COLUMBUS - Ouch!

What loomed as a classic matchup turned into an uncharacteristic blowup as the St. Francis DeSales Stallions routed the previously unbeaten Ironton Fighting Tigers 40-0 Friday night.

"In big games against good teams, you have to make big plays when you have the opportunity," Ironton coach Bob Lutz said. "We had some chances early to makes some plays and get some momentum, but we didn't make the plays and they did."

But in the end, it was the DeSales interior line that proved the difference. The Stallions had 351 yards rushing and 45 passing for 396 total yards.

Ironton, 8-1, finished with just 95 yards on the ground and a mere 14 yards passing.

"The thing that concerned me most coming in was their size and strength. We had a hard time trying to match up with them up front," Lutz said. "They physically handled us up front on both sides of the ball."

DeSales, 5-4, took all of three plays to score. After a 42-yard run by Mark Schritzinger, Chris Brown carried twice including a 27-yard gallop for the touchdown and a 7-0 lead less than a minute into the game.

On Ironton's second possession, Nick Collins was open behind the DeSales safety at the 20-yard line for what looked to be a touchdown.

However, the pass was slightly overthrown and Ironton later punted.

In the second quarter, Ironton's Steve Elswick batted a Matt Mangini pass into the air and defensive tackle Jeremy Akers made the interception as Ironton took over at the DeSales 24.

But the drive stalled and quarterback Josh Sands was sacked for an 11-yard loss on fourth down to the 35.

On the next play, Stallions running back Justin Moore ran 65 yards for a touchdown and it was 14-0.

Following an Ironton punt, DeSales took just two plays to score again, this time on a 45-yard pass from Mangini to Heath Killilea.

"We had a guy there and we're thinking it's going to be picked. But we just froze and the guy runs past us," Lutz said.

Although down 21-0, the Fighting Tigers came right back with a drive from their own 20 to the DeSales 18 with less than a minute left in the half.

More bad news.

A Sands pass was tipped at the line of scrimmage and deflected into the hands of Ben Rothrauff who returned the ball 60 yards to the Ironton 20 with 23 seconds to go. Facing second down at the 1-yard line and only two seconds on the clock, Jon Enders kicked an 18-yard field goal as time expired and DeSales led 24-0 at the break.

After an exchange of punts, Ironton had the ball at its own 12-yard line. Sands was sacked for a 3-yard loss, and then a screen pass resulted in a safety and the Stallions led 26-0.

Chris Thomas

returned the free kick 63 yards to the Ironton 2-yard line where Mangini scored on the next play for a 33-0 lead.

DeSales went 57 yards in nine plays as Mangini appeared sacked but broke two tackles in the backfield and scrambled 23 yards for a touchdown with 7:39 to play.

Julien Poydras had 92 yards on nine carries and Moore 76 on six tries to lead the Stallions. Jarod Murphy ran 11 times for 56 yards to pace Ironton.

Despite the loss, Ironton will remain first in Region 15 of Division IV. The Fighting Tigers have already clinched a home game for the first round of the playoffs.

Ironton0000-0

DeSales71797-40

First Quarter

DeS - Chris Brown 27 run (Jon Enders kick)

11:05

Second Quarter

DeS - Justin Moore 65 run (Jon Enders kick)

8:35

DeS - Heath Killilea 45 pass from Matt Mangini (Jon Enders kick)

5:38

DeS - Jon Enders 18 FG

:00

Third Quarter

DeS - Safety (Marland Turner tackled in end zone)

1:33

DeS - Matt Mangini 2 run (Jon Enders kick) 1:19

Fourth Quarter

DeS - Matt Mangini 23 run (Jon Enders kick)

7:39

First downs: Ironton 9, DeSales16

Rushes-yards:Ironton 36-84, DeSales43-351

Passing yards:Ironton 11, DeSales45

Total yards:Ironton 95396

Cmp-Att-Int:Ironton 4-13-1, DeSales1-4-2

Fumbles-lost:Ironton 5-1, DeSales2-1

Punts-average:Ironton 5-34.2, DeSales1-45.0

Penalties-yards:Ironton 3-12, DeSales7-65

Individual Leaders

RUSHING - Ironton: Derique Bacon 5-28, Jarod Murphy 11-56, Marcus Williams 7-11, Marland Turner 2-1, Chris Collins 2-8, Darius Lewis 1-4, Shane Kerns 1-minus 3, Josh Sands 7-minus 21. DeSales: Mark Schritzinger 3-51, Chris Brown 7-46, Justin Moore 6-76, Julien Poydras 9-92, Jeff Chatfield 2-5, Chris Rotella 3-22.

PASSING - Ironton: Josh Sands 4-13-1

11. DeSales: Matt Mangini 1-4-2

45.

RECEIVING - Ironton: Nick Collins 1-14, Marcus Williams 1-11, Marland Turner 2-minus 14. DeSales: Heath Killilea 1-45.