| As expected, the Ironton Fighting Tigers had a rather easy time Friday night in defeating the visiting Logan Chieftains. What may not have been expected, at least by the Chieftains, was the one man show put on by Tim Hodges. Hodges went into the game as the SEOAL's leading scorer and second leading rusher. When the smoke cleared, the 190 pound senior fullback had scored 5 touchdowns and collected 148 yards on just 14 carries to pace the Tigers to a 42-6 victory at Tanks Memorial Stadium. Ironton scored once in the first period, but blew the game open with 3 second period touchdowns and rolled to their 5th victory of the season. and 3rd league victory in as many starts. The Fighting Tigers were aided by 6 Logan turnovers, including 5 fumbles. In the first period, the Chieftains forced the Tigers to punt only to fumble the ball at their own 41, with Scott Willis recovering the ball. Six plays later, quarterback Brent Wilcoxen fired a strike to senior end Joe Fletcher. After juggling the ball for an instant, Fletcher gathered it in for the first score of the night. Joe's kick made it 7-0, and the Tigers finished the first period with Willis recovering another Logan fumble at the Chieftains 30 yard line. After 5 carries by Hodges and one by Wilcoxen, Hodges slammed in from two yards out at the 10:09 mark and Fletchers conversion made it 14-0. On the kickoff by Ironton, Logan's Kelly Adams lost the handle on the ball and Darwin Conwell recovered for the Tigers at the Chieftains five yard line. Hodges used just one play to get into the endzone for his second TD in less than a minute. The Fighting Tigers found another way to get the pigskin away from Logan on the next drive, as linebacker Adam Ainsworth picked off a Mike Stewart pass at the Ironton 44. Wilcoxen and Fletcher then hooked up again for a 43 yard gain. But, the fumble syndrome suddenly struck the Tigers as Hodges coughed the ball at the Logan 13 to kill the drive. Hodges capped a 7 play, 34 yard drive with the final score of the half with 51 seconds remaining. Fletcher converted once again, setting the halftime score at 28-0. With 4:47 remaining in the 3rd quarter, Hodges broke free for his 4th score of the game, a 27 yard scoring gallop and Fletcher's kick made it 35-0. The scoring closed out for Ironton in grand style, with Hodges bursting through the middle and rambling 72 yards for his 5th TD of the night, Fletcher's kick made it 42-0. The Chieftains did manage to score in the final period, with sophomore John McClanahan going over from three yards out with 6:43 left in the game. Ironton finished with 363 total yards for the night compared to 170 for Logan. In addition to Hodges, Terry Royal rushed for 48 yards on 9 carries and Gabriel Lewis ran the ball 5 times for 35 yards. Wilcoxen connected on 6 of 8 passes, good for 88 yards |
| Fighting Tigers Roll Over Chieftains by Tom Clutters Ironton Tribune |
| Tim Hodges: I'm not going to go into detail, but John Lewis was the unluckiest player on the field that night. He was on the kickoff team and the rest of the players were 5-10 yards downfield before John got out of his stance. Lutz kept replaying the film asking John what the hell was wrong. I'll let John tell the story if he wants. |