By Jim Walker

jim.walker@irontontribune.com

 

The Ironton Fighting Tigers are quick workers.

Ironton fell behind quickly to start the game, but quickly scored to take the lead and had 5 scoring possessions of 4 plays or less as they beat the Coal Grove Hornets 55-6 in an Ohio Valley Conference game on Friday.

One player who exemplified a quick worker was Ironton’s Shaun Terry who caught 5 passes for 144 yards and 2 touchdowns and also returned a kickoff for a score.

“Shaun Terry is a great athlete. He’s grown into an all-around football player. We expect big things from him going forward,” said Ironton coach Trevon Pendleton whose team is now 8-0 overall and 5-0 in the OVC.

Coal Grove (5-3, 2-3) turned to its workhorse again as running back Chase Hall broke free and raced 65 yards on the second play of the game to give the Hornets a 6-0 lead.

Hall finished the game with 153 yards on 24 carries but only managed 12 yards on 7 carries in the second half as the Ironton defense zeroed in on the senior standout who came into the game with almost 1,700 yards rushing and had scored 30 touchdowns.

“He’s a great football player. He’s big, strong, fast. The kid’s got a bright future. We told our kids going in that we’ve got to rally to the football, get 11 hats on him and get him to the ground,” said Pendleton. “He’s very good at what he does.”

But as quickly as the Hornets took the lead, Ironton was even quicker getting it back as Terry returned the kickoff 85 yards for a touchdown.

Evan Williams kicked the conversion to put Ironton up for good at 7-6 just 15 seconds after the Hornets’ score.

Coal Grove started a drive but stalled at the 48 and got off a short 18-yard punt.

Two plays later, quarterback Tayden Carpenter threw to Terry who made an over-the-shoulder catch on a 76-yard scoring play and it was 14-6 with 4;25 on the clock.

Ironton drove to the Hornets’ 9-yard line only to fumble and Kaleb Sullivan recovered at the 5-yard line for the Hornets.

Another drive got to the 48 but Hall was stopped for a 5-yard loss on fourth down by Cole Freeman when a bad snap on the punt forced Hall to run and Ironton took over at the Coal Grove 43.

On the ensuing play, Terry took a pop pass in the backfield and weaved his way through the Hornets’ defense before getting a key block from Landen Wilson that enabled him to get into the end zone and Ironton lead 20-6 with 6:47 left in the half.

Ironton took the second half kickoff and went 57 yards in 8 plays capped by Jaquez Keyes’ 1-yard run and it was 26-6 at the 9:24 mark.

Coal Grove went three-and-out but Hall got off a 54-yard punt that put Ironton at the 11-yard line.

But the Fighting Tigers covered 89 yards in 7 plays with Keyes running 13 yards for the score. Carpenter passed to Braden Schreck for the conversion and it was 34-6 with 4:54 on the clock.

Ironton began a drive at its own 39 that spilled over into the fourth quarter where Felder ran 20 yards for a touchdown on a fourth-and-2 play. Williams kick made it 41-6 with 11:46 to go.

Ironton’s next possession took 2 plays to score as Carpenter hit Wilson who made a diving catch for a 32-yard gain and then threw a pass to Ty Perkins in the flats that he turned into a 29-yard scoring play. Wesley Neal’s conversion kicked made it 48-6 with 5:11 left.

A blocked punt gave Ironton the ball at the 17 yard-line. Schreck — now playing quarterback — ran for 5 yards and then hit Wilson on a 12-yard catch-and-run play for the touchdown. David Fields’ conversion kick made it 55-6.

Ironton had 497 total yards with Carpenter going 12-of-23 for 320 yards and 3 touchdowns. The running game added 165 yards with Felder running 9 times for 99 yards and Keyes carried 8 times for 47 yards and two scores.

The Hornets had 203 total yards with 164 coming on the ground, 153 courtesy of Hall.

Next Friday, Ironton will host Gallipolis while Coal Grove visits Fairland in league games.

Coal Grove     6     0     0     0     =     6

Ironton           14    6     14    21    =     55

First Quarter

CG — Chase Hall 65 run (kick blocked) 10:57

Irn — Shaun Terry 85 kickoff return (Evan Williams kick) 10:42

Irn — Shaun Terry 76 pass from Tayden Carpenter (Evan Williams kick) 4:25

Second Quarter

Irn — Shaun Terry 43 pass from Tayden Carpenter (pass failed) 6:47

Third Quarter

Irn — Jaquez Keyes 1 run (run failed) 9:24

Irn — Jaquez Keyes 13 run (Braden Schreck pass from Tayden Carpenter) 4:54

Fourth Quarter

Irn — Amari Fielder 20 run (Evan Williams kick) 11:46

Irn — Ty Perkins 29 pass from Tayden Carpenter (Wesley Neal kick) 5:11

Irn — Ethan Wilson 12 pass from Braden Schreck (David Fields kick) 0:27

———

CG  Irn

First downs  10      16

Rushes-yards  41-164    20-165

Passing yards  39    332

Total yards     203  497

Cmp-Att-Int    3-7-2       12-21-0

Fumbles-lost   2-2  1-1

Penalties-yards       11-84      11-111

Punts-average 4-25.3     0-00.0

———

Individual Leaders

RUSHING–Coal Grove: Chase Hall 24-153 TD, Kaden Murphy 7-18, Steven Simpson 6-11, Whyatt Mannon 4-minus 18; Ironton: Amari Felder 9-99 TD, Jaques Keyes 8-47 2TD, Tayden Carpenter 2-14, Braden Schreck 1-5.

PASSING–Coal Grove: Whyatt Mannon 3-6-2 39, Chase Hall 0-1-0; Ironton: Tayden Carpenter 12-23-0 320 3TD, Braden Schreck 1-1-0 12 TD.

RECEIVING–Coal Grove: Gavin Gipson 3-39; Ironton: Shaun Terry 5-144 TD, Ty Perkins 3-70 TD, Landen Wilson 3-66 TD, C.J.Martin 2-34, Amari Felder 1-18.

MISSED FIELD GOALS–None.