and have fun with his teammates. He takes care of people around him and shows that he really cares about the people around him too,” Simms said.
Ashley hopes that he’ll be able to play against Cerritos on the final game of the season, but may have to leave the game.
Ashley’s wife, Elizabeth Vargas is past her due date for their baby boy, whom they plan to name Kenneth.
As far as where football will take him, he is not so concerned with where he plays, just as long as he can play for his last two years of school and support his family.
“The only thing I really want out of football is to give me a good education, and to be able to lay that foundation for my family,” Ashley said.
