| Instead of showing game films this week, Bob Lutz might be tempted to show cartoons and change diapers at intermission. The young Fighting Tiger squad was even younger Friday night after a couple of injuries to some key, experienced personnel, but still Ironton managed to come away with a 6-0 win over the fired-up Ashland Tomcats. Standout defensive tackle Joe Hacker was lost early in the second half and running sensation Terry Royal didn't play at all in the second half, as Ironton opened its' season on a winning note. The Tomcats, playing their third game, fell to 0-3. "We played good defense, especially with our number one defender out," said Lutz. Ironton scored the only touchdown in the second period after threatening in the opening stanza. but falling just inches short. Ashland threatened in the third period, but was stopped on fourth and goal at the two, and was thwarted again as time ran out with the ball on the Tiger four yard line. "Ashland played a good ballgame," noted Lutz. "We played good defense when we had to. Royal was in and out and didn't play in the second half. We had some young kids in there in the secondary and a young defender has a tendency to lay off instead of coming up." Ironton dominated the first half of the game, rushing for 94 yards, passing for 47 more and piling up 9 first downs. Ashland had only 45 total yards while running only 12 plays. The Tigers took the opening kickoff from their own 27 to the Ashland 4 yard line. A Brent Wilcoxen pass to Joe Fletcher appeared to have the score as Fletcher lunged for the goal line, but officials placed the ball on the 3 inch line. After an Ashland punt to start the second stanza, the Tigers marched down the field behind the running of royal, Gabriel Lewis and Tim Hodges. But it was a first down pass from Wilcoxen to Tink Williams from 24 yards out that turned out to be the only score of the evening. The extra point kick was blocked. Referring to the touchdown, Lutz explained, "it was a play action and two deep instead of three deep, and we just happened to burn them." The Tomcats took the second half kickoff and copied their guests by driving downfield in 16 plays, with Roy Sexton carrying the ball on 13 of them. On 4th and goal at the two, Sexton took a pitchout around his left end, but juggled the ball, and was swarmed under by Hodges and Darwin Conwell. Behind the running of Hodges, Ironton managed to run some time off the clock. However, the Tomcats got one more chance with 2:04 left to play and the ball at their own 20. Two passing plays and two running plays, including a 21 yard scamper by Sexton, put the ball inside the Tigers 35 yard line. Then a 13 yard pass from Scott Crank to Drew Hall put the ball on the 8 yard line. The next play was an incomplete pass, setting up second down with 13 seconds left and no more timeouts for Ashland. Crank dropped back to pass but was forced out of the pocket. As he started to run, Fletcher reached out and stripped him of the ball. By the time Crank could recover it, only 3 seconds remained time ran out before another play could be run. As for the big play, Fletcher said, "he {Crank} just turned up inside and I caught hold of his arm. I don't know what happened after that. Everything just happened so fast." "Not to take anything away from Ashland, but you spot a team two games like Ashland and we played well" commented Lutz. "It's not like a scrimmage. You approach the the two differently. They didn't fumble the ball tonight like they did in their previous games except for the pitch, and we pretty well had that covered anyway." Ironton rushed for 148 yards, led by Lewis with 65 yards on 17 carries, while Hodges had 49 yards on 14 carries. Sexton had 99 of Ashland's 110 yards rushing in 23 carries. Ironton had 12 first downs to 9 for Ashland. Brent Wilcoxen hit four of four in the passing department for 43 yards while Lewis tossed once for 8 yards. Crank hit five of seven for 68 yards. "Outside of his one fumble, said Lutz of Wilcoxen, he did an excellent job for his first varsity game. He didn't fumble a snap or miss a handoff and he hit every pass. I'm well pleased." |
| Fighting Tigers Tackle Tomcats, 6-0 by Jimmy Walker Ironton Tribune |
| Tim Hodges: Our inexperience really showed in this game. I didn't see Fletch strip the ball but I remember Crank struggling to pick up the ball. If Fletch had not stripped it, I believe Crank would have scored. |