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0 of 3 Premium Clicks used this month SUBSCRIBE Print + Online Subscriber Activation | Register x Forgot Password | Need an Account? subscribe | newsletter | deals Home News Latest Stories Calendar: Friday, Oct. 31 And the winners are ... Ashland students Police Reports Halloween forecast calls for wet, chilly weather 10 things to know for Thursday Education And the winners are ... Ashland students Marketta Gregory: Stretch yourself for God Every minute counts, so make punctuality a habit Helman students illustrate kindness, love SOU's 'Count Me In' campaign raises $210,000 Environment Rite Aid cub well, could come back to southern Oregon Report: Smaller streams need further protection Bear cub wanders into Rite Aid Kalmiopsis' future at stake if mining goes forward Business Shenandoah Living Funerals Will TV makeover do the trick for Mystic Treats? 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Go Ask Alice: Disturbing the peace Dr. Murray Feingold: Can shingles be prevented? Aging Happens Inner Peace Column Inner Peace Blog Classifieds Jobs Autos Real Estate FEATURED » Obituaries Photos Videos Blogs NEWS NOW Reclaiming our leisure hours ... Our View: Divestment is just a gesture ... Guest Opinion: Oregon poised to mandate GMO labeling ... Reclaiming our leisure hours ... Our View: Divestment is just a gesture ... Guest Opinion: Oregon poised to mandate GMO labeling ... BOYS SOCCER They're twins, and they're good Lehrburger brothers lead Ashland's lockdown defense as Grizzlies look to clinch MWL title today By Joe Zavala Ashland Daily Tidings DailyTidings.com By Joe Zavala Ashland Daily Tidings Posted Oct. 24, 2014 @ 1:41 pm By Joe Zavala Ashland Daily Tidings Posted Oct. 24, 2014 @ 1:41 pm » Social News Gabe Lehrburger isn't going to lie. Yes, it’s nice to have great chemistry with your teammates, to know where they’ll be and when, to understand their strengths and weaknesses and be accustomed to their idiosyncrasies. But when it comes to himself and his identical twin Dave, that’s where the connection ends. “If a guy has a breakaway, instinctively every defender should drop into his place,” said Gabe Lehrburger, the senior left fullback on the Ashland High boys soccer team, “but not many players do at our level. My brother and I, we always do that. And maybe that’s a twin connection, but we know to do that as part of playing soccer. There’s not telepathy going on.” Instead, the Grizzlies continue to rely on good, smart, team soccer, and clearly that style has served them well because on Saturday Ashland, with a win over visiting Springfield, can clinch no worse than a tie for the Midwestern Conference championship. The game is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. at Ashland Middle School. While the offense has improved by leaps and bounds since the team’s rocky 0-3 start, it’s Ashland’s defense that has been the catalyst for the unexpected surge. The Grizzlies (8-4, 4-1 MWL) have won eight of nine games since opening with three straight losses, a run that includes a six-game winning streak during which their opponents scored a combined one goal. And the Lehrburger twins, with Dave as the sweeper and co-team captain, are the leaders of that lockdown defense, which is responsible for five shutouts heading into today’s conference finale. Both athletic and skilled, the twins roam the defensive backfield like a pair of leopards on the prowl, tracking down their prey and setting up teammates for quick counterattacks. “It’s really nice because you have a player that you know that you can count on for pretty much forever,” Dave Lehrburger said. “And if I mess up in the middle then 99 percent of the time my brother is there, and he saves me throughout the game. And I do the same for him. It’s also really nice because he can be so honest with me. If I do something wrong he can just look me right in the eye and tell me what I need to work on. If it was from another player I might take it more as an offense, but from him it’s like, ‘OK, I do need to work on that. Thank you.’” For Gabe Lehrburger, knowing exactly what his brother can and can’t handle is crucial. In-game adjustments are handled instinctively, which allows the Grizzlies to adapt to a wide range of opposing offenses. “It’s nice to have him there with me because I know that I can trust him and he’s not going to make a stupid mistake,” he said. “I know his ability and he’s a solid player and a team captain.” Besides having similar games, the twins also look alike. At first, their coaches struggled with the similarities. Co-head coach Brad Roupp discovered a cheat that helped him tell them apart. Gabe wears green shoes, so “G” for green and “G” for Gabe. Perhaps referees should use the same method. In a game last season at Klamath Union, Dave fouled an opposing player in the first half and received a warning for the aggressive play. Five minutes later, recalls co-head coach Abdi Guled, Gabe made a similarly aggressive play and received a yellow card. Why? Because according to the referee, he had already been warned. “But he’s so polite, Guled said, “he just took it.” A similar mistake occurred Tuesday at Eagle Point, but in reverse, with Dave being punished — merely a warning this time; no card — for Gabe’s aggressive play. It’s the kind of thing that goes down easier when the team is clicking, which it certainly is. Of course, the Grizzlies didn’t always look like the conference juggernaut that they have become. When Grants Pass handed Ashland a 2-0 setback on Sept. 13, the Grizzlies looked like a team that was in over its head, having been outscored 5-1 in its first three games. Then, something happened — a few things, actually. Roupp and Guled put their heads together and decided that the offense, lacking an unstoppable striker around which a consistent attack could be built, needed to alter its approach to ball distribution. And the defense, led by the twins plus right fullback Aidan Locklin, stopper Ethan Jones and jack-of-all-trades Lars Filson, simply needed time to grow. The Grizzlies at that point were still weeks away from their league opener, but the confidence wasn’t exactly sky high. Neither were the expectations. When asked if he thought the Grizzlies would be in position today to grab a league title after their ugly start, Gabe Lehrburger shook his head emphatically. “No, no, no,” he said with a chuckle. “At the beginning of the season, after those first three losses against easy teams, I thought we were going to maybe have two wins this season.” Turns out, the Grizzlies were only beginning to tap into their potential. With the Lehrburgers front and center Ashland picked up its first win of the season Sept. 16, a 3-0 win over Phoenix. Four days later the Grizzlies slammed Hidden Valley 2-0, and three days after that they trounced Crater 5-1. An impressive 1-0 win over Eagle Point followed, sending Ashland into its MWL opener on a four-game win streak. Ashland then opened league play with consecutive wins over North Eugene and Crater before suffering its only league loss — a 3-1 setback at Churchill — on Oct. 10. The Grizzlies rebounded nicely from that letdown, staging consecutive comebacks on the road to knock off both Marist and Eagle Point in overtime. “I think we found how our team works,” Gabe Lehrburger said. “At the beginning of the season, when we were kind of down in a rut, our coaches tried multiple tactics. So it took time. And then, it just came together for us. We worked together, we practiced really hard and it has just kind of worked out for us.” And now, this afternoon Ashland has a chance to complete what has already been a sensational regular-season turnaround and set itself up for what could be a long postseason run. The winner of the Midwestern Conference earns an automatic berth to the 16-team Class 5A state tournament. With a win Saturday, Ashland would clinch no worse than a tie with Marist for the league title, but it’s the Grizzlies that would pocket the MWL’s No. 1 seed to state because they will almost certainly wind up with the higher OSAA ranking of the two (Ashland was seventh as of Friday, Marist 12th). “I think if our team gets full of ourselves going into (Saturday’s) game then we’re going to lose it, but if we go in not playing for the conference championship or anything but playing for ourselves and our teammates and just play our hearts out like we did the last few games then I think we can do it,” Gabe Lehrburger said. “I think we can do anything.” His brother agrees. And barely six weeks after the season looked like a lost cause, Dave Lehrburger smiles when he thinks about the trophy that’s within Ashland’s grasp, almost in disbelief. “I’ve never experienced anything like this,” he said. “It would make my senior year.”  Joe Zavala can be reached at 541-776-4469 or [email protected]. By Joe Zavala Ashland Daily Tidings DailyTidings.com By Joe Zavala Ashland Daily Tidings Posted Oct. 24, 2014 @ 1:41 pm » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. fantasy football Week 9's Toughest Fantasy Decisions Oct. 31, 2014 at 2:06 am Cam's Instant Fantasy Reaction After Week 9 Oct. 31, 2014 at 12:11 am Graham's Instant Fantasy Reaction Oct. 30, 2014 at 10:28 pm Week 9 Fantasy Start 'Em, Sit 'Em Oct. 30, 2014 at 8:45 pm Projecting Winners, Losers for Fantasy Week 9 Oct. 30, 2014 at 2:58 pm Fantasy Rookie of the Year Candidates Oct. 30, 2014 at 2:38 pm calendar Connect with DailyTidings.com Facebook Twitter RSS Back to top Reader Services Reader Services home Subscriptions Subscriber controls Contact us Submissions Photos Events Letters to the editor Corrections Alerts Email alerts RSS feeds Text Alerts Advertise Media Kit Home Products and services Ad rates Advertising contacts Mail Tribune Daily Tidings The Nickel Shop Our Valley Blogs Stay Informed Email newsletter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. 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