What you see is not always what you get.

Tuesday, October 12, 1999

What you see is not always what you get. Case in point are the Columbus South Bulldogs, a team that’s 3-4 but still raises concern with Ironton Fighting Tigers head coach Bob Lutz.

"They’re not bad. They have some talent," Lutz said. "They’ve played a pretty good schedule. Beechcroft and Independence are undefeated. Independence beat them last week, but they had a heck of a running back and South had a bunch of penalties that hurt them a lot."

South also has a good tailback in senior Nick Davis (5-7, 163). Lutz said "reminds me of the backs Portsmouth has. He’s not real big, but he has good speed and quickness."

Quarterback Bobby Johnson (6-0, 158) has a good arm and likes to put the ball in the air. His receiving corps includes Gary Montgomery (5-10, 181) at tight end, Darshaun Parry (5-8, 145) at split end, and the flanker job is split between Gerald Alexander (5-8, 155) and Lamar Bozman (5-5, 147).

The fullback is junior Chris Williams (6-0, 201).

"Their skilled people aren’t real big, but they are pretty good. Not only does the tailback have some ability, but their quarterback can throw the ball down the field and he’s an elusive runner. Their offensive and defensive people up front have got a lot of size," Lutz said.

The offensive line has senior Joshua Tanner (5-9, 252) at center, senior Al James (6-0, 265) and junior Billy Donahue (5-9, 235) at the guards, and seniors Phil Orton (5-11, 335) and Lamont Cox (6-00, 315) at the tackles.

The defensive line may be even larger than the offense.

Juniors Ricky Romaine (5-11, 160) and Steve Brinkley (6-0, 162) are the ends, junior Quinten Witcher (5-11, 208) and James are the tackles, and the down guards are massive junior Tyree Morris (6-3, 378) and Orton.

"The size up front, especially the down guards, can cause a lot of problems. They create a heck of a matchup problem for our guards," Lutz said.

The inside linebackers are seniors Carl Hicks (5-11, 173) and Dereke Jones (5-9, 150), the cornerbacks are Alexander and senior Lindbergh Perryman (5-8, 161), and the safety is senior Jeff Broomfield (5-11, 178).

"They have a lot of speed on defense. They really fly to the football and make it hard to move the football. This will be a good team for our offense and defense," Lutz said.

Orton, Perryman, and Broomfield are returning starters on defense while Donahue and Orton started on offense as well.

Friday’s game is homecoming. Festivities begin at 7 p.m. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m.

Ironton, 5-1, was open last week.