| Fighting Tigers Pound Court House by Jimmy Walker Ironton may be the Fighting Tigers, but with the way they run the football, you might think they were a bunch of groundhogs. Rolling up 382 yards rushing against the Washington Court House Blue Lion defense, the Tigers pounded out a 46-24 win friday night at Tank Memorial Stadium. Speedy sophomore halfback Terry "Cat" Royal, who until the game had ran the ball only 12 times for 61 yards, turned in a dazzling 220 yard effort on just 20 carries and scored a touchdown to lead the Ironton ground attack. "We got some guns to throw at them," smiled Ironton coach Bob Lutz about his offensive backfield. "They all ran well." But the passing game wasn't taking a backseat as senior quarterback Greg Ainsworth hit 5 of 10 passes for 105 yards and, according to Lutz, "He did a good job. He was throwing the ball well." As for his receivers, Lutz added "We got some guys who can catch the ball. They're big and they can go up with the defenders and get it." Passing is what kept Court House in the game as Todd Terrell connected on 9 of 18 passes for 142 yards and one TD. But he was intercepted three times, twice by Tim Hodges. "We didn't get much pressure on him the first half," noted Lutz. "We just stunted a little and tried to cover the flats. He hurt us by dumping the ball in the flats or over the middle." "He wasn't the best passer I've seen, but he was cool," praised Lutz. "The second half we decided to go after him and put more pressure on him." Rodney Boykin, the Tigers' own Tonka Tank, blasted through the line for the first period touchdown from one yard out and with Joe Fletcher kicking the extra points, Ironton built up a 14-0 first quarter lead. Terrell began clicking the second period and hit five of six tosses for 77 yards as passed the Blue Lions back into the game. His aerials set up touchdown runs of six and five yards by Rod Tyree and Larry Brickles respectively. Terrell also passed once to Steve Pritchett and once to Tom Shields on the conversions to cut the Tigers lead to 21-16 at the half. With 6:36 left in the half, Ironton used a 54 yard run by Royal to get into striking distance as Gabriel Lewis went five yards for the score and Fletcher added the PAT. Court House, the first team to score against the Tiger defense this season, added insult to injury by taking a 24-21 lead on the third play of the second half. Terrell hit Prichard with a 48 yard bomb for the TD and the same hooked up on the conversion with 11:10 left in the period. "Conwell went for the interception," explained Lutz. The ball hung up there and he just miss timed it. He was right there." With Royal, Boykin and Lewis all ripping off big gains, Ironton moved the ball to the ten yard line where the drive stalled. But Fletcher booted a 27 yard field goal to tie the score with 6:15 on the clock. After a fumble recovery by Marty Scior, Ironton began the go-ahead drive. They marched the ball 52 yards in 8 plays as Royal capped the drive on the first play of the fourth period by racing around the left end from ten yards out. The extra point kick attempt was blocked. Ainsworth got into the scoring act for the first time this year on a quarterback sneak that culminated a 45 yard march that started after an interception by Dan Bryant of a deflected pass. Ainsworth passed to Fletcher for the two point conversion and it was 38-24. One minute later, Fletcher sacked Terrell in the endzone for a safety to make the score 40-24 with 3:20 left in the game. After the ensuing free kick, Hodges finished off the nights scoring with a four yard run. Hodges was filling in for Lewis who was injured earlier. The PAT kick was blocked and the final score stood at 46-24. Besides Royal, Boykin had 92 yards on 16 carries and Lewis had 78 yards on 13 carries. Brickles had 44 of Court House's 96 yards in 10 carries. Ironton had 28 first downs to the Blue Lions 12. Ironton fumbled three times and lost two while Court House fumbled once and lost it. The Tigers had 2 penalties for 30 yards and Court House had 10 for 50 yards. Back to 78 Tigers |