| David slew Goliath! Outweighed 30 pounds a man and as much as a 14 point underdog, the Ironton Fighting Tigers came from behind to upset Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary 7-6, Friday afternoon at the Akron Rubber Bowl, and thus claim their first-ever Class AA State Football Championship. The Tigers used blood and guts, scrap, hustle, pride, tradition and desire to post the win. They played super defense, and never quit, as evidenced by their touchdown drive that covered 73 yards in ten plays, with senior Gabriel Lewis dashing into the endzone with just 31 seconds left in the game. The decisive extra point was kicked by Joe Fletcher after getting another perfect snap from Craig Thomas, who hasn't failed on a point after attempt, field goal, or punt snap in three seasons. "Not in our wildest dreams did we think we'd win this thing at the beginning of the year," Lutz beamed, his head shaking back and forth, still in disbelief. "If you'd have told me we'd be here back in August, I'd have said you were crazy." And why not? The Tigers lost five interior linemen to graduation while returning only Fletcher, while the other end, Tim Hodges, was moved to fill the void at fullback. And the important quarterback position had also been vacated. After being proclaimed the worst team in Lutz' eight year stint at Ironton, the young Tigers tried not to live up to it, but were battling for their lives early in the season. But they turned it around, and went on to do what none of the other "better" teams had done: win a state championship. "It was a super defense against an enormous size team and a super fullback," explained Lutz. "We had our backs to the wall time and time again, but we held them off. They had numerous opportunities. We waited for our break, and we got it." That break was a fumble recovery by senior defensive tackle Joe Hacker, who at 6-3 and 215 pounds was going against Fighting Irish tackle Jim Carson at 6-5 and 255. "Hacker did a tremendous job against Carson," lauded Lutz. "Defensively we had to keep them from shoving it down our throats. We had two down men that weighed 155 and 175. We just tried to keep low at their feet and tie them up." After intercepting an Ironton pass, St. Vincent-St Mary had the ball on the Tigers' 35 yard line with 4:30 left in the game. But on second and three, Jerry Gaydash was hit and fumbled the ball. Hacker pounced on it with 3:32 left. "The ball just came out and I reached for it and got it," said a sobbing Hacker after the game. Down lineman Scott Willis, at only 175, said "I had a hand on it, but Joey had it with both hands." Now Ironton had the ball on their own 27. The exciting finish for the most exciting game in the history of Ironton football was at hand. Junior quarterback Brent Wilcoxen, who hit 12 of 14 passes for 82 yards, was to connect on 6 of 6 aerials during the drive for 64 yards, including a big 32 yard toss to Fletcher, and a couple of check-off passes to Hodges. The first play was a 6 yard pass to Fletcher, then Lewis ran for two. Wilcoxen then passed for two more yards to Terry Royal for a first down with just over 2 minutes left to play. Then came the bootleg pass. Wilcoxen faked and circled to his right, stood up, and fired downfield to Fletcher. TThe defensive back for Akron recovered in time after being badly beaten on the play, but Fletcher took the ball from him in what appeared to be an interception at first. The play covered 32 yards and gave Ironton a first down at the St. Vincent-St. Mary 30 yard line. "The ball was tipped," said Fletcher. "But I wasn't going to let him have it. I wanted it." "Fletchers an athlete," remarked Lutz. He went up and got it. He did the same thing last week against Badin. He's played under a lot of pressure before, like in the basketball tournament. Pressure is not a stranger to him." Wilcoxen thought that there wasn't any problem with the play until the ball got closer to its' target. "When I first threw it, I thought he was open easy," explained Brent. "But after I threw it, he didn't seem so open." After no gain, Wilcoxen went to throw, but was rushed. He dumped the ball to Hodges for seven yards. Then he threw for seven more to Lewis. Being rushed hard again, he dumped the ball off to Hodges for nine yards to the Akron seven yard line with 34 seconds left in the game. "Those plays weren't in the playbook," confessed Hodges. "I was just blocking and dropped off. It was just that Brent was looking and was able to hit me." Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary jumped offside and the penalty put the ball on the 4 yard line. With John Moritz leading the interference, Lewis went left, then cut sharply inside and went almost untouched into the endzone. "It looked like they had some people out there, but Lewis cut it back up," commented Lutz on the tying score. "Lewis is a tough, tough kid. He hit Gaydash, who is a tough back, and knocked him back a couple of times." {This is not in the article} The Tigers lined up for the game winning point after attempt.Thomas snapped the ball to Royal who placed it, and Fletcher kicked it through the uprights. Game winner! Unfortunately, not this kick. Akron had jumped offsides, and the ruling at that time, was that the penalty could not be refused. The ball was moved to the 1 1/2 yard line, and the down was played again. This time Thomas snapped the ball to Royal who placed it and the kick was good by Fletcher. The dynamic trio came through as always! The triumph was a masterpiece for the coaching staff, but all their praise was for the kids. "Our guards did a hell of a good job," praised assistant coach Pat Sheridan. "David Clay and Darwin Conwell were really out-manned. John Moritz did a good job getting out and got a good lead block on the touchdown play." "Our kids never gave up," smiled Mike Burcham, assistant coach and athletic director. "They've hit hard all year." Assistant coach Lynn Schrickel said not to forget the sidelines for the support they gave and added, "The defensive line was out-manned 30 pounds. We put in three or four new defenses this week, and the kids ran them like we'd done it for three years. We were just doing a lot of slanting and jamming it inside to try and force them outside. This is a great experience, maybe the greatest of a lifetime," gleamed Schrickel. "There is no way out people could slug it out. We went to a six man defensive line. We wanted to make them go outside. We wanted them to throw the ball. We figured they'd try to run down out throats," noted Lutz. "More than anything else, we just wanted to force them outside into our speed. The big factor was out speed and quickness," continued Lutz. Lutz was also happy that the state title was brought down to southeastern Ohio, where football isn't as highly regarded as it is in the northern part of the state, by northern people of course. "If we'd gotten blown out, they would have said 'send them back to southeastern Ohio' They have a bigger population in the north and they don't take us as seriously. A lot of people thought we shouldn't have been here," said Lutz. They can't say that now. But if anyone still believes it, just ask St. Vincent-St. Mary. They know that Ironton belongs. But then, they 1979 Ohio Class AA champion Ironton Fighting Tigers knew they belonged the whole time. |
| Tigers Crowned Number 1 |
| by Jimmy Walker Ironton Tribune |
| Tim Hodges: Not a whole lot left to say. Hacker recovers fumble. Fletcher catches pass. Gabriel goes in for six. Fletcher's kick makes it seven. Sutton intercepts. Half of the town of Ironton storms the field of the Rubber Bowl. Police escort into town {the good kind}. Next days news finally hits home. Class AA State Champs! Anytime we screwed up or or off the field, Lutz would sigh and say "right to the bitter end." It's not often I can say this, but this time I'm glad we proved him wrong! |
| Bob Vaughn "It was my thought going into the state championship game that the Tigers had no chance against Akron St, Vincent-St. Mary. Akron was playing on its home turf and had the size of a college squad. Our defense managed to keep the game close and gave the offense one more shot late in the game. The long pass from Brent Wilcoxen to Bubby Fletcher is probably the greatest play in Tigers' football history. |