local superstar wrote:Now I have heard every excuse in the book!! Parents need to do the conditioning because they don't know how to conduct it themselves? Unbelievable.
Read it again slowly............
Not an excuse, It's apparent that there's several that's not doing it on their own!!
So Parents shouldn't have anything to do with or concern for their kids health and well being, now I see the problem, unbelievable!! If my kid is involved in a sport such as Football and I saw that they wasn't attempting to get into or stay in shape during the off season, (Me as a responsible Parent) would push them if they wanted to play.
Ironton needs to change conditioning drastically. It is easy to see when the players walk on the field. They should be so exhausted in off season conditioning that Mom or Dad don't have to get them going. Do you think schools with great conditioning actually ask parents to do it for them? If they cant handle it, then you weed out who really wants to be there.
But I do agree since they are not in the best shape, to play them one way. There is plenty of speed for defensive line sitting the bench.
Ironton will have 2nd string in at this game after 2 or 3 quarters.
local superstar wrote:Ironton needs to change conditioning drastically. It is easy to see when the players walk on the field. They should be so exhausted in off season conditioning that Mom or Dad don't have to get them going. Do you think schools with great conditioning actually ask parents to do it for them? If they cant handle it, then you weed out who really wants to be there. But I do agree since they are not in the best shape, to play them one way. There is plenty of speed for defensive line sitting the bench.
Ironton will have 2nd string in at this game after 2 or 3 quarters.
That was the original point I was trying to make. We have plenty of depth on the bench that could help out on Defense to keep players fresh.
conditioning has been a big issue the last basically 7/8 years in my opinion.ironton's football players were used to playing both ways and special teams on top of that.and the last 5 years, you have seen lineman approaching the line and barely getting their feet off the ground. bigger is not always better. bigger is grand if you can move. but in the burg game I saw the qb get sacked repeatedly with 5/6 lineman standing around.----------------------do I think ironton will beat Russell, yes I do.but if we don't make drastic changes between week 1 and 2. we will be doomed with our schedule. and raceland and meigs will be very tough at well at the end.we most definitely have our work cut out for us. but no excuses this year. we have the kids.
some kids can play both ways (they have the stamina) some cant the coaches should no this!( so they should no which 1's to play both ways)
what these coaches are not seeing is the play calling ( the people in the stands see it and are talking about it)
this is not the 70's ,80's and early 90's anymore where u had 5 SUMO wrestlers on the line or the steelers offensive line back in the day, cell phones didnt exists then and they do now its called ADJUSTING TO WHAT IS PRESENT. This team has SPEED, has players that can CATCH passes, has players that can run wide , all this team wants to do is run the ball into a GAUNTLET / BRICK WALL of 8 to 9 players covering the middle of the field! option plays , counters, screen pass , short passes , draw plays these type plays should be what is used cause they set up other type plays!!
other teams are not even preparing for the tigers anymore all they say is to win the game all you have to do is take 2 players out of the equation and tigers will lose the game!!!! this is currently happening(if you think i am wrong ask around and you will find out for yourself)
2014 oppenents have put up huge numbers 42-22-42-41-40-23-13-48-56-35 (13 number was cause star QB was knocked out of game) unless this offense problem is addressed rapidly this team will be in for the longest season in IRONTON history!!!
Last edited by Trojan_Pride on Tue Sep 02, 2014 11:11 am, edited 1 time in total.
I thought Ironton looked much improved from last year. The Pirate's hurry up offense wears down a defense whether they are in shape or not so don't be too quick to judge their conditioning. They have a very good running attack with one of the best running backs in the region. The QB has the tools to run or throw. The linemen are built to run block not pass block so maybe use more quick hitters to keep defenses honest. (The tight end overtop of the stacked linebackers was an Ironton staple for years.) I don't think they have the depth of talent that Ironton fans are used to seeing but the schedule is a little easier than last year's so they should win more than they lose.
I agree with bits and pieces of what others are saying here.
Ironton is better than last year.
Ironton conditioning is not what it needs to be.
Too many lineman playing both ways.
Too good of a QB and RB to not get a little creative in the play calling.
I would love to see Ironton win 6-7 games, but if some of those things do not change, they could easily go 2-7 or 3-6.
I repect all the comments, I agree with 4th and goal, and I agree with old bulldog.
ironton did look better than last year in the burg game. in the first half. the second half conditioning was a major factor. and there was way too much standing around, geeze o pete already. call it what it is.
I hope the staff we have right now is the one we keep. I do hope they get it right. but the closeness of the bleachers at burg revealed a very non business like atmosphere, and kinda unorganized a bit. players yanking their helmets off , players with helmets not on.i assume most of the people here commenting are relatively close in age.so you know I played grade school ball in the late 60's, and junior high and high school ball in the 70's. I only got to play through my sophomore year in 76/77before I tore my knee out. I was never a star, and to be quite honest was more interested back then in girl's and partying.and when the vocational school opened I bolted to the country to learn a trade. that's as honest as I can be.
but with that said, you have to be held accountable for any job being done. and our teams right now are not physically prepared right now. even though I only got to play through 10th grade . I remember how physically demanding it was back in the bob lutz days, and ironton football then.we ran the bleachers at tanks memorial stadium, we ran laps around the track. the lineman shoved the sleds with the coaches standing on it. physical fitness there at the old junior high field was more demanding than what I did in boot camp.you puked , you sweated, you learned not to ever, ever give up. you played across from dinosaurs like gary lowe, rick howard , jeff kriebel, jimmy colegrove, etc. and I weighed 180 as a sophomore. I remember as a frosh doing special teams with the varsity when they needed a body. and there were the likes of Kenny fritz, phil hieronimous, maybe bill hieronimous too hard to remember. try running 40 yards and having to hit those trucks full speed.in pt we had timed laps, if you didn't make your laps in time, they'd just point their hand to the side. and you were to do grass drills, as they pretended you weren't even there. if you plated football you lifted weights, if you had a study hall you lifted weights, if you were playing you were expected every summer morning to lift while everybody else was at the pools.you did mountain climbers, you crabbed till your arms would fail you. you learned to be tough, and never give up. you physically feared the coaches, they were more . they were generals. you could not, must not fail them, the fans, your family, your girlfriend-----you were taught to fail nobody. ---------------yes this isn't the 70's , 80's 90's but football is still football. and the tough teams are still the teams doing this kind of work. in the 90's I got to teach and coach football in the rock hill district in grade school.the people there thought we were nuts. our kids ran up and down the hills, crabbed up the hills and sprinted down them. we ran practices just like ironton's. we went full tilt tackling Monday, Tuesday, took wenesday off for church, and had a very demanding practice on Thursday. Fridays were varsity nights, no practice and Saturday was game day. we had brutal scrimmages with coal grove, both ironton teams, heck even when the season was full bore . we were still scrimmaging every week.we went hard all week. the kids loved it. and we were ready for anybody anytime. whether we won or lost, bet your butt it was gonna be a battle. we nearly never had an injury, kids could be ready for anything you put before them.and you can bet our ironton junior high teams, frosh and jv prepared the same way.------------------------------------------quit blaming video games, and cell phones. until you get that kind of commitment out of the coaches and players again, it's gonna be a tough road to hoe.they did look better Friday than last year in the first half. but we were totally gassed the second half, and very unproductive. I still believe we have the horses this year. but a lot has to get turned around. you can't blame fan's for their impatience. we saw how it was done since 1972, as did the whole state. we can still be that team, despite our dwindling numbers. REALITY CHECK HERE--WHEELERSBURG IS VIRTUALLY THE SAME SIZE, A FEW MORE BOYS NOW THAN US. THEY ARE GITTEN ER DONE.you know why because they are prepared , they are lean, and more importantly they expect to win every time they touch the field. we need that again, frankly back in the 70's practices were akin to wars, Friday night seemed kinda like a day off. and our opponents knew it to, you were gonna get smacked right in the chops all night. everybody has a plan till they get hit square in the nose. time we start thinking that way again. tom Osborne, waverly, ohio aka ''YOU'RE TIGER BAIT''.
It doesnt really matter but I did notice at the half the burg kids all had helmets on and ran to lockerroom somewhere between a jog and sprint and ironton kids were mostly walking and a large portion of them had there helmets off. Ironton was in it most of the way and they competed. I thought last year they had some kids quit, I didnt see that this year.
I have to say after reading the above posts I agree with the conditioning comments it is no where near the same and another big factor nobody mentioned is attitude and heart. The attitude of certain players on the tigers squad is horrible. I'm not going to mention names. The particular people I'm talking about play both both ways and when things don't go their way they show how unprofessionally they have been taught to control their emotions and just play football. One of the particular players I'm talking about carried on more than one conversation with the fans around him while he was on the playing field. When it time to play the game we were told to keep out mouths shut and play the game of football and the score at the end of the game can do the talking. If things don't go your way keep your head up and keep playing. Take care of the little things and the big things will take care of themselves. Discipline, sportsmanship, and fundamentals needs to be addressed and addressed fast and corrected or this very talented Tiger team will go nowhere this season. The first half of the Burg game was classic battle between two rivals. The second half was a very poor performance by the tigers and they acted as if the game was over and they were down by forty. The game was very close and if they would have kept playing that game could have been a lot closer if not won. Hopefully the first half team shows up to Russell and the attitude determination and discipline is fixed and four quarters of football is played instead of two.
2 losing seasons in the last 44 years. SEOAL win streak that began with the 3rd game in 1972 and ended mid-season against Logan in 1976 after 34 straight wins. Ironton Tiger football stands for a lot of things but one thing that motivated me most when I took the field was the simple fact that I did not want to let those that came before me down. Tradition accounts for a lot and if you wear the Orange & Black and do not care for tradition, you are cheating yourself out of a valuable asset that cannot be measured when you step onto that field.
The Football knowledge on Ironton's sideline is mediocore at best, get some azzkickr coaches on staff, and with the talent level of the kids this could be a playoff caliber team, and not just a team that shows up. What happened to the days of coaches chewing a kids butt and running it off to get them in shape. A fact of the game is that it takes about 5 seconds for a running play to develop and get to the second level, that's not a long time to ask a blocker to stay on his block be 4 he stands around. or gets a downfield block is it. And why have a blocking sled if you don't use it, this will teach a player to stay with his block till the whistle blows. Just an honest observation from an outside party.
