Best game you ever watched or played in....

[Orange and Brown]

So let's talk about the best game you have ever watched or even layed in.

[Izladoom]

Best game I have seen was that first valley vs bucyrus game. Had everything you ever wanted well unless you wanted defense. Never have I seen both teams give everything like that.

[oneoak]

Oak Hill vs Minford in a second round playoff game at Jackson in 2010 and Oak Hill vs Jeromesville Hillsdale last year in a first round playoff game. Also, Oak Hill vs Minford in the 3 OT regular season game last year and Oak Hill vs Wellston in about 2000.

[california kid]

played

2006 East @ Green
Winner of this game would be the SOC champs. East won in OT 28-22 with a touchdown on 4th and 1 from the 1 yard line.

2006 Green @ Piketon
Almost came into the big dogs house and beat them. Piketon with a late score in the forth to win 20-14. One of the hardest hitting, fun, and heartbreaking games ever played in everybody wanted that W.

Going to have to think a little harder about games watched.

[Paladin]

Watched

Maurice Clarette's senior season at Warren Harding, they were in the playoffs at Kent St. vs Lakewood St. Eds, national ranked and I believe ranked number 2 in Ohio. Clarette shredded them for 401 yds rushing and 5 Tds. He ran over & thru people who, many of whom went on the play college & Pro ball. Biggest domination of high quality competition I ever saw in H.S.

Played

1961 season vs Gallipolis at Logan. Played as a down DE on Gallia's strong side TE who was a black 6'5 kid, 225 very rangy and quick and was All league. Beat him like a ragdoll the first half and dominated against Gallia strong side. They never ran back to my side the entire second half as we beat them 14-12. While playing right OT, whipped up on a huge kid that outweighted me by 80 lbs and allowed Logan to control the ball on the ground. Because several teams had scouts at the game and saw the performance, its was one of the reasons I was selected All- SEOAL and All-SEO District that year. Easily my best game.

[93Bulldog]

Watched

Maurice Clarette's senior season at Warren Harding, they were in the playoffs at Kent St. vs Lakewood St. Eds, national ranked and I believe ranked number 2 in Ohio. Clarette shredded them for 401 yds rushing and 5 Tds. He ran over & thru people who, many of whom went on the play college & Pro ball. Biggest domination of high quality competition I ever saw in H.S.

Played

1961 season vs Gallipolis at Logan. Played as a down DE on Gallia's strong side TE who was a black 6'5 kid, 225 very rangy and quick and was All league. Beat him like a ragdoll the first half and dominated against Gallia strong side. They never ran back to my side the entire second half as we beat them 14-12. While playing right OT, whipped up on a huge kid that outweighted me by 80 lbs and allowed Logan to control the ball on the ground. Because several teams had scouts at the game and saw the performance, its was one of the reasons I was selected All- SEOAL and All-SEO District that year. Easily my best game.

How about 1989 Logan at Athens ...
How about 1990 Athens at Logan?

two of my favorites for sure ...

[noreply66]

Don't remember the year .......Logan vs Miami Trace

[Dundas]

1993 DIII 2nd Round State Playoffs

Vinton County vs Ironton

I don't remember it firsthand as I was only 7 years old but I'm sure I was a heck of a game..

[ohbuckeye2]

Ironton 1979 AA State Championship Game vs Akron St Vincint St Mary

http://79tigers.wordpress.com/


Tigers Crowned No. 1 by Jimmy Walker

Posted on April 1, 2012 | Leave a comment


David slew Goliath! Outweighed 30 pounds a man and as much as a 14 point underdog, the Ironton Fighting Tigers came from behind to upset Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary 7-6, Friday afternoon at the Akron Rubber Bowl, and thus claim their first-ever Class AA State Football Championship.

The Tigers used blood and guts, scrap, hustle, pride, tradition and desire to post the win. They played super defense, and never quit, as evidenced by their touchdown drive that covered 73 yards in ten plays, with senior Gabriel Lewis dashing into the end zone with just 31 seconds left in the game. The decisive extra point was kicked by Joe Fletcher after getting another perfect snap from Craig Thomas, who hasn’t failed on a point after attempt, field goal, or punt snap in three seasons.

“Not in our wildest dreams did we think we’d win this thing at the beginning of the year,” Lutz beamed, his head shaking back and forth, still in disbelief. “If you’d have told me we’d be here back in August, I’d have said you were crazy.” And why not? The Tigers lost five interior linemen to graduation while returning only Fletcher, while the other end, Tim Hodges, was moved to fill the void at fullback. And the important quarterback position had also been vacated.

After being proclaimed the worst team in Lutz’ eight year stint at Ironton, the young Tigers tried not to live up to it, but were battling for their lives early in the season. But they turned it around, and went on to do what none of the other “better” teams had done: win a state championship. “It was a super defense against an enormous size team and a super fullback,” explained Lutz. “We had our backs to the wall time and time again, but we held them off. They had numerous opportunities. We waited for our break, and we got it.”

That break was a fumble recovery by senior defensive tackle Joe Hacker, who at 6-3 and 215 pounds was going against Fighting Irish tackle Jim Carson at 6-5 and 255. “Hacker did a tremendous job against Carson,” lauded Lutz. “Defensively we had to keep them from shoving it down our throats. We had two down men that weighed 155 and 175. We just tried to keep low at their feet and tie them up.”

After intercepting an Ironton pass, St. Vincent-St Mary had the ball on the Tigers’ 35 yard line with 4:30 left in the game. But on second and three, Jerry Gaydash was hit and fumbled the ball. Hacker pounced on it with 3:32 left. “The ball just came out and I reached for it and got it,” said a sobbing Hacker after the game. Down lineman Scott Willis, at only 175, said “I had a hand on it, but Joey had it with both hands.” Now Ironton had the ball on their own 27. The exciting finish for the most exciting game in the history of Ironton football was at hand.

Junior quarterback Brent Wilcoxon, who hit 12 of 14 passes for 82 yards, was to connect on 6 of 6 aerials during the drive for 64 yards, including a big 32 yard toss to Fletcher, and a couple of check-off passes to Hodges. The first play was a 6 yard pass to Fletcher, then Lewis ran for two. Wilcoxon then passed for two more yards to Terry Royal for a first down with just over 2 minutes left to play. Then came the bootleg pass.

Wilcoxon faked and circled to his right, stood up, and fired downfield to Fletcher. The defensive back for Akron recovered in time after being badly beaten on the play, but Fletcher took the ball from him in what appeared to be an interception at first. The play covered 32 yards and gave Ironton a first down at the St. Vincent-St. Mary 30 yard line. “The ball was tipped,” said Fletcher. “But I wasn’t going to let him have it. I wanted it.” “Fletchers an athlete,” remarked Lutz. He went up and got it. He did the same thing last week against Badin. He’s played under a lot of pressure before, like in the basketball tournament. Pressure is not a stranger to him.”

Wilcoxon thought that there wasn’t any problem with the play until the ball got closer to its’ target. “When I first threw it, I thought he was open easy,” explained Brent. “But after I threw it, he didn’t seem so open.” After no gain, Wilcoxon went to throw, but was rushed. He dumped the ball to Hodges for seven yards. Then he threw for seven more to Lewis. Being rushed hard again, he dumped the ball off to Hodges for nine yards to the Akron seven yard line with 34 seconds left in the game. “Those plays weren’t in the playbook,” confessed Hodges. “I was just blocking and dropped off. It was just that Brent was looking and was able to hit me.”

Akron St. Vincent-St. Mary jumped offside and the penalty put the ball on the 4 yard line. With John Moritz leading the interference, Lewis went left, then cut sharply inside and went almost untouched into the end zone. “It looked like they had some people out there, but Lewis cut it back up,” commented Lutz on the tying score. “Lewis is a tough, tough kid. He hit Gaydash, who is a tough back, and knocked him back a couple of times.”

The triumph was a masterpiece for the coaching staff, but all their praise was for the kids. “Our guards did a hell of a good job,” praised assistant coach Pat Sheridan. “David Clay and Darwin Conwell were really out-manned. John Moritz did a good job getting out and got a good lead block on the touchdown play.” “Our kids never gave up,” smiled Mike Burcham, assistant coach and athletic director. “They’ve hit hard all year.”

Assistant coach Lynn Schrickel said not to forget the sidelines for the support they gave and added, “The defensive line was out-manned 30 pounds. We put in three or four new defenses this week, and the kids ran them like we’d done it for three years. We were just doing a lot of slanting and jamming it inside to try and force them outside. This is a great experience, maybe the greatest of a lifetime,” gleamed Schrickel.

“There is no way our people could slug it out. We went to a six man defensive line. We wanted to make them go outside. We wanted them to throw the ball. We figured they’d try to run down out throats,” noted Lutz. “More than anything else, we just wanted to force them outside into our speed. The big factor was our speed and quickness,” continued Lutz. Lutz was also happy that the state title was brought down to southeastern Ohio, where football isn’t as highly regarded as it is in the northern part of the state, by northern people of course. “If we’d gotten blown out, they would have said ‘send them back to southeastern Ohio’ They have a bigger population in the north and they don’t take us as seriously. A lot of people thought we shouldn’t have been here,” said Lutz.

They can’t say that now. But if anyone still believes it, just ask St. Vincent-St. Mary. They know that Ironton belongs. But then, the 1979 Ohio Class AA champion Ironton Fighting Tigers knew they belonged the whole time.

[Omega]

For us old geezer spectators, how about the Southern Ohio Super Bowl of 1969.

Waverly 9-0-0 versus Jackson 9-0-0.

Final score 14-14 tie.

Bill Pekala where ae you ?

[TRENCHFOOT]

1977 Logan vs Ironton. At the tank. Final Score 20-14 Logan.

[C-Bolt]

I missed that one but the one that has to be the best one I saw was a loss for Logan, 2007 Logan vs Tri-Valley last game at Bill Sauer with everything on the line in a big game atsmosphere,the Pickerington game in 2000 was great also, but Pickerington had their 2 best players not play that night, so it would have to be the Tri-Valley game for me.Cam West and that receiver were awesome and also Lucas Wright made some outstanding plays that night.The Scotties tried the same pass play 3 straight plays in the final seconds in the endzone and the third time was a charm.

[ironman02]

1993 DIII 2nd Round State Playoffs

Vinton County vs Ironton

I don't remember it firsthand as I was only 7 years old but I'm sure I was a heck of a game..

I was 9 years old and also at that game. I was standing in the end zone opposite from the levee at Spartan. That was the first playoff game I ever attended.

I remember thinking VC was gonna win, but Jermon Jackson took over in the 4th quarter. Once it got to OT, I just had the feeling that Ironton was gonna end up winning, and they did. On the winning TD, pretty much everyone thought Jackson was gonna get the ball, but they gave it to JJ King on a FB trap and he ran through a whole that you could've driven a truck through, and scored right in front of me.

Definitely a great game.

[ironman02]

I've seen a lot of great games over the years, regular season and playoffs, but my personal favorite has to be Jackson vs. Cincinnati Withrow in the 2004 D2 playoffs.

Jackson had lost a couple games in the regular season that they were expected to win, but they got into the playoffs as an 8 seed. They traveled to Cincinnati to face undefeated and state-ranked Withrow. That Withrow team had several guys who went on to play college football, and was heavily favored.

Jackson led 19-7 at halftime, but Withrow exploded in the second half to take a 35-29 lead late in the 4th. Jared Humphreys then led an amazing drive, throwing a TD pass to Randy Fisher with seconds remaining in the game. Jackson added the extra point and won 36-35, pulling off the #8 over #1 upset in dramatic fashion.

[ironman02]

For us old geezer spectators, how about the Southern Ohio Super Bowl of 1969.

Waverly 9-0-0 versus Jackson 9-0-0.

Final score 14-14 tie.

Bill Pekala where ae you ?

How exactly did that one end? I remember hearing about it, but was one team threatening to score right at the end or did one team score to tie it?

[JohnKnight]

http://www.jjhuddle.com/nbc4i/index.php ... ost&p=3688


Head coach Ed Bolin guided his Tigers, led by quarterback D.R. Robinson, on a magical run that season that included one of the biggest upsets in OHSAA football playoff history.

[Ironman92]

Agree completely with 02.....Jackson vs Withrow in playoffs

Donte Love was unbelievable.

[Raiderball]

Can't remember for sure what year for sure.... 89-91 or so, Jackson at Athens. Bubba Lichtenberg QB at Athens was hilited on espn during the week but Marty Exline, Jackson TB put on a show that night. Athens won.... 42-38????

[Raiderball]

Jackson/Hillsboro playoff game at Spartan Stadium in mid 90's was a good one too.

[Raiderball]

Going back a few years and small school... not sure how many divisions at the time, could have still been only 3 divisions (1980). I watched Southwestern dominate an undefeated (I think) Hannan Trace team and win 22-0. They completely shut down the HT offense and their stud RB Todd??? Sibley.