Haven't we seen this before?

It's become a reoccurring theme for the Ironton Fighting Tigers. For the fifth week in a row, Ironton will play a team that looks to pass first and run second.

"It seems like the same thing every week," Ironton coach Bob Lutz said.

"Everyone spreads the field and throws the ball. The difference with Ashland is their running game. We saw their tailback on film and in our game last year and he's pretty good."

After beating Boyd County 56-7 last week, Ironton comes into the game 4-0 and its first team defense has not allowed an opponent to score. But Lutz said the Tomcats may pose more of challenge.

"Ashland is a lot like Boyd County because they like to spread the field, but Ashland may have more skilled people," Lutz said.

"It was hard to get a true read on them against Prestonsburg because they lost their two best players."

Ashland relies on running back Adam Clark, a 5-foot-11, 181-pound senior, and quarterback Ian Holbrook, a 5-11, 187 junior. Clark did not play in a 27-21 loss at Prestonsburg and the versatile Holbrook missed the second half with a hamstring injury.

'Holbrook can throw the ball and he can run. He puts pressure on the defense," Lutz said.

Holbrook or backup Drew McDavid (6-3, 176) have plenty of receivers at their disposal.

Tight end Sam Hensley (6-3, 200) and split end Justin Canty (6-0, 190) are returning starters.

Split end John Neyer (5-10, 165) saw some playing time on offense last season. McDavid has played some flanker along with freshman Matt Thomas (6-1, 165) who has drawn high praise from the Ashland coaching staff as a big playmaker.

While Boyd County had a lot of size on the offensive and defensive line last week, Ashland may be even bigger.

"Ashland's size creates some matchup problems. This is the biggest team we've seen from tackle to tackle," Lutz said.

The center is Michael Walters (6-1, 302), the guards Ben Robinette (6-1, 202) and Joey Pierce (5-10, 204), and the tackles Brandon Pennington (6-5, 295) and Randy Riggs (6-1, 269).

Pennington is a returning starter.

Ashland is 3-2, but their loss last week at Prestonsburg was tainted by injuries. The other loss was 28-14 to a veteran Russell team that is ranked among the top Class AA Kentucky schools.

"They've had two games they lost that they could have won, and they came back to beat a good George Rogers Clark team right at the end. This team has a lot of fight in them," Lutz said.

Defensively, Ashland has switched from its 5-2 front to a 4-4 look.

Joe Smith (6-3, 193) and Hensley are the ends with Pennington and Pierce the tackles.

Robinson and Davis Fields(5-7,178) are the inside linebackers, Angel Gurule (5-8, 159) and Cortez Salyes (5-11, 183) the outside backers with Tyler Reliford (6-0, 171) and Neyer the corners and Holbrook or McDavid the safety.

Hensley, Robinette and Reliford are returning starters.