Molina siblings kicking at Cabell Midland High School have been about as common as big crowds showing up for Knights football games.
Finally, though, CMHS has run out of Molinas. That was a concern for Knights football coach Luke Salmons until recently.
"I walked into the gym and saw a kid wearing a Baylor University backpack," Salmons said. "He came up to me and said, 'I want to kick.' I said, 'thank God.'"
The kicker, 5-foot-11, 175-pound sophomore Cameron Grobe, brings a tremendous football pedigree. He is the grandson of former Ohio University, Wake Forest and Baylor head coach Jim Grobe, a Huntington native who was an assistant coach at Marshall University, Air Force, Virginia and Emory & Henry. Jim Grobe starred at pre-consolidation Huntington High before playing at Ferrum College and the University of Virginia.
The younger Grobe is the son of Marshall golf coach Matt Grobe. Nearly any kicking coach will tell you a good kicking motion resembles a great golf swing, so Cameron Grobe also has that going for him.
FIGHTING TIGERS: For 30 years or more, Ironton was the most-dominant high school football program in the Tri-State.
While the Fighting Tigers still are no slouch, they've struggled with a rapidly shrinking enrollment and other factors that have made Ironton less of a power than it once was. Coach Mark Vass and his staff and players are looking to turn that around this season and that means winning games outside the Ohio Valley Conference.
Ironton won the OVC both seasons since joining two years ago, going 13-0 in the process.
Outside the league, however, the Tigers are on a nine-game losing streak, including two playoff contests. Last season, Ironton dropped games to Wheelersburg, Russell, òòò½ÊÓƵhland and Coshocton, all playoff teams in their own right. In 2015, the Tigers lost to Wheelersburg, Russell, Beechwood, òòò½ÊÓƵhland and Wheelersburg, again, all playoff teams.
Wheelersburg has beaten the Tigers four consecutive times. Ironton last won a game in that series in 2012, with a 32-27 triumph. The Tigers beat òòò½ÊÓƵhland and Russell in 2014 and get a shot at both again this season.
"Wheelersburg, òòò½ÊÓƵhland and Russell are tough challenges," Vass said. "They've played well against us. Against those teams, we have to move the ball efficiently and put more points on the board. We need to turn the tide."
Ironton could have dropped those schools, but Vass said that wasn't considered.
"We want to keep our long-running rivals," Vass said. "It's good to keep them. We've been playing them forever."
MORE KICKER FUN: Fairland, too, needed a kicker and Tayton Hunt, a 6-foot, 140-pound senior decided he wanted to take on the task.
Hunt, though, never had kicked before.
"I tell him he's my Willy Merrick," Dragons coach Melvin Cunningham said referring to his former Marshall University teammate whom never had kicked in a game before booting the game-winning field goal and four extra points in the Thundering Herd's 1992 NCAA Division I-AA national championship game 31-28 victory over Youngstown State.
Cunningham said Hunt called him at home asking when the coach would be at Jim Mayo Stadium so he could get a ball and tee to practice on his own.
"He told me his dad went and bought him a kicking ball so he could kick when I wasn't there," Cunningham said, with a laugh. "He wanted to try it out and he's worked hard."
PERDAS TO ST. PETER'S: Fairland High School girls basketball assistant Todd Perdas was hired as the head coach at Mansfield (Ohio) St. Peters.
St. Peter's went 11-10 last season.
OOPS: Jordan Maynard was the Huntington High goalkeeper Friday in a 6-0 victory over Fairland. She was misidentified in Saturday's game story.
Maynard made two saves in the season-opening contest at Jim Mayo Field.
ROUNDING UP: Ironton High School quarterback Gage Salyers is the grandson of former Coal Grove boys basketball head coach and football assistant Gary Salyers. ... Ironton basketball standout Ryan Bryant is sidelined a while after undergoing surgery for appendicitis. ... Jake Carr, a pitcher with West Virginia state champion St. Albans, committed to West Virginia University. ... The front runner out of the gate for best volleyball match of the season is Coal Grove's victory over Greenup County on Wednesday. The Hornets went on the road to win 25-19, 26-24, 14-25, 10-25, 15-7. ... Girls basketball standout Alexis Hall transferred from Huntington St. Joe back to Coal Grove.
Tim Stephens is a reporter for The Herald-Dispatch. Call him at 304-526-2759. Follow him on Twitter (@sportsturtle11).
