A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible early. Partly cloudy skies during the evening will give way to considerable cloudiness and fog after midnight. Low 71F. Winds light and variable..
Tonight
A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible early. Partly cloudy skies during the evening will give way to considerable cloudiness and fog after midnight. Low 71F. Winds light and variable.
A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible early. Partly cloudy skies during the evening will give way to considerable cloudiness and fog after midnight. Low 71F. Winds light and variable..
Tonight
A stray shower or thunderstorm is possible early. Partly cloudy skies during the evening will give way to considerable cloudiness and fog after midnight. Low 71F. Winds light and variable.
IRONTON - One game does not a season make and Ironton High School's football team is thankful for that.
The Fighting Tigers are coming off a 48-3 season-opening loss to Wheelersburg on Saturday and hope to even their record Friday when they entertain Russell (0-1). The Russell Red Devils are not on par with the Wheelersburg Pirates, who now have beaten Ironton in five consecutive years, but Russell owns a streak of its own.
Russell won its last two meetings with the Fighting Tigers, 18-14 in 2015 and 13-6 last year. Before the 2016 game, Russell had not beaten Ironton in back-to-back years since 1933.
"I thought we played hard and hung in there for a while," Fighting Tigers head coach Mark Vass said after Friday's loss. "Wheelersburg's a good football team, no doubt about it."
Vass said he thinks his club, too, has a chance for a strong season.
"I still think we'll be a good team," he said. "òòò½ÊÓƵ for Russell, we'll just have to move on with our guys. We played hard (against Wheelersburg) and gave up too many big plays."
Much of Ironton's trouble was on the line of scrimmage, where the Pirates dominated. Wheelersburg held the Tigers to 13 yards rushing on 28 carries and 46 yards passing for 59 total yards. Wheelersburg gained more than that on one play, a 60-yard touchdown pass from Trent Salyers to Tanner Holden at 8:22 of the first quarter.
"We didn't run real well and we didn't protect real well," Vass said.
Offense wasn't the only area of concern for Ironton. Salyers completed 14 of 23 passes for 280 yards and five touchdowns, with one interception. Holden caught five of those balls for 159 yards and four TDs. Cole Lowery caught six passes for 104 yards.
"We had trouble matching up with Holden on the outside," Vass said, referring to the 6-foot-6 junior who is a major college prospect in football and basketball. "We were there assignment-wise, but they made good throws."
Russell knows about good throws. The Red Devils lost to Greenup County, 38-34, Saturday when Eli Sammons threw a touchdown pass to Austin Evans in overtime. The victory was the first for the Musketeers in the series since 2010.
The Red Devils had considerable graduation losses from last season and have dealt with numerous injuries already. The Red Devils feature quarterback Austin Church, who ran for two touchdowns against Greenup County, and is part of an offense that is capable of long, time-consuming drives. Church's favorite target is Jacob Thompson, who caught an 11-yard touchdown pass last week in a clutch situation just before halftime. Landon Duvall and Grant Bates give Russell a solid running tandem.
Ironton's loss to Wheelersburg marked the 11th consecutive non-Ohio Valley Conference game, including playoff opponents, that the Fighting Tigers have lost.
