Ironton Football 2015

[YOU'RE TIGER BAIT]

I agree with everything you said. great post.

[ohbuckeye2]

One thing I believe that hurts is that more and more kids are trying to specialize in one sport. You used to have Atheletes that played multiple sports, seems to me we are seeing less and less of that at Ironton. I'm not sure why we don't see at least half of the Football Team on the Track Team.

6 out of 16 Basketball players played Football, we had at least 2 6'5 Football players that I know play Basketball that didn't play. We only had 2 or 3 Football players on the Track Team.

[pembrook burrows III]

I agree with you, ohbuckeye2. Ironton's most successful years were in the 70's and 80's, when the students were strongly encouraged to participate in multiple sports. It started under the Bruney-Trent-Burcham regime and continued under Lutz-Schrickel-Burcham. Once football was over, a kid was expected to either play basketball or wrestle over the winter. Then come spring time, he was expected to either participate in track and field or play baseball. This accomplished a couple of things.

First, more school sports flourished with the influx of athletes. I can remember when Ironton's track teams had 75 bodies from which to choose for events.

More importantly, it fostered greater work ethic and discipline in the students, who were competing for something all year long. Plus, this switching up of skills and year-round coaching resulted in a more well-rounded and conditioned athlete - guys who were strong, but also guys who could run.

Colleges can afford to hire sophisticated trainers who effectively cross-train their football players in the offseason, but most high schools cannot. I think a small school like Ironton's best alternative is to encourage multiple sports participation.

Ironton is still blessed with very good high school coaches, so I am hesitant to be too critical. But I do not favor single sport specialization in kids when coaches know the OHSAA rules are not conducive to allowing effective year-round coaching in a single sport. Yet as ohbuckeye2 points out, this specialization is becoming more the norm at Ironton. And this is true at many other schools, not just at Ironton. Parents buy-in to the idea because they think specialization is the key to a college scholarship for their child. They don't realize the downsides of burn-out, over-use injuries, and well-intentioned but substandard offseason training, whether that is a lightly-supervised weight room or an minimally-structured AAU basketball team (this is not intended to be a reference to any particular school's weight program or to a specific AAU squad).

Sure there are exceptions. Elite players can frequently get good offseason training, and there are certain kids whose parents can afford to pay for it. But how many of those kids are at Ironton? The last 26 years say not enough. I would like to see our coaches work more cooperatively to encourage multiple sports participation, rather than competing for the loyalties of a kid to a single program. But I'm afraid that the times have passed me by.

[IBTT]

I couldn't agree more. I feel that I have seen numerous kids in the past five years not play but a single sport and in my opinion chose the wrong sport. Had they played even two sports they could have had division 1 schools begging for them. I like too the point of developing and resting certain muscles. If you play one sport all year long you use the same muscles all the time all year every year. Most of the athletes at Ironton high don't have or can't afford a good trainer that is knowledgable in training a high school kid to the level of being a division 1 athlete. For that matter there are only an elite few trainers who focus on that. What I grew up in throughout the 80s was playing outside as a kid everyday from daylight to dark. I played every sport that was offered and when I was in the 7th grade we started with weights in jr high. We had coach Parker as our weight coach. It must have been a pretty decent program. We as a team had kids who could handle anyone including teams much larger than us that had one way players. It was a very simple weight program however. Using freeweights and we did dips used the Olympic weights for two exercises and we may have done push ups, sit ups, leg lifts and pull-ups. That's it.

I remember the, I believe, next to last state runner up year. We faced Waseon in the football championship game, Basketball Semifinal and baseball semifinals. Usually when you have a good football team, I have always been told that normally all of the other sports usually have pretty good years too. That was one year to show that. It was three separate coaching staffs. Lutz in football, Rice in Basketball and Sheridan in Baseball.

[Gray Fighting Tiger]

...I remember the, I believe, next to last state runner up year. We faced Waseon in the football championship game, Basketball Semifinal and baseball semifinals. Usually when you have a good football team, I have always been told that normally all of the other sports usually have pretty good years too. That was one year to show that. It was three separate coaching staffs. Lutz in football, Rice in Basketball and Sheridan in Baseball.

I don't think Ironton played Wauseon in the baseball state tournament that year. It's true they both were in the tournament, but not in the same semifinal.

[black76]

Now there are so long winded folks on here. Shew.

[YOU'RE TIGER BAIT]

I agree with you, ohbuckeye2. Ironton's most successful years were in the 70's and 80's, when the students were strongly encouraged to participate in multiple sports. It started under the Bruney-Trent-Burcham regime and continued under Lutz-Schrickel-Burcham. Once football was over, a kid was expected to either play basketball or wrestle over the winter. Then come spring time, he was expected to either participate in track and field or play baseball. This accomplished a couple of things.

First, more school sports flourished with the influx of athletes. I can remember when Ironton's track teams had 75 bodies from which to choose for events.

More importantly, it fostered greater work ethic and discipline in the students, who were competing for something all year long. Plus, this switching up of skills and year-round coaching resulted in a more well-rounded and conditioned athlete - guys who were strong, but also guys who could run.

Colleges can afford to hire sophisticated trainers who effectively cross-train their football players in the offseason, but most high schools cannot. I think a small school like Ironton's best alternative is to encourage multiple sports participation.

Ironton is still blessed with very good high school coaches, so I am hesitant to be too critical. But I do not favor single sport specialization in kids when coaches know the OHSAA rules are not conducive to allowing effective year-round coaching in a single sport. Yet as ohbuckeye2 points out, this specialization is becoming more the norm at Ironton. And this is true at many other schools, not just at Ironton. Parents buy-in to the idea because they think specialization is the key to a college scholarship for their child. They don't realize the downsides of burn-out, over-use injuries, and well-intentioned but substandard offseason training, whether that is a lightly-supervised weight room or an minimally-structured AAU basketball team (this is not intended to be a reference to any particular school's weight program or to a specific AAU squad).

Sure there are exceptions. Elite players can frequently get good offseason training, and there are certain kids whose parents can afford to pay for it. But how many of those kids are at Ironton? The last 26 years say not enough. I would like to see our coaches work more cooperatively to encourage multiple sports participation, rather than competing for the loyalties of a kid to a single program. But I'm afraid that the times have passed me by.

awesome post man.

[YOU'RE TIGER BAIT]

I couldn't agree more. I feel that I have seen numerous kids in the past five years not play but a single sport and in my opinion chose the wrong sport. Had they played even two sports they could have had division 1 schools begging for them. I like too the point of developing and resting certain muscles. If you play one sport all year long you use the same muscles all the time all year every year. Most of the athletes at Ironton high don't have or can't afford a good trainer that is knowledgable in training a high school kid to the level of being a division 1 athlete. For that matter there are only an elite few trainers who focus on that. What I grew up in throughout the 80s was playing outside as a kid everyday from daylight to dark. I played every sport that was offered and when I was in the 7th grade we started with weights in jr high. We had coach Parker as our weight coach. It must have been a pretty decent program. We as a team had kids who could handle anyone including teams much larger than us that had one way players. It was a very simple weight program however. Using freeweights and we did dips used the Olympic weights for two exercises and we may have done push ups, sit ups, leg lifts and pull-ups. That's it.

I remember the, I believe, next to last state runner up year. We faced Waseon in the football championship game, Basketball Semifinal and baseball semifinals. Usually when you have a good football team, I have always been told that normally all of the other sports usually have pretty good years too. That was one year to show that. It was three separate coaching staffs. Lutz in football, Rice in Basketball and Sheridan in Baseball.

another awesome post. I remember my mom telling me ''get the heck out of the house, I don't want to see you till the street lights come on''.

[YOU'RE TIGER BAIT]

I'm the same way posting in general. or I'd have 150,000 posts here.

[EagleFan89]

Confirmed 2015 Schedule?
1. H Wheelersburg
2. H Russell (KY)
3. H Beechwood (KY)
4. A Paul Blazer (KY)
5. H Portsmouth
6. H Fairland
7. A Dawson-Bryant
8. A Rock Hill
9. A Chesapeake
10. A South Point

[YOU'RE TIGER BAIT]

that is awesome.

[#15pigskinfan$$1]

If Ironton picked up Beechwood for Week 3 that really says a lot about where people feel their program is at after Johnson Central, a team an hour away, approached reps numerous times to play another 2 year deal. This year it would've been in Johnson Central's Big Sandy RECC Bowl, HUGE payday as well, and in 2016 it would've been at Ironton. At least when we contacted Beechwood they said they didn't want to play, just like numerous others have, from the start. Ironton had been talking occasionally to JC reps about getting this game and then leave them high and dry, when according to JC's AD, last week he thought the deal was imminent. Why would you not want to take the best SR laden team in quite some time on the road against one of KY's premier 4A programs? I guess the game from 2013 has still left a bad taste in someone's mouth. If the schedule holds true, as long as the AD or Jim Matney is at Johnson Central these two will never play again.

[Westfan]

If Ironton picked up Beechwood for Week 3 that really says a lot about where people feel their program is at after Johnson Central, a team an hour away, approached reps numerous times to play another 2 year deal. This year it would've been in Johnson Central's Big Sandy RECC Bowl, HUGE payday as well, and in 2016 it would've been at Ironton. At least when we contacted Beechwood they said they didn't want to play, just like numerous others have, from the start. Ironton had been talking occasionally to JC reps about getting this game and then leave them high and dry, when according to JC's AD, last week he thought the deal was imminent. Why would you not want to take the best SR laden team in quite some time on the road against one of KY's premier 4A programs? I guess the game from 2013 has still left a bad taste in someone's mouth. If the schedule holds true, as long as the AD or Jim Matney is at Johnson Central these two will never play again.

West scrimmaged JC last year and they are huge and fast while dressing around 60 kids. I don't know what they have back this year but their JV team was very good too.

I watched Ironton play Burg in the playoffs. You are not gonna line up and run the Straight T at JC. If you are not diverse in your offense you are in big trouble. I seen the JC/Ironton score from a couple years ago. Last years game would've been similar.

[pembrook burrows III]

JC has a very fine football program, and deserves a lot of accolades. But it really comes down to a couple of factors, neither of which reflect poorly on either JC or Ironton.

1. Ironton needed another home game in 2015 to even out the schedule 5-5, especially after logging only 4 home games in 2014.

2. Ironton has 158 boys in the top 3 grades, Beechwood has 149 boys in the top 3 grades, and JC has 419 boys in top 3 grades.

For a team hopefully looking to play 12-14 games this season, having to play guys both ways due to lack of depth and numbers, and hoping to keep key players healthy all season, Ironton has made the smart call here.

[Tigercannon71]

Also lets not overlook the fact that Ironton only needs to fill 1 year not a 2 year contract because Galliapolis is coming into the league next year.

[YOU'RE TIGER BAIT]

them ole blue devils thought they'd gotten rid of us cannon.
not so fast.

[maniac66]

I said several years back Ironton and portsmouth along with Gallia Academy would make the move to the OVC.
It truly made to much sense not to.
Will points be harder to come by for playoffs maybe but if Ironton keeps scheduling games they can win for points outside of the OVC teams that will help greatly.
Key for Ironton is injuries and depth Ironton has some talented players returning at key positions but what does depth look like overall.
And will Ironton have a freshman team this year and if not what does the future look like for them to have one ?
Go Tigers

[IBTT]

Ironton scheduled Beachwood game 3. Now maybe we can finish the final 2 3/4 of a game in which they took credit for winning. Let's just make sure anything electric is good this time. We all know they won't stick around for more than 15 minutes and in Kentucky once the game starts the game counts so they have no reason to stick around. Thankfully this time it won't be a divisor of 10 if they head for the hills!!

[YOU'RE TIGER BAIT]

indeed unfinished business with these cats.

[EagleFan89]

Must be a big slacker as AD in Ironton.

http://schedules.myohsaa.org/SchoolHome ... evels/2015

The myOHSAA schedules are complete for 90%+ of all schools. Some schools are missing a few games, but only one school is missing 8 games. The OHSAA asked all schools to have them up-to-date by May 15th. What a slacker.