By JIM WALKER

jim.walker@irontontribune.com

CHILICOTHE — Gas up the bus. We’re going to Canton.

For the fourth time in the past six seasons, the Ironton Fighting Tigers are heading to Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium in Canton to play for the Division 5 state championship.

Ironton gave one of its most dominating performances of the season on Friday night in a 63-21 rout of the West Liberty-Salem Tigers in the state semifinals.

The Fighting Tigers (14-1) will face Liberty Center at 3 p.m. on Saturday in the state championship game. Liberty Center beat South Range 48-14 in the other semifinal game and returned to the state finals for the second straight season.

“They’ve just been playing with a lot of effort and enthusiasm, They’re flying around and executing at the highest level and . These kids are hungry, They understand what’s at stake and they want to go get it,” said Ironton head coach Trevon Pendleton.

Ironton’s defense turned in a stellar effort by limiting West Liberty-Salem to only 108 total yards and six first downs — all in the second half against the backups. The WLS Tigers 8 net yards in the first half. WLS had 39 yards passing but only 3 in the first half and all but 5 of their 69 rushing yards came in the second half.

“We got off to a fast start and that momentum carried on throughout the game so we’re very pleased. They’re flying around. They understand what we’re trying to accomplish. They definitely able to pin their ears back and play at a high level,” said Pendleton.

The fast start came on the second play of the game when Zayne Williams intercepted a pass at the 45-yard line and returned it 39 yards to the West Liberty-Salem 6. Williams scored on the next play less than 2 minutes into the game.

A penalty on the extra point moved the ball half the distance and quarterback Braden Schreck ran for the conversion and an 8-0 lead.

The WLS Tigers went 3-and-out and Ironton got the ball at its own 43. Schreck threw a pass on Shaun Terry’s left shoulder away from the defender and Terry made a nice catch for a 41-yard gain to the 16. Williams scored 4 plays later from 2 yards out and Beckham Waginger’s conversion kick made it 15-0 at the 7:11 mark.

The WLS Tigers shanked a punt for just 6 yards and Ironton had the ball at the 20-yard line. Schreck ran for 5 yards and then was forced out of the pocket on the next play but found Terry open in the flats. Terry caught the ball and then cut back across the field and covered the the rest of the yardage for a 15-yard scoring play and was 22-0 lead with 5:01 on the clock.

Ironton changed things up on offense the next series and put running quarterback Kayden Edwards into the game and he promptly ran a keeper 66 yards for a touchdown and a 29-0 lead with 2:05 on the first quarter clock.

Another short punt gave Ironton the ball at the WLS 44-yard line.

Jesse Copas ran for 5 yards, Schreck hit Braydon Baker for 17 yards and then he kept the ball and used a nice block from Carson Akers to race 22 yards for the touchdown and it was 36-0 with 10:47 on the second quarter clock.

The teams exchanged turnovers as Ironton lost a fumble but Terry picked off a deep pass and returned it to the WLS 36. It took only 3 plays to score as Edwards and Maddix Markel teamed up on a 21-yard scoring pass for a 43-0 lead with 4:18 on the clock.

West Liberty-Salem’s Jack Bahan returned the kickoff 78 yards for a touchdown and Gideon Cole’s PAT kick put Ironton’s lead at 43-7.

The Fighting Tigers then went 50 yards in 9 plays capped by Williams’ 14-yard scoring run to make it 50-7.

WLS went 3-and-out and a 31-yard punt was returned 62 yards by Terry for a touchdown with just 11 seconds left in the half. The kick failed and it was 56-7 at the break.

Ironton took the second half kickoff and went 60 yards in 5 plays with Edwards to Markel picking up 18 yards to the 3-yard line where Tyler Carmon scored to make it 63-7.

Bahan returned the ensuing kickoff 83 yards for his second touchdown and it was 63-14 with 6:35 left in the quarter.

The WLS Tigers began a drive at their own 30 in the third quarter and it ended 4 plays into the fourth quarter on a 1-yard run by Wilxoxon to make it 63-21 with 10 minutes to play.

Each team had a possession and ate up the running clock giving Ironton its 12th trip to the state finals.

The meeting between Ironton and Liberty Center will be the first between the schools.

“We’ve got a few things to clean up, but  we’re going to put our best foot forward and give it our best shot,” said Pendleton.

West Liberty   0 7 7 7 = 21

Ironton     29 27 7 0 = 63

First Quarter

Irn — Zayne Williams 6 run (Braden Schreck run) 10:51

Irn —Zayne Williams 2 run (Beckham Waginger kick) 7:11

Irn —Shaun Terry 15 pass from Braden Schreck (Beckham Waginger kick) 5:01

Irn —Kayden Edwards 66 run (Beckham Waginger kick) 2:05

Second Quarter

Irn —Braden Schreck  22 run (Beckham Waginger kick) 10:47

Irn —Maddix Markel 21 pass from Kayden Edwards (Beckham Waginger kick) 4:18

WL — Jack Bahan 78 kickoff return (Gideon Cole kick) 4:09

Irn —Zayne Williams 14 run (Beckham Waginger kick) 1:23

Irn —Shaun Terry 62 punt return (kick failed) 0:11

Third Quarter

Irn —Tyler Carmon 3 run (Beckham Waginger kick) 7:44

WL — Jack Bahan 83 kickoff return (Gideon Cole kick) 6:35

Fourth Quarter

WL — Josh Wilcoxon 1 run (Gideon Cole kick) 10:00

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WLIrn

First downs 6 16

Rushes-yards 15-69 31-237

Passing yards 39 128

Total yards 108 365

Cmp-Att-Int 4-14-2 9-11-0

Fumbles-lost 0-0 5-1

Penalties-yards 1-1.5 2-15

Punts-average 6-20.5 1-23.0

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Individual Leaders

RUSHING–West Liberty: Josh Wilcoxon 13-56 TD, Nick Shiffet 9-8, Jacob Evans 1-2, Nathan Stidham 1-1, Josiah Stidham 1-1 ; Ironton: Zayne Williams 8-48 3-TD, Jesse Copas 2-10, Tyler Carmon 5-17 TD, Kayden Edwards 4-104 TD, Braden Schreck 4-35 TD, Tyson Harvey 4-38, Silas Edwards 1-0, Brian Kidd 3-minus 5.

PASSING–West Liberty: xxx; Ironton: Braden Schreck 7-9-0 89 TD, Kayden Edwards 2-2-0 34 TD.

RECEIVING–West Liberty: Josh Wilcoxon 1-3, Jack Bahan 1-13, Taran Logwood 1-10, Silas Kauffman 1-13; Ironton: Shaun Terry 4-60 TD, Braydon Baker 1-17, Tyler Roach 1-1, Maddix Markel 2-39, Zayne Williams 1-11.

MISSED FIELD GOALS–None.