| Fighting Tigers Send Rockets Into Orbit by Tom Clutters Apparently the two week layoff experienced by the Ironton Fighting Tigers didn't hurt them too much. There wasn't any rust on the Tigers friday night at Tank Stadium, as evidenced by their convincing 36-7 win victory over the Wellston Golden Rockets. For Ironton, a team which hadn't played since October 7th, it was the sixth victory of the season in as many starts and boosted the Tigers SEOAL mark to 3-0. Senior fullback Rodney Boykin led the Tiger running game with 4 touchdowns, carrying the ball 12 times for 97 yards. Halfback Terry "Cat" Royal led the Ironton ball carriers with 103 yards on 13 carries. The Tigers scored on their first possession of the game with 8:17 left in the first period. After Wellston punted to the Tiger 23, Royal immediately ripped off an 11 yard gain and Gabriel Lewis followed with a 27 yard scamper to the Golden Rocket 39. Boykin then powered his way for 9 yards and on the next play, Broke loose through the Wellston defense and scored from 30 yards out, with Joe Fletcher throwing a block at the 10 which cut down 3 Golden Rocket defenders. Fletcher booted the extra point to make it 7-0. Senior defensive end Marty Scior put a stop to the next Wellston possession, as he sacked Rocket quarterback Lowell Settles on the Wellston five. After a 31 yard punt by Jerry Patton, Ironton began its' second scoring drive from the 34. Two runs by Royal and an 11 yard rush by Boykin moved the ball to the Rocket seven and from that point, Boykin slammed in for his second score of the game with 4:53 left in the first period. The Golden Rockets were penalized during the extra point attempt and Tiger coach Nob Lutz decided to go for two points, with Rodney Boykin doing the honors, making it 15-0. The next Wellston possession lasted just three plays. Patton, under a hard rush by the Tiger line managed only 19 yards on his punt, putting the ball at the Tiger 44. Royal picked up 13 yards on the first play from scrimmage after Ironton had a TD pass called back by off-setting interference penalties. An 8 yard gain by Lewis and a 5 yard penalty on Wellston set the stage for the Tigers third TD of the game. From the 30, quarterback Greg Ainsworth found Royal wide open in the end zone for another score. With Fletchers kick, Ironton held a 22-0 lead at the end of the first quarter. Neight team could manage any kind of score in the second quarter, although the Rockets did manage to get their offense moving if only slightly. The longest offensive play of the period for Wellston was a 13 yard run by Curt Jayjohn. Royal closed out the first half with a 17 yard run from mid-field sending the Tigers into the locker room with a 22-0 lead. The Tigers kept the ball for the first 4 1/2 minutes of the third periodand marched to paydirt on a 12 play, 67 yard drive, with Boykin going the final 7 yards for his third TD of the night. Fletchers kick made it 29-0 with 7:30 left in the period. Once again the Golden Rockets found their offense couldn't get moving. The first two plays netted only 3 yards and Boykin sacked Settles at the line of scrimmage to set up another key play for the Tigers. A bad snap from center caused punter Jerry Patton to lose valuable time, and Lewis broke through and blocked the kick, with the Tigers taking over at the Wellston 14. Five plays later, Boykin slammed his way into the end zone for his fourth and final score of the game. The kick by Fletcher closed out the Tiger scoring, and made it 36-0. As the Ironton reserves began to filter in, the game settled down to a battle of the Tiger defense against the Wellston ground game. Robert Clay racked up the third Ironton sack of the evening late in the game as he threw Settles for an 11 yard loss. Wellston's biggest play of the night came with 3:02 left on the clock, as Patton, breaking 4 tackles, broke into the clear and sprinted 86 yards for the score. Jeff Montgomery kicked the extra point to make it 36-7. Back to 78 Tigers |