D4 R15 Semifinal: Ironton (7-4) vs. Johnstown-Monroe (11-0)

[YOU'RE TIGER BAIT]

i'm really proud of you fighting tigers, and if that is true about coach burcham retiring , man what a ride it's been. he was there well before i was there, i've been out of school like 32 years.what a great asset he has been to the fighting tigers.

[bman]

Surprised by this score.

[queenofhearts]

Just a good ole fashion butt whipping. The refs may had a few bad calls but it had nothing to do with the outcome of the game. Ironton just got outplayed tonight by a better team.

[YOU'RE TIGER BAIT]

yes they did, and no shame in that game, they have played 25 football games the last 2 seasons. another amazing year from those fighting tigers.

[ohbuckeye2]

Congrats to Johnstown Monroe on the win, you came out and got the momentum right from the start. Good Luck next week vs Coshocton. #29 was an amazing RB, congrats to him on a great game.

Another good season for the Tigers, there was only 16 Teams that made it as far in D4 as you did, keep your heads up. Thanks to the Seniors for 4 great years and good Luck in whatever you do after you Graduate, to those returning next season, work hard in the Offseason and we'll see how things go.

GO TIGERS............

[YOU'RE TIGER BAIT]

very well said ohbuckeye1.it was an exciting year indeed.

[TigerHillbilly]

Tigers are capable of anything as long as they show up ready to play. They cannot depend on their defense like they did last week. Defense needs a break. Offense must stay on field longer so the defense can rest up. Defense played a heck of a game last week. I am happy with the Tigers regardless, great group of kids and also some great athletes. Enjoyed watching them every game this year. Played a tough schedule this year just take your experience from those tough games and put it on the field. The most important thing is to hold on to the dang on ball.

I hear what you are saying, but Coach believes defense wins championships, as do I. If you recall the 89 title game, Coach got up 2 TDs and went into complete "close to the vest" punt and play D the rest of the game. Campbell Memorial dominated the time of possession because Coach wanted his defense on the field. Anyone who has followed Lutz and Ironton for long knows that he loves his defense. I for one was pleasantly surprised that our defense finally stepped up and played very good playoff caliber defense in the second half. We are going to need that the rest of the way. Give me a T...............................................

This was a classic 5-2 defense. The 89 team had a tremendous defensive front. When you can have 5 guys that will do the work up front, your linebackers look like all americans. Scotty Johnson must have had 20 tackles in that game as a junior. that defensive front was tremendous!

I told you that you need offense as well. You cannot win a shootout without putting up points. Common sense tells you that..... Defense needs alot of work. Look forward to next season.

[hornetsfan]

classy

[rico suave]

strength of schedule= means nothing. tigers need to get more diversified on offense to advance past regionals nowadays. you would figure such a great coach could figure this out.

[fbnut]

strength of schedule= means nothing. tigers need to get more diversified on offense to advance past regionals nowadays. you would figure such a great coach could figure this out.

actually you don't, just Play good D, don't miss tackles or give up big plays and most importantly do not turn the ball over. Hilliard Davidson has probably been the most successful D1 school in the state the last 5-6 yrs, with 2 state titles and I don't know how many 10-0 regular seasons and they might throw 2-3 times a game.

[FridayNightLights]

Congrats to the Johnies i reallly mis-underestimated them. Tigers need to execute. I dont think it is the offense but the basics. It takes 11 guys doing there job every play. Lots of missed opportunities. Go back and reload.

[osu 77]

Long time coach Mike Burcham retires.

was this announced? i turned off the radio broadcast after the game.

not yet...BUT its a done deal..I have a source in family.

Good luck and good bye!

[86Tiger]

[quote="farmer"][quote="86Tiger"]Even their cheerleaders are dirty. They threw their pom poms at our cheerleaders at the end of their hello cheer[/quote]


To cry about the refs then to also to cry about the cheerleaders also what a sore loser you are 86. Hope you had a good parking spot and no trouble getting in and out of the stadium or any other poor excuses.[/quote]


I am not a poor loser I just call em like I see them. I said I know we didn't play that great and I am sure the outcome would have been the same (maybe not as bad). BUT there was no need to play that way and be such poor sportsman. And for the Record #45 WAS NOT trying to fight. He was just upset that the ref ignored him when he was telling the ref that they had ahold of his junk! (HOW MANY OF YOU MEN WOULD DO NOTHING IF SOMEONE WAS TRYING TO RIP YOURS OFF?) If you were really watching you could see him holding him self for a while afterward. I swear people just want to make up stuff. The Refs did talk to their captains a few times, but nothing was ever really done about any of the dirty cheap shots. Oh and a cheap shot got one of our players a concussion.

They do have a good team and that is even more of a reason to play a clean game. They didn't need to do that stuff. They clearly could win without it. They also have a great band.

With all that said, I know I will get talked about and called a sore loser, but I don't care. Let the crap begin!!!!!

PS: I had a great parking place and had no trouble at all getting out of the parking lot!!!!!

[maniac66]

Good Season Ironton ANd A Great win By you Johnstown-Monroe
Really thought Tigers would win this but again poor tackling and blocking did us in.
Are Qb never had a chance tonight but some play calling I never understood.
3rd and 27 and you do a play fake when you know and they know you have to pass.
Tonight showed Ironton needs to diversify their play book.
I support this team and always will win or lose but I think it showed tonight that Ironton was not ready for this team and when they got down it took the life out of them.
Like I said good season Ironton and Great win Johnstown-Monroe.
They came to play and win and they did so.

[TheToe]

MAN, those dudes were fast!!!!!!!!!!

[catfan4ever]

I thought Johnstown had a chance to win but never would have predicted this outcome. Sometimes a game just snow balls and the Tigers got caugt up in that. In this area ( Licking County ) only one team really plays Ironton style football and that Licking Valley ( because they are the only area team that seems to consitently grow 'em big ). You have Granville, which is really coming on in the area as a consitent winner and they run a pass happy offense and a blitzing defense. Johnstown has a pretty consitent program but this group is really special, maybe a once in a generation type team. They have decent size and decent speed but not over whelming in either area. And ... for a D.IV program, they have a ridiculous band. When they have played Heath in the past I kind of felt bad for that rinky dink band, how would they ever compete with the Marching Johnnie band.
Good season Ironton, you, unlike most D.IV schools just seem to reload each season.

[KVDW]

He was just upset that the ref ignored him when he was telling the ref that they had ahold of his junk! (HOW MANY OF YOU MEN WOULD DO NOTHING IF SOMEONE WAS TRYING TO RIP YOURS OFF?)

somebody said that the kid that was doing that was a transfer in from Martins Fairy. i dunno.

[Kicker]

Good call catfan and this is a once in a generation team for Johnstown, by far away the best team they've ever had. They all play one way, and have two speed backs in Franklin and Smith. After watching them on film and playing against them we felt that Kenton would stand the best chance of beating them in D4 because they will spread them out and throw it all over the field which is something Johnstown does not like to adjust to, they will try to stay in the 4-4 defense and blitz from everywhere against the spread. Their offense is just unstoppable the way they can attack the field from everywhere with their speed and staying fresh. To the people saying they are dirty it's just the way they play, they have the reputation in the conference that you can't call holding on every play but man do their kids play aggressive to the whistle. It sucks to play against them but it's fun to watch how aggressive they play.

[TigerHillbilly]

Johnstown was a good team. But their sportsmanship made them a poor team. That had to be the most unsportsmanlike team that I have seen in a very long time. That coach needs to get a grip on his athletes. There game play was great but like I said there sportsmanship was well horrible. There backs was good, and they really got after it from the start, their fans was really into it as well. I do think they will move along fairly well in the playoffs. But i really hate to see this type of team win the state title. I think this all falls back on the officials. They let this game get out of hand. Those officials were quick to flag Ironton for unsportsmanlike penalty but they sure did not call it both ways. I feel that they showed poor officiating. They should have set the tone of the game from the start. They let them Johnnies do as they pleased. That will do nothing but get a kid injured as it did for #88. That is not accetible, those clowns should have never been officiating that game.

[14svt]

Johnstown was a good team. But their sportsmanship made them a poor team. That had to be the most unsportsmanlike team that I have seen in a very long time. That coach needs to get a grip on his athletes. There game play was great but like I said there sportsmanship was well horrible. There backs was good, and they really got after it from the start, their fans was really into it as well. I do think they will move along fairly well in the playoffs. But i really hate to see this type of team win the state title. I think this all falls back on the officials. They let this game get out of hand. Those officials were quick to flag Ironton for unsportsmanlike penalty but they sure did not call it both ways. I feel that they showed poor officiating. They should have set the tone of the game from the start. They let them Johnnies do as they pleased. That will do nothing but get a kid injured as it did for #88. That is not accetible, those clowns should have never been officiating that game.

Are you serious about Jtown being a bad team Hahah your just mad because Ironton got beat from being said on the Forum Jtown has never played a team like Ironton, this will be the best team they played, Your team lines were Alot bigger than are lines we just had a faster team it's not ironic we have the #2 running back in the state I think Jtown has a awesome team give credit to a good team