| Fighting Tigers Clinch, Defeat Ironmen by Darryl Jones The Ironton Fighting Tigers clinched at least a tie for the SEOAL football Championship friday night by crushing the Jackson Ironmen, 41-8, at Jackson. The victory boosted the Fighting Tigers' season mark to 8-0-0 and gave them a 5-0-0 mark in league play. After forcing the Ironmen to punt, Ironton took over at its own 49. Faced with a third and three at the 44, quarterback Greg Ainsworth hit end Marty Scior with a 14 yard screen pass to move the ball to the 30. Two plays later, sophomore Terry Royal rambled 13 yards to the 15. A run, a penalty and two incompletepasses left the Tigers with a fourth and nine at the 29, where placekicker Joe Fletcher booted a 45 yard field goal with 7:39 left in the first period to makle it 3-0. After a sluggish first period, Ironton exploded for 24 second quarter points, scoring each of the four times they had the ball. On the second play of the period, Royal went off tackle, cut toward the sideline and dashed 44 yards for the score, capping a four play, 53 yard march. Fletcher added the PAT to make it 10-0 with 11:16 remaining. On Ironton's next possession, Joe Singleton threw a fine block to spring Royal loose, this time for a 66 yard TD jaunt. Fletcher once again kicked the point to make it 17-0. Three minutes later, the defense put six more points on the board when senior linebacker Dan Bryant picked off an errant Mark Jenkins pass and rambled 45 yards for the score. Fletcher added the extra point, giving Ironton a 24-0 lead. Bryant then recovered a Jackson fumble at the Ironmen 46 to set up the final score of the half. From that point, the Tigers drove to the 17 where, after a third and six pass fell incomplete, Fletcher booted another field goal, this time from 34 yards out, giving the Fighting Tigers a 27-0 halftime lead. Ironton then took the second half kickoff and drove 62 yards in only six plays, with senior fullback Rodney Boykin going over from the four. Fletcher added the extra point to make it 34-0 with 9:55 to go. IN the drive, Gabriel Lewis had an 18 yard burst and Royal added a 26 yard scamper. The final Ironton tally came on the third play of the final stanza, when Royal scampered 29 yards around the left end and Fletcher added the kick, boosting Ironton to a 41-0 advantage with 10:56 remaining. The Ironmen then took the Tiger kickoff and drove 66 yards in 8 plays against the Ironton reserves to score their lone touchdown. The drive was highlighted by runs of 12 and 30 yards by quarterback Mark Jenkins, and was capped by a 1 yard run by Jenkins. Don Yeager added the two point conversion to make the final 41-8 score. Ironton, which totalled 295 yards rushing for the game, was led by Royal with 197 yards on 15 carries. Back to 78 Tigers |