By JIM WALKER

jim.walker@irontontribune.com

 Wouldn’t it be nice if Shaun Terry could figure out how to celebrate a special day in his life every Friday?

The Ironton senior wide receiver celebrated his birthday with six receptions for 145 yards and a pair of touchdowns as the Fighting Tigers cruised past the Worthington Christian Warriors 68-14 on Friday in the first round of the Division 5 Region 19 playoffs.

One of Terry’s touchdowns was  a traditional Mr. Electric play as he caught a bubble screen to one side and cut back and eluded the first wave of defenders and then outran the rest for the back-breaking touchdown just before halftime as Ironton went up 35-14.

Ironton’s first half wasn’t pretty with the exception of a few scoring plays. The Fighting Tigers turned the ball over 4 times — twice on fumbles and twice on interceptions.

“Offensively we had too many turnovers and we weren’t doing our P’s and Q’s in the first half,” said Terry. “The second half we were rolling.”

Ironton (10-1) came out rolling in the second half by scoring 26 points to build  a 61-14 lead and create yet another running clock on an opponent.

Speaking of running, Ironton’s Zayne Williams ran the ball 8 times for 122 yards and 2 touchdowns and also had a 35-yard interception return for a score in the big third quarter.

“We came out (the first half) and started out slow,” said Williams. “We weren’t doing the little things right. We turned it around at halftime and got the job done.

“They had a few big plays on us, but at halftime we turned it around and got locked in and got a few picks and got in the end zone and it was pretty fun.”

The Warriors (5-6) were forced to punt on the opening series of the game but dropped the snap from center and only got 17 yards on the kick.

Ironton got the ball at its own 49 and Williams gained 4 yards on first down. Quarterback Braden Schreck then hit Terry in stride behind the Warriors’ secondary for a 47-yard scoring strike. David Fields’ conversion kick put the lead at 7-0 with 8:08 on the clock.

The lead went to 14-0 three plays later as Tyler Carmon tipped a pass into the air, grabbed the football for an interception and ran 29 yards into the end zone with 6:52 left in the quarter.

Worthington Christian used a 15-yard penalty and 17-yard pass from Thomas Hartings to Isaac King that set up a 40-yard field goal attempt. But Blag Miller  missed to the left and the lead remained 14-0.

Ironton’s next 2 possessions ended on a tipped ball interception and a lost fumble.

The Warriors returned the fumble to the 14-yard line of Ironton but were held on downs and missed a 31-yard field goal attempt.

The Fighting Tigers made up for lost time as Schreck ran for 12 yards and then Williams broke loose and shed several tacklers as he rambled 48 yards for the score. Fields’ kick made it 21-7 with 9:43 left in the half.

But Hartings hit tight end Luke Hermiz with a 40-yard pass and then Jacob Corbin caught a jailbreak screen pass and ran 41 yards for the touchdown and cut the deficit to 21-14 with 8:42 left in the half.

Another short punt gave Ironton the ball at the Warriors 27. Schreck ran for 18 yards, Williams went 7 yards and Schreck finished it off with a 2-yard run and a 28-14 lead.

The Warriors drove from its own 14 to the Ironton but the Fighting Tigers forced a punt that was again shanked and it traveled 16 yards.

With only seconds remaining and the ball at their own 36, Schreck hit Terry on a bubble screen. Instead of blowing out candles on a cake, Terry blew past the Warriors defense and scored with just 6 seconds left in the half and it was 35-14.

Ironton took the second half kickoff and went 59 yards in 7 plays with Williams ripping through the defense for an 18-yard scoring run to make it 42-14 with 9:29 on the clock..

The Fighting Tigers got the ball back at the Warriors 47 as defensive lineman Aiden Layne came up with an interception.

It took Ironton 2 plays to score as Schreck hit Kayden Edward in stride covering 47 yards and the lead was 54-14 with 5:28 left in the third quarter.

Another short punt gave Ironton the ball at the Warriors’ 42 and Carmon got the call and raced 42 yards or the score. Beckham Waginger kicked the conversion to make it 61-14 with 34 seconds left in the quarter.

Ironton’s final score came with just 1:52 to play in the game as Tyson Harvey ran 16 yards for the touchdown to seal the Warriors’ fate.

The Fighting Tigers piled up 477 total yards with 249 on the ground and 228 through the air. Schreck was 9-of-12 for 206 yards and 2 touchdowns with a pair of interceptions. Schreck also ran 5 times for 50 yards.

Hartings was 20-of-43 for 201 yards and 2 scores while throwing 4 interceptions. Corbin caught 7 passes for 78 yards and ran 8 times for 54.

Ironton will host Portsmouth in the regional quarterfinals next Friday.

Wrthng. Christian 0 14 0 0 = 14

Ironton 14 21 26 7 = 68

First Quarter

Irn — Shaun Terry 47 pass from Braden Schreck (David Fields kick) 8:08

Irn — Tyler Carmon 29 interception return (David Fields kick) 6:52

Second Quarter

WC — Zach Kirkley 7 pass from Thomas Hartings (Blake Miller kick) 11:52

Irn — Zayne Williams 68 run (David Fields kick) 9:43

WC — Jacob Corbin 41 pass from Thomas Hartings (Blake Miller kick) 8:42

Irn — Braden Schreck 2 run (David Fields kick) 5:04

Irn — Shaun Terry 64 pass from Braden Schreck (David Fields kick) 0:06

Third Quarter

Irn — Zayne Williams 18 run (David Fields kick) 9:29

Irn — Zayne Williams 35 interception return (kick failed) 9:14

Irn — Kayden Edwards 47 pass from Braden Schreck (kick failed) 5:28

Irn — Tyler Carmon 42 run (Beckham Waginger kick) 0:34

Fourth Quarter

Irn — Tyson Harvey 16 run (Beckham Waginger kick) 1:52

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WC Irn

First downs 15 15

Rushes-yards 18-81 27-249

Passing yards 201 228

Total yards 282 477

Cmp-Att-Int 20-44-4 10-13-2

Fumbles-lost 0-0 3-2

Penalties-yards 2-17 6-74

Punts-average 4-18.5 0-00.0

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Individual Leaders

RUSHING—Worthington Christian: Jacob Corbin 8-54, Luke Hermiz 4-1, Thomas Hartings 1-1, Carter Hoops 3-25; Ironton: Zayne Williams 8-122 2-TD, Braden Schreck 5-50 TD, Tyler Carmon 1-4, Jesse Copas 2-25, Kayden Edwards 3-6, Silas Edwards 3-26, Tyson Harvey 5-38 TD.

PASSING—Worthington Christian: Thomas Hartings 20-43-4 201 2-TD, Luke Hermiz 0-1-0; Ironton: Braden Schreck 8-11-2 206 3-TDs, Kayden Edwards 2-2-0 22.

RECEIVING—Worthington Christian: Jacob Corbin 7-78 TD, Luke Hermiz 1-40, Blake Miller 1-4, Jack Smolenski 8-60 TD, Isaac King 2-15, Carter Hoops 1-4, Zach Kirkley 1-7 TD; Ironton: Shaun Terry 6-145 2-TDs, Braydon Baker 2-23, Kayden Edwards 1-47 TD, Maddix Markel 1-13

MISSED FIELD GOALS—Blake Miller, Worthington Christian, 40, 31