| The Jackson Ironmen looked into the mirror before their SEOAL title game with Ironton Friday night and asked "Who's the fairest of them all?" Crrrrack. The mirror shattered and so did Jackson's hopes of upsetting the Fighting Tigers. Ironton made it 7 points bad luck as they blanked the visitors, 7-0, to win their eighth league title in nine seasons, and vault them into the OHSAA Class AA state playoffs. Ironton, now 8-0-1 on the season, and a final 6-0 inside the SEOAL, will travel to Groveport Friday night to battle Hamilton Badin. Jackson finished its Cinderella season at 7-2 and 5-1 in the league. For Tiger coach Bob Lutz, it was his seventh league crown in eight years at Ironton in which he has compiled an SEOAL record of 52-2 plus the league's longest winning streak of 34. It marks his third post-season appearance since the playoffs went into effect 7 years ago. "This one is the biggest," he smiled. "We didn't think we'd be this tough. And then in the first game we lost Joe Hacker who was our only interior lineman back, then we lost Gabriel Lewis. But we hung together." Comparing this team to his past squads, Lutz found it difficult. "It's hard to say. We're not as tough inside as the teams of the early 70's or last year, but we have more weapons. We can run inside, outside, or pass it." Unfortunately, the game was played in a steady rain and the Tigers weren't able to unleash all their weapons. "In this kind of weather, we couldn't sweep or throw it that well. We had only one weapon we could use." The weapon Lutz was referring to was senior fullback Tim Hodges, who rushed for 196 yards on 32 carries, and scored the games only touchdown in the second period on a brilliant 79 yard gallop. Jackson had started a drive late in the first period that carried over ten plays into the second stanza. Ironmen fullback Brian Landrum was his usual workhorse self as he carried the ball 16 times in the 19 play drive that went to the Tiger 3 yard line. But a fourth down and one situation failed as Ironton stopped quarterback Mark Jenkins of a sneak, and took over on downs. That was the end of Jackson's scoring threats for the night. However, Ironton mounted a quick drive of their own that took only 5 plays. Hodges carried four times for 18 yards, and the Tigers were facing a second and seven from their own 21. Behind the blocking of Joe Fletcher, Brian Jenkins, Adam Ainsworth and David Clay, and a lead block from Gabriel Lewis, Hodges slipped through the line and into the secondary. He cut back to hsi right and outran everyone into the endzone. Fletcher kicked the point after and it was 7-0 at the 4:53 mark. "Landrum's a good back, " commented Lutz. "But the difference between Landrum and Hodges is speed. Landrum never would have scored." The 196 yards by Hodges should give the Tiger running back the league rushing title with 979 yards in 150 carries. Landrum ran for a very respectable 103 yards in 27 carries to give him a total of 973 yards in 198 carries. With the touchdown, Hodges finished the season with 116 points in the league, just two shy of the record set by Ironton's Rodney Boykin last season. Hodges also punted 3 times for 68 yards to give him an average of 35 yards per kick, and the possible league title in that category. But by no means is Ironton a one-man show. And, as is usually the case, defense was the key for Lutz. It limited Jackson to only 33 yards and one first down in the second half. "The defense played well. It was one of our biggest wins and a big test for our defense," remarked Lutz. "I was concerned with Jenkins running the option, but we completely shut him off. But that slop {mud} may have had something to do with that." As it turned out, the rain and mud proved to be Jackson's biggest allies as it slowed down the speed and quickness that the Tigers possessed. Ironton had two other scoring attempts halted, once in the first period and again late in the fourth stanza. The Tigers drove to the Jackson 23 before a fourth down play came up short at the 17 and then drove to Jackson 3 yard line, when a fourth down play was stopped at the one. The latter series was stopped with 1:31 left in the game. Jackson then got two yards on a run by Jenkins, but three straight passes fell incomplete, and Ironton just fell on the ball to run out the clock. Both Jackson and Ironton came into the game needing a victory to not only win the league, but to win the region 7 computer playoff berth. The Tigers were third this week, only ten points off the pace, while Jackson was eighth, just less than 20 points behind the leader Canal Fulton Northwest. |
| Tigers Topple Jackson, 7-0 by Jimmy Walker Ironton Tribune |
| Tim Hodges: I really do not remember a lot about the touchdown run. But I do recall the point in that game when I no longer had any doubt that we would win. I believe it was in the 4th period, I had just dragged a few Jackson players through the mud, finally going down. When I got up, everybody was just going crazy and it really was not a big run. I just think we all came to that point where we knew they could not take this game away from us. |