New faces fill lineups for Ironton, Pirates
Published 12:00 am Thursday, August 24, 2000
An old rivalry will be taking on some new faces.
Thursday, August 24, 2000
An old rivalry will be taking on some new faces.
The Ironton-Wheelersburg series is now in its seventh straight year and ninth overall, plus one postseason meeting. Ironton leads the overall series 6-3.
But the season-opening matchup of traditional area powers will feature new faces in key places.
Ironton, 10-4 last season and the Division IV state runners-up, lost its entire backfield to graduation.
Wheelersburg, 10-2 and a playoff qualifier a year ago, is missing its entire backfield including the passing tandem of quarterback Andy Gill to split end Jason Schmidt.
The Fighting Tigers will fill their void at quarterback with junior Drew Mains while Wheelersburg will turn the duties over to junior Anthony Perkins.
Mains is the smaller of the two at 5-foot-9, 165 pounds. Perkins is listed at 6-1, 170.
"Both teams have new quarterbacks, but I don’t see the pressure on them," Ironton coach Bob Lutz said. "I think the key early is to try and run the football and take the pressure off Drew. Of course, I can’t speak for Wheelersburg. They know their personnel better than we do.
"I do know their quarterback has a nice arm and he’s a good athlete. He lacks the experience of Gill, but he does a nice job."
Helping to alleviate the pressure from Mains will be Ironton senior fullback B. J. Kerns (6-1, 215) who prepares to fill the shoes of All-Ohio performer Mike Henry. Kerns got two starts last season when Henry was injured, but he will be the main running back in Ironton’s fullhouse-T formation offense.
"It’s B. J.’s turn to step up and we think he’s shown he’s ready to take the job and run," Lutz said.
Wheelersburg will use Lance Davis (5-10, 210) as its new fullback and Billy Dever (5-9, 170) becomes the top running threat at halfback.
The Pirates were rocked by graduation with the loss of 24 seniors. The only returning starters are Dusty Chamberlin, a slot back on offense and free safety on defense, and nose guard Michael Branon.
"Wheelersburg is a very young and untested team, but I think their reserve team was unbeaten last year and they handled our jayvees," Lutz said.
"We’ve got five starters back on offense, but everyone else is new. Wheelersburg has some real good size and depth. They may not have the experience, but I don’t think there’s much of a drop off of talent. Davis is a load at fullback and Dever has the ability to take it coast to coast."
A big matchup to watch will be Ironton defensive tackle Kyle Hankins, 6-5, 322, against Wheelersburg offensive tackle Mike Smith, 6-6, 348.
"With so many new skilled players on both teams, the interior line comes into play even more so than any other time. The team that gets the job done up front will win the game," Lutz said.