It didn’t take the Ironton Fighting Tigers very long to get to No.

Wednesday, September 19, 2001

It didn’t take the Ironton Fighting Tigers very long to get to No. 1 in the Associated Press poll. The question is, will they stay there?

Ironton, 4-0, jumped two spots from third to first in this week’s AP high school football Division IV poll following losses by last week’s top two teams.

The move to No. 1 was aided when Youngstown Ursuline, last week’s No. 1, suffered a 54-16 loss to Division I power Warren Harding while No. 2 Canton Catholic was falling 24-14 to Division II power Poland Seminary.

Ironton knocked off Campbell County 28-10 and moved to No. 1 with Newark Licking Valley climbing to No. 2 and Coshocton leadped to take over at No. 3.

But staying at No. 1 won’t be easy for Ironton. This week Ironton plays at rival Ashland, Ky., and then hosts No. 5 Portsmouth next week. The Trojans beat Ironton 28-0 last year and won the Division III poll championship.

The rest of the schedule is just as tough with Dayton Dunbar, Belfry, Ky., and a season-ending road trip to Columbus St. Francis DeSales which is ranked seventh in Division III.

A complete poll list appears under Scoreboard on Page 11 in today’s print edition.