Patrick Lewis with his game saving defensive effort(Tony Shotsky Southern Ohio Sports Photos)
In a game that matched a D1 Simon Kenton from Independence Ky with a D4 Ironton everyone thought that this was still going to be an easy out for the Fighting Tigers, everyone but me that is. True Ironton has probably played the toughest schedule they have played in years, they still had a very good D1 team on their hands in Simon Kenton.
The game started out with the Tigers scoring first and everything seemed to be going their way until the Pioneers came up with a 70+ yard scoring pass to tie the game up. The Pioneers then scored a second time but missed the extra point and went up 13-7 with just 2:29 left on the clock. Still the Tigers kept their cool and scored again and took the lead a second time. Behind the running of Trevor White, Tyler Hager and Dion Brown and the little dump off passes of Tyler Kratzenburg, the Tigers had the Pioneers scratching their heads trying to find a way of stopping this Tiger offense. Still the Tigers scored and took a 14-13 lead with very little time left in the half. Then Tyler Hager intercepts a pass with the Pioneers trying to score late in the half and takes it to the house for a TD and a 20-13 half time lead.
Ironton again came out of the dressing room and took the half time kickoff and scored for a 28-13 lead early in the third quarter. Even with a scoring drive by the Pioneers, the Tigers defense came up with some very quality plays in the second half to preserve the victory. One of those play were by Patrick Lewis on a very important third down play when the Pioneers had a player break loose in the secondary and Lewis used his 4.5 speed to break up what looked like a sure TD pass. This had to be one of the many defensive plays of the game. Aaron Stephens and Nick Culbertson had tipped passes at the line of scrimmage and Tyler Kratzenburg had a long pass breakup that also added to the defensive effort. Pressure on the Pioneer QB also had a lot to do with it in the second half. Culbertson, Stephens, Fields, Hager, Lawless, Beach, White and Roberts all were putting pressure on the QB the entire second half.
So where does that leave us as far as the playoffs are concerned? Well number one we need a victory over those pesky Portsmouth Trojans. Again we need a total team effort. We need play from those big guys up front and from the backs who aren’t carrying the ball. How important is it to get the blocks from all these guys. If we can get a total team effort we will let the rest take care of itself.
I’ll be back later on in the week with a playoff run down so until then God Bless and as always…
Go Tigers!
Joe Holtzapfel
Ironton Fighting Tigers Football-Today and Yesterday 
Portsmouth is one of those opponents that the Tigers play that you throw out the records. These teams play each other with no other focus than to win.
To be honest with you Tim, this is the one game I look forward to more than any other. With a win this year we take the lead in the series. A series that began in 1902.
I wasn’t around when Ironton was part of the Tri-State Athletic Conference. To me, that was the perfect conference due to the closeness of the teams in the league. Too bad there were those that chose to disband the conference because Ironton kept winning it. That is why I am respectful of the programs that continually play Ironton through all the years such as Portsmouth and Ashland. Why the other Kentucky teams complained is beyond me. All they have to do is to place in their district and they are in. Ironton winning the conference didn’t effect their playoff chances at all.