| Fighting Tigers Over Meigs by Tom Clutters The Meigs Marauders came to Ironton with a surprise friday night, but it wasn't enough to keep the Fighting Tigers from taking a 35-20 homecoming night victory at Tank Stadium. The surprises the Marauders brought was freshman quarterback Bob Ashley, who completed 9 of 15 passes for 113 yards. The ground game, however, didn't match the aerial performance, as the Marauders managed just 84 yards rushing. Ironton, on the other hand, piled up a total of 370 yards on the ground, led by a 184 yard performance by sophomore halfback Terry "Cat" Royal. Senior fullback Rodney Boykin made his contribution to the Ironton attack, rolling up 115 yards in 21 carries. The Tigers took the opening kickoff from their own 35 and put together a 12 play drive which carried into the Marauder end zone with 5:48 left in the first period. A 13 yard run by Tim Hodges and a 10 yard run by Boykin early in the drive played key roles, with Boykin finally going in from the one for the TD. Joe Fletchers extra point kick gave the Tigers a 7-0 lead. The Marauders ran only three plays in their first possession after the Ironton kickoff, and the Tigers, after taking over after a Meigs punt, found their offense stalled and kicked the back to the Marauders as the first period came to a close. On the punt, however, Tim Hodges lost control of the snap, and after dodging a couple of Meigs rushers, managed only an 8 yard punt, giving the Marauders excellent field position at the Ironton 28. Six running plays brought the ball to the Tiger 14, where Ashley dropped back and fired a 10 yard strike to junior end Larry Stewart at the 4. Ashley then kept the ball to toe two, and senior tailback Greg Becker finished the drive, powering his way into the end zone from two yards out. Dave Blake kicked the extra point, making it 7-7 with 8:59 left in the first half. Ironton wasted no time in regaining the lead. With 5:09 left in the half, and the ball resting at the Meigs 23, Boykin took the ball from Greg Ainsworth, broke four tackles and galloped into the end zone around the right side for his second TD of the night. Fletchers kick made it 14-7. Ironton got the ball back shortly thereafter, and from the Tigers 25, Terry Royal broke loose through the line and headed for paydirt. Only a saving tackle by Jerry Fields kept Royal from scoring as the first half drew to a close with Ironton leading 14-7. Both teams exchanged possessions for most of the third period, but Meigs drew blood again with 4:07 left in the period as Ashley scored on a keeper from the Ironton 5. Blake booted the extra point, knotting the score at 14-14. The fired up Marauders stopped Royal cold on the first play from scrimmage by the Tigers, but the powerful Ironton ground attack then took over again, grinding down to the Marauders 23 as the third period came to an end. From the 23, Gabriel Lewis got one yard and on a third and ten situation, quarterback Greg Ainsworth threw a pass which just missed the outstretched arom of two Marauder defenders and landed solidly in Joe Fletchers hands for the score. Joe added the extra point, giving Ironton the lead once again, 21-14 with 11:21 to go in the game. The Tigers then hammered another nail into the Meigs coffin when Darwin Conwell picked off an Ashley pass at the Marauder 45. After two runs by Boykin covering ten yards, Royal again took off, breaking a tackleat the line and rambling down the left side for a 32 yard score. Once again,,Fletcher made the kick, lifting the Tigers into a 28-14 advantage. It was at that point when Ashley decided to take command of the struggling offense. Starting from the Meigs 29, the freshman signal caller connected on 3 of 4 passes, including a 35 yarder to senior end Bob Seeling to bring the Marauders down to the Tiger 5, where Van Willford rammed the ball over with 5:10 left in the game. Blakes extra point attempt hit the right upright and bounced back into the end zone, no good. Ironton began moving the ball back into Meigs territory as the clock began to run out. On a fourth down and two from the Marauder 11, Gabriel Lewis scampered around the right side and into the end zone with just 9 seconds showing on the clock. The final extra point kick by Fletcher made it 35-20, giving the Fighting Tigers their fifth straight victory, and second of the season in the SEOAL. Back to 78 Tigers |