| Tigers Humble Athens, 35-0 by Tom Clutters The Ironton Fighting Tigers routed the Athens Bulldogs friday night in Athens, 35-0. What would the score of the game had been had the Tigers been able to hold onto the football? Ironton, overcoming a total of seven fumbles (five lost) took a total offensive attack of 438 yards and shaped it into five touchdowns to come out on top in its' first SEOAL game of the season. Rodney Boykin led the ground attack with 115 yards in 15 carries and three touchdowns. Meanwhile, Terry Royal, in addition to picking up 60 uards on the ground, latched onto four passes from quarterback Greg Ainsworth, for two touchdowns and a total of 123 yards. Junior Tim Hodges, who didn't carry the ball until the second period, racked up 97 yards in just six carries. Athens started the game well enough, taking the opening kickoff from their own 20 and driving to the Ironton 23 in 15 plays. The drive stalled at that point, with Boykin sacking Bulldog quarterback Fred Rose for a nine yard loss to kill the drive. Ironton took over at its' own 25 and Boykin immediately got things with gains of 8 and 13 yards on the first two plays. Then Royal dashed for 14 more yards to the Tiger 46 and Boykin followed 6 more yards on the next play. On a first and ten with 2:40 left in the period, the first Tiger fumble occurred with Boykin coughing up the ball at the Athens 34 yard line. The Bulldogs ran only 3 plays and punted back to Ironton. The Tigers tried two unsuccessful running plays as the first quarter ran out, but on the first play of the second period, Ainsworth dropped into the pocket and threw a perfect strike to Royal, who galloped 74 yards down the middle for the score. Joe Fletchers' kick made it 7-0. Athens took over, but the offense again sputtered and the Bulldogs punted. Fumble fever struck again as the Tigers lost the kick, allowing Athens to recover on the Ironton 32. After 2 runs, Boykin teamed up with Marty Scior to sack Ross again, this time for a loss of 6 yards, which ended the Bulldog threat. On the first Tiger play, Tim Hodges, carrying the ball for the first time of the evening, dashed around the left side and rambled 56 yards before being downed at the Bulldog 11. Boykin then wasted no time, powering his way into the end zone for the TD. With Fletchers' kick, it gave the Tigers a 14-0 lead with 7:07 to go in the half. The teams exchanged possessions for the next few minutes until, with two minutes left in the half, senior tackle Robert Clay pounced on a Bulldog fumble, giving Ironton possession at the Athens 40. Hodges promptly picked up 6 yards and Ainsworth hit Royal for 16 more. After Ainsworth was tackled for a 2 yard loss, he went back into the pocket and found Royal all alone down the right sideline for a 20 yard scoring pass. Fletchers' extra point ended the half with the Tigers on top by a 21-0 score. Ironton took the second half kickoff and began a march from its' own 34, but at the 45 Bulldog sophomore Neal Lee tackled Ainsworth forcing the ball loose and senior end Kevin Eskey recovered for the Bulldogs. Jack Smathers hit the line for ten yards for Athens and Mark Johnson followed with a seven yard run, but the Bulldog drive eventually stalled at the Ironton 37. With about seven minutes left in the third period, the Tigers began their longest drive of the evening, highlighted 16 yard runs by Hodges and Boykin. Boykins 3 yard scamper with 4:37 left gave the Tigers an insurmountable lead as Fletchers' kick made it 28-0. The final Ironton score came with 8:28 left in the game as Boykin tallied again, this time from one yard out. The kick by Fletcher set the final margin of 35-0. Ironton's reserves more than held their own during the last minutes of the game, keeping the Bulldogs from scoring and managing a good deal of offense themselves. Reserve fullback Dave Bryant picked up a total of 40 yards in 6 carries. The Tigers rolled up 303 yards on the ground and 135 in the air, while limiting Athens to 149 yards rushing and 33 passing. Jack Smathers led the Bulldogs with 79 yards on 18 carries with Mark Johnson adding 56 yards in 16 tries. Ainsworth connected on 4 of 7 passes for 123 yards, was sacked twice and threw two interceptions. Fred Ross completed 4 of 14 for the Bulldogs and was intercepted 3 times. The Tiger defense totalled two sacks for 15 yards. Back to 78 Tigers |