Bell bottoms, Disco, Star Wars, the Son of Sam..... Ahh the memories. Actually, between you and me, I wasn't even born yet.

 

The year was 1977. Russell's Ivan McGlone and Ironton's Bob Lutz were still young(ish) men, in the early stages of building great programs. The final score that year was 23-14 in favor of the Red Devils. It would be the last time Russell would defeat its cross river rival for 38 years. After '77, Ironton would win the next eleven in a row before the series went on hiatus beginning in 1993. The two schools renewed the series in 2009 with Ironton winning six in a row.... until last night.

 

Play resumed Saturday night after lightning forced a postponement on Friday. Russell's defense held Ironton to 104yds of total offense and junior RB Nick Conley found the end zone twice as the Red Devils defeated the Fighting Tigers 18-14 at Tanks Memorial Stadium. Conley opened the scoring with a 3yd run in the 1st quarter and closed it with a 10yd TD run on 3rd and goal in the 4th with 1:16 left on the clock. Sandwiched between Conley TDs was a score by Russell DL Drew Bultynck. With just under 7 minutes to go in the game, deep in Ironton territory, a bad snap sailed over the head of Tiger's QB Jake Isaac. Bultynck scooped up the ball near the goal line and dove in, pulling the Red Devils within two points of Ironton.

 

Unfortunately, for both teams, injuries were a big part of the story on this night. Ironton's star RB D'Angelo Palladino suffered an unspecified injury in the 1st half and sat out the entire 2nd. Ironton's backfield was further depleted when fullback Desmond Young(all 6'3", 230lbs of him) missed the entire 4th quarter with concussion like symptoms. Young was responsible for both of Ironton's TDs and was a force on both sides of the ball(he's also the starting MLB on defense). The loss of both Palladino and Young left a void on offense that Ironton could not fill. The Tigers offense was largely dormant in the 2nd half.

 

The injury bug was contagious and spread to the other side of the field as Russell QB Jacob McKee left the game in the 3rd quarter after twisting both ankles.

 

Russell had excellent field position all night and had numerous opportunities to put points on the board, but were continually turned away by a stingy Ironton defense. The number 5 was an important number in this game. It was the number of times Russell turned the ball over on downs in Ironton territory and the number of turnovers committed by the Fighting Tigers in the 2nd half.

 

After several stalled drives and without his starting QB, Coach T.J. Maynard put the ball in the hands of his best player. Nick Conley spent Russell's last scoring drive taking direct snaps in the Wildcat(Devilcat? Conleycat? WildConl... never mind). His final carry of the night was the 10yd TD that set the final score at 18-14. On the ensuing kickoff the ball was mishandled by Ironton and recovered by Russell. Three knee's later and Russell had removed the monkey from its back. 38 years sure is a long time.

 

Russell returns home to host the Ashland Tomcats in what should be one of the marquee games around the state. Ironton, meanwhile, welcomes Tigers of the Beechwood variety. The two traditional powers last met in 1998. Hopefully, this time around, Ironton takes a page from Motel 6... "We'll leave the light on for you."

McKee hurt both ankles?

 

Man... my thoughts are with him... that would be miserable

 

Love this win for Russell... if they beat Ashland..especially without McKee...then watch out for the Devils

McKee hurt both ankles?

 

Man... my thoughts are with him... that would be miserable

 

Love this win for Russell... if they beat Ashland..especially without McKee...then watch out for the Devils

 

I'm not sure how severe the injuries are, but he was on crutches for the 4th quarter last night. If he can't go against Ashland, I don't like Russell's chances. Russell's win over Ironton was partially aided by injuries to Ironton's two best players. As far as I know Ashland's two best(Baker and O'Bryan) are fit and ready to go.

I hope it is not severe because one would think that the rehab for two sprained ankles would be longer than individual sprains.

 

I am not athletic trainer but it seems it would take longer to start putting weight and wearing air casts. For the sake of a fine young player I hope it was just a couple rolled ankles and the crutches were a precaution.