Final from Hillard Howard Field. This was a whale of a game for three and a half quarters. Ironton raised its level late to secure the win.

 

Congrats to Ironton.

I was impressed by Pikeville tonight, I think they are the best 1A team. 

15 minutes ago, theguru said:

Congrats to Ironton.

I was impressed by Pikeville tonight, I think they are the best 1A team. 

Did it look to you as Ironton was on the end of some bad calls playing on the road against an out of state school? 

1 minute ago, LRCW said:

Did it look to you as Ironton was on the end of some bad calls playing on the road against an out of state school? 

I didn't have the volume up and I did not watch it that close. 

I did think Ironton looked very good.  

1 minute ago, theguru said:

I didn't have the volume up and I did not watch it that close. 

I did think Ironton looked very good.  

Thanks,

A good friend of mine from Ironton said Ironton was flat tonight and didn’t play well, and the officiating was bad, but I was looking for an unbiased opinion. 

5 minutes ago, LRCW said:

Did it look to you as Ironton was on the end of some bad calls playing on the road against an out of state school? 

Home cooking in Pikeville? Never…

1 minute ago, LRCW said:

Thanks,

A good friend of mine from Ironton said Ironton was flat tonight and didn’t play well, and the officiating was bad, but I was looking for an unbiased opinion. 

I did sense some flatness, but no idea on the refs.  At the same time, Pikeville took it to Ironton.

I watched it close. Yes, I'm a Pikeville fan. Both teams were flagged. Looked even to me. Pikeville kept the score tied for three quarters, but got outplayed fourth quarter. Special teams for Pikeville is NOT doing their part to help with a win.

The officiating was terrible for both teams. I’ll say this, if Pikeville’s special teams had played decent at all, they would’ve won that game. The TD on 4th and 22 won the game for Ironton. It was 27-27 at that time, half way thru the 4th quarter. Kudos to Pikeville, CalPreps had them losing 42-3. They fought hard for 3.5 quarters. Clean up special teams and the mental mistakes, and they’re the best team in Class A. After the gauntlet of a schedule they just finished, I’m sure they’re happy to see the bye week. The Panthers finally have time to rest and heal up, and then it’s off to district play. I was very, very impressed with Pikeville tonight. 

It's not unrealistic to say that we could have seen two future state champions on the field tonight. Ironton is scrapping hard to win Division 5 in Ohio especially after falling short in 2019, 2020, and 2022 and running an independent schedule with teams like Pikeville will certainly give them some quality looks against championship-caliber teams. Pikeville's tough schedule early will also pay dividends eventually, think back to Belfry in 2021 that started 0-4 and would go on to win the state championship. With some of the comments discussing the needed improvement of Pikeville's special teams, this is the perfect team to get looks against and make the adjustments necessary to shore them up. Ironton has an electrifying returner in Shaun Terry, or "Scary Terry" as he's known as due to his ability to go the distance, sometimes making something out of nothing. Going against him is a true test to a team's discipline. Although I will emphasize that I just received updates and do not know what happened - if Pikeville is looking to improve their special teams this is certainly the right team they can go against to get the proper looks to make the necessary adjustments.

Pikeville at one point led 14-0 in the game. Personally I wasn't surprised that Ironton had to scrap, did deep, and elevate their play to another level to come out of there with a victory. Regardless of the quality of the officiating, or the location of the game, Pikeville is a difficult opponent for anybody and they continue to make significant strides to put themselves in a position to win the 1A state championship again. 

Said it before and I’ll say it again.  Pikeville has scheduled for the postseason. 

6 hours ago, TCR said:

Ironton is scrapping hard to win Division 5 in Ohio especially after falling short in 2019, 2020, and 2022 and running an independent schedule with teams like Pikeville will certainly give them some quality looks against championship-caliber teams.

You gotta figure Ironton folks are getting impatient for that elusive, post-Lutz championship. They've been - arguably - the most talented team in their division in each of those runner-up seasons. 

1 hour ago, mcpapa said:

Said it before and I’ll say it again.  Pikeville has scheduled for the postseason. 

I'm certainly intrigued by Campbellsville, and Raceland can never be overlooked, but Pikeville is the standard and scheduling is a big reason why. Anybody licking their chops over a 2-5 record is in for a rude awakening in November.

5 hours ago, DevilMayCare said:

You gotta figure Ironton folks are getting impatient for that elusive, post-Lutz championship. They've been - arguably - the most talented team in their division in each of those runner-up seasons. 

Ironton has come awful close - even during the Lutz era they had some tough, heartbreaking losses. Ironton lost three times in the state finals (88, 93, 99) by a combined seven points. Then had heartbreaking losses in the regional finals (03, 05, 10) with all three games decided in overtime, the 05 one in three overtimes after Ironton came back trailing 28-7.

In 19 and 20 they ran into Kirtland, who won seven titles in twelve years including a three-peat. Kirtland is incredibly disciplined - Coach Tiger LaVerde has won something like 240 games at Kirtland with only about 25 losses. Kirtland won state again in 23, but they are no longer a part of Ironton's class. One of the programs I love to recommend following is Kirtland, just because of how disciplined they are. Their lines are normally competing against players who are much larger. Ironton played them close the first year and the second year had pretty much everybody back but lost big. One of the key players on the '19 and '20 Ironton teams was Reid Carrico, who went to Ohio State and now plays at WVU. Then in 22 had a clunker against South Range where both teams combined for nearly 1,000 yards of offense but South Range recovered a couple of fumbles and had a big punt block that changed the dynamic of the game.

This year Ironton's key competitor will likely be Harvest Prep, who has come so close themselves. A fairly new school compared to some of the others, they were founded in 1986 (The school is connected to famous pastor Rod Parsley) and have achieved their first four state semifinal appearances over the last decade. This year they competed against Ashland, winning 26-10. They're big, fast, and VERY physical just like they were in 2020 when I had a chance to call a game between them and Ironton in the playoffs.

This was a great game for Pikeville to schedule. Given the rundown of Ironton's winning tradition combined with the style they play - they'll encounter some teams in 1A that will give them a similar scheme. I'll admit where I'm knowledgeable and where I'm not and one area I'm not knowledgeable is knowing the landscape of 1A - but I doubt that Pikeville will encounter a player that is as electrifying as Shaun Terry throughout the playoffs. For Ironton, I think this game is heavily beneficial in the sense of what I mentioned regarding Harvest Prep. Their backs and receivers are unusually large and a load to tackle, and up front their lines bring a big level of physicality. Pikeville's teams are always tough and physical and I'm sure that is a great test for Ironton. On top of that, coming into a hostile environment on the road is always a great learning experience for a team. All in all, a great game that will be highly helpful to both teams down the road and hopefully a series we will continue to see in the future.

On 10/5/2024 at 7:15 PM, mcpapa said:

Said it before and I’ll say it again.  Pikeville has scheduled for the postseason. 

There’s no doubt about that. Many may be deceived by Pikeville’s record, but they have played a TOUGH schedule to this point. I think it’s possible that Campbellsville, Raceland or Sayre could beat them, but it’s going to be a tall task. I really would have liked seeing Campbellsville play a tougher schedule earlier on in the season than they did. I’m not saying in any way that Campbellsville is bad, they have impressed me. I just think that they could have been more battle tested.