| Ground Game Leads Ironton Over Blue Devils by Tom Clutters The Ironton Fighting Tigers were a little slow getting started friday night, but once all the gears kicked in, it was no contest. After only scoring once in the first period and once in the second, the Tigers erupted for 3 more scores in the second half and came away with a 36-8 victory over the Blue Devils in Gallipolis. Halfback Terry "Cat" Royal and junior Gabriel Lewis were the main gears for the Tigers with Royal collecting 199 yards on 14 carries, including TD runs of 29 and 79 yards, while Lewis added a 108 yard performance on 11 carries. Senior fullback Rodney Boykin continued his scoring assault, racking up three touchdowns and finishing the night with 64 yards on 16 carries as the Fighting Tigers piled up a total of 378 yards. Bill Trents Blue Devils took the opening kickoff at their own 30 and began a well executed drive in the mud. Junior tailback Mark Sheets did most of the ground work, while quarterback Greg Harrington connected on two key passes to junior end Nick Robinson, moving the ball to the Ironton 20. At that point, however, the initial Gallipolis drive came to a stop as Harrington fumbled on fourth and two and the Tigers took over on downs. Boykin could manage only 3 yards in the first two Ironton plays, but on third and seven, Lewis broke free and dashed 23 yards to the tiger 49, and Royal followed up with a 20 yard run bringing the ball to the Gallipolis 31. The Tigers then ground it out the rest of the way, including a 14 yard scamper by Lewis, and Boykin finished it off with a two yard run at the 2:16 mark of the first period. Joe Fletchers extra point kick was blocked, making it 6-0 as the first period came to a close. Gallipolis took over at the beginning of the second quarter after they recovered a Fighting Tiger fumble at the Blue Devil 34. The teams then exchanged punts until, with about five minutes left in the half, the Tigers took over on downs at their own 47 and began their second scoring drive of the night. After 8 straight running plays, aided by a 15 yard penalty on Gallipolis, Ironton drove to the 5 where Boykin, breaking 4 tackles, punched the ball into the end zone with 1:38 showing on the clock. The run for the extra point by Royal was good, giving the Fighting Tigers a 14-0 half time lead. Ironton came out running in the third period, scoring twice within four minutes. The first score came on a 29 yard run by Royal on the fifth play from scirmmage with 9:45 left in the third quarter to make it 20-0. After the Blue Devils punted on their next possession, the Tigers went into pay dirt again. From the 26, the first play didn't go anywhere as lewis caught a screen pass from Greg Ainsworth behind the line of scrimmage and was thrown for a 6 yard loss. The next play, however, was a little more successful, as Royal took the ball on a counter play and with good blocking from his teammates, dashed 79 yards for the score. Lewis ran in the conversion giving the Fighting Tigers a 28-0 lead with 6:47 left in the period. Both offenses then stalled for several minutes as Gallipolis allowed the Tigers just 3 offensive plays, and forced Tim Hodges to punt the ball to the Blue Devil 43. Sophomore tailback Mark Hemphill and teammate MArk Sheets combined with Harrington to take the Blue Devils all the way down to the FIghting Tigers 10 yard line. On the first play from the ten, Harrington threw an incomplete pass and on fourth down, senior defensive end Marty Scior sacked the Blue Devil quarterback for a 7 yard loss to kill the Gallipolis threat. Greg Ainsworth was sacked on the first Tiger play by Dan Staggs, but Royal came back with a 6 yard gain followed by a 24 yard gallop by Lewis with over seven minutes left in the game. Ironton continued to march, helped by a 22 yard run by Lewis and a 23 yard pickup by Royal, putting the ball on the Blue Devil two. From there it was Boykin again for the score with 5:39 left. Royal added the conversion to make it 36-0. Harrington then took it on his own to get the only Blue Devil score. On third down from his own 25, the junior signal caller broke loose into the Tiger secondary and rambled 32 yards before before Tink Williams drove him out of bounds at the Tiger 43. Harrington then hit tight end Greg Eustler for a 24 yard gain, and two plays later, followed with a 15 yard scoring run. Scott Morrison added the two point conversion to make the final score 36-8 in favor of the Fighting Tigers. The Ironton defense held Gallipolis to a total of 229 yards for the night and only 143 yards on the ground. Back to 78 Tigers |