Giants Of Eastern Kentucky And Southern Ohio Meet At Historic Tanks Memorial Stadium

Records: JC (2-1) | Ironton (3-0)

BGP Ranking: JC (#4 in 4A) 

Series History: JC leads 2-0 all-time

Table Setter: No programs in EKY and Southern Ohio carry more gravitas than Johnson Central and Ironton. The Golden Eagles have been a fixture in the 4A state finals over the last seven years, while claiming two championships. On the shores of the Ohio River, the tradition rich Fighting Tigers have enjoyed a resurgence under coach Trevon Pendleton. They've been the Division V runner-up in two of the last three seasons, but are still in search of that elusive state title under their current leadership. Ironton is once again among the favorites in its division, and it's not hard to see why. The roster is littered with D1 college talent, most notably Wisconsin commit Jaquez Keyes (RB) and Cincinnati commits Trevor Carter (LB) and Ty Perkins (WR). All three are rated as top 30 players in Ohio's class of '23. The Fighting Tigers utilize a number of offensive sets: they'll spread you out and throw it, run some pro style stuff, and line up and run it down your throat. There's a good deal of variety to keep defenses off balance.

JC relies on its old school ground and pound offensive philosophy, bullying the opposition at the point of attack and feeding the ball to a deep stable of backs led by Zack McCoart and Chase Price. They were dealt a rare regular season setback - only their seventh in the last ten seasons - in Week 3 by North Laurel, who refused to get pushed around. The blueprint for slowing the Golden Eagles down is not exactly a secret, but executing it is a different story. Ironton has the athletes, but do they have the fortitude?  

For my money, there are few venues that rival Tanks Memorial Stadium for high school football. Ironton always packs the home side and the JC faithful travel well. The atmosphere should be fitting for a game of this magnitude, setting the scene for what may be a Bluegrass/Buckeye classic.

I think Johnson Central wins a close one.....

I think Ironton wins a close one.

Think it’ll be close but if Ironton is firing on all cylinders it will be over by the end of the 3rd quarter otherwise it could be close to the end. Now if the good ole boys at Ironton get to pick the officials like it was when I was growing up you’re got to overcome them too.

If this were in Paintsville I would take JC in a close one.

Playing at Ironton is a whole different animal. Tanks Memorial is a really tough place to win unless you are the clear superior team.

 

I will take Ironton 28-14.

On 9/7/2022 at 10:08 AM, tomcat1984 said:

Think it’ll be close but if Ironton is firing on all cylinders it will be over by the end of the 3rd quarter otherwise it could be close to the end. Now if the good ole boys at Ironton get to pick the officials like it was when I was growing up you’re got to overcome them too.

 

On 9/7/2022 at 10:14 AM, ATLCat said:

If this were in Paintsville I would take JC in a close one.

Playing at Ironton is a whole different animal. Tanks Memorial is a really tough place to win unless you are the clear superior team.

 

I will take Ironton 28-14.

I always thought it was a strange coincidence that all of the officials at Ironton home games just happened to live across the street from the stadium. ?

You ask Ironton people about it and they're like...

Ironton is ranked #1 in Division V in the first AP poll of the season, released this week.

7 minutes ago, DevilMayCare said:

Ironton is ranked #1 in Division V in the first AP poll of the season, released this week.

Division V has 106 teams. By Kentucky standards Ohio would have around 19 divisions instead of just 7.

2 hours ago, DevilMayCare said:

 

I always thought it was a strange coincidence that all of the officials at Ironton home games just happened to live across the street from the stadium. ?

You ask Ironton people about it and they're like...

Maybe Ohio doesn’t have an officials shortage so all their refs get to work close to home?! ?

Anyone have a radio link or stream link?

Can’t find a stream from either of the MyTownTv or kool hits 107.5. Looking for Ironton’s radio broadcast been years since I listened them?

radio broadcast is on iheart fox sports 1420 out of Huntington WV

1 hour ago, MorrowManiac said:

Anyone have a radio link or stream link?

Ironton's radio call: 

https://www.iheart.com/live/fox-sports-1420-2617/

 

It's on 94.7 wklw.com.

Amari Felder takes a pitch from the wishbone and finds paydirt. Ironton takes advantage of a very short field to draw first blood.

7-0 Tigers

JC TD 1 yard run. JC has punted 3 times already. Score is 7-7