3/18 - Ironton 51 Portsmouth 72 (Regional Semi Final)

[Badboy]

PHS HAD 6 FOULS FOR THE GAME! Haha... Has to be the most lopsided game I've ever seen..we have to get Structure other than friendly coaches doing the voting! At home a 5 point win at Ironton a 11 pt win.. Split decision!! The game sucked and was decided by the zebras.

PHS wins by nearly 20 points and the refs decided the game? LOL.

[biggdowgg]

East more is a very good team and will be a very tough opponent ,they play lot of big schools in the Columbus city league they are very quick . Trojans will have to play some great defense and shoot well but like knowledge said this is a winnable game .

Portsmouth had 4 starters score in double figures last night with the 5 the having 8 ,that will be needed again Saturday.

Congrats to the Trojans on making it to the elite 8 representing the OVC and the SEOAL a great accomplishment for a team that has been playing undersized for most of the year.

[knowledge]

I had the wrong team, Eastmoor is pretty good, I was referring to Columbus East who played Fredericktown, Eastmoor played East Knox in the sectional final and handled the bulldogs. My mistakes, best of luck Trojans!

[bbjunky81]

I had the wrong team, Eastmoor is pretty good, I was referring to Columbus East who played Fredericktown, Eastmoor played East Knox in the sectional final and handled the bulldogs. My mistakes, best of luck Trojans!

In my opinion, Portsmouth can and WILL win this basketball game. Again, I was surprised Eastmoor beat Fredericktown at home in the sectional final, they are making a remarkable run.

Wrong team.

You are thinking of Columbus East.

This is Eastmoor Academy.

Columbus EAST beat Fredericktown in the Sectional and then lost to Bishop Hartley in the District Final of the D3 Bowling Green Regional.

Eastmoor Academy is in the D3 Athens Regional and has beaten Columbus International, East Knox, Cardington-Lincoln, Marion Pleasant, and Belmont Union Local to advance to the Regional Final.


All bracket information can be found here:

http://ohsaa.org/sports/bk/boys/2015/20 ... ackets.htm

[knowledge]

Yeah, I read the name to fast and messed that up! Regardless, best of luck to the Trojans.

[4thgoal]

If you remember, Eastmoor was the school moved from D3 to D5 in football this past fall during week 3 of the football season. They were wrapped up in the big Columbs Schools enrollment scandal. Somehow their enrollment dropped from nearly 300 boys to around 200 and OHSAA allowed them to change divisions and their enrollment count, even though it was not a count year.

[biggdowgg]

They are a very good team no doubt that's why I said we would have to shoot very good and play good defense.our kids got to see them play last night and coaches already knew this would probably be them team they played if they made it this far so they have already seen them play before this game.

4thandgoal you are right we talked about this last night,other schools in columbus was pretty upset at ohsaa for that ruling ,but who isnt upset at ohsaa lol

[4thgoal]

4thandgoal you are right we talked about this last night,other schools in columbus was pretty upset at ohsaa for that ruling ,but who isnt upset at ohsaa lol

Agreed, there are several things the OHSAA does each year that leave most people scratching their heads :aaaaa46

[Regulator]

“We did take a lot of outside shots that we didn’t want to take,” said LaFon. “We didn’t do very good at attacking the basket. I think they only fouled us two times in the first half and a little of that had to do with us. We were taking a lot of jump shots instead of attacking the rim like we normally do.” Quote from the Ironton Tribune of Coach Lafon. Interesting because people get on here and say fouls were 10-2 or something, but they don't look at style of game being played.

[trojandave]

Congratulations to our Trojans on the win......and to the Fighting Tigers on a very good season. The win by PHS was the 19th 20 win season in Trojan history (20-6). 3 of the last 5 years PHS has won at least 20 games, with a 19 win season in 2013-2014.

Despite the 2 close games during the regular season, last night Portsmouth proved to clearly be the better team. The Trojans imposed their will in the second half, just like the Chesapeake game in the district championship. Kendal Reynolds has been outstanding for PHS in the tourney, scoring 80 points in the 4 games. Kyre Allison, Sky Oliver, Ethan Leonard, and Alex Dickerson have all made big plays at both ends of the court, and it is easy to see that the Trojans are a very unselfish team. 4 or 5 players in double figures in a couple of tourney games further brings home that point.

Defensively, Portsmouth has allowed 55, 46, 46, and 51 in the 4 postseason games. None of those games were of the slowdown kind, so defensively the Trojans have done well at that end of the court.

Looking ahead, Columbus Eastmoor Academy will be a very tough opponent, easily the quickest team PHS has faced this season. The Trojans will have to play perhaps their best game of the year to win, which is what regional final basketball is all about.

Congratulations to Coach Eugene Collins and his staff for reaching the Elite 8 for the 3rd time in 5 years........and to Ironton Coach Mark Lafon for the outstanding coaching job he did this year. In my opinion, Coach Lafon should have won district COY for the job he did with a team not overly talented, and yet took them to the regionals. Also praise for Tristan Cox, who played a very good game for the Fighting Tigers.

[wipala]

trojandave, comment and question. I really enjoy your posts for our Trojans, you must have played. Question, next
season with only OVC games any idea whom the Ztrojans will round out a 22 game season against?
Thank you for your posts, living in Arizona it gives me a link to PHS

[trojandave]

wipala: Next season, the Trojans will play 14 OVC games with Gallia Academy scheduled to begin league play. PHS will also go to Florida for 3 games, and will have the Wendy's Classic which will probably include 2 games for Portsmouth. They are also scheduled to play Chillicothe in the Shawnee State Classic, date TBD. Peebles is also on the schedule, as is Wheelersburg. There might be room for 1 or 2 other non-conference games.

[trojandave]

The Flying Dutchman: I misread the SE district tourney program. The 200 plus wins is the total sectional/district wins, not the number of wins at the Convo. My mistake.

[wipala]

Thank you, appears to be a pretty rounded scedule. Keeping Chilli on is awesome. Keep up the great
job. Really enjoy the alum page

[Curtain]

Congrats to both teams for getting to the regionals. Congrats to Gino Collins and a well coached team. Congrats to Lafon took an average team with a poor start of the season to the regionals. The outcome was as i assumed it would be. The refs didn't decide this game. Ironton didn't drive to force fouls. As far as brackets are concerned both teams had an easy road. Yes valley was #1 seed but was a weak #1 seed, CG or Fairland would have possibly beaten them as well. Wheelersburg was very weak. The most important time of the tourney is seed selections and Lafon/Piersen and others are good at greasing the wheel to get good match ups, and they did.
History between ironton is all well and good but every year is different with new players/ new coaches/ attitudes/ talent/growth. History is out the window in determining who will win a game.
S/E basketball has not hit rock bottom as some have suggested, every year be it north south east or west all teams change and there's an ebb and flow of talent coming in and out of HS basketball. That is the nature of sports. Some programs are continually doing good but there are up and down years.

Both ironton and portsmouth were playing there best game at the right time. This and their brackets were determining factors in how they went so far in the tourney and I enjoyed watching both teams. Good luck to the Trojans? Good luck to Ironton in the coming years.

[Gray Fighting Tiger]

...4. Portsmouth has been the 800 pound gorilla in the Southeast District, garnering 37 District crowns, twice as many as any other school. However, Ironton can boast that during the Convo era, its owns the top winning percentage in that building since its opening in 1968. The Tigers have enjoyed a "home away from home" record of 31-6 in the Convo over the past 46 years, or a winning percentage of .838, which is better than the Ohio Bobcats can boast in their own building (.764). Once the Tiger make it out of the Sectionals, they have been a tough "out" at the Convo.

Just to clarify, I am sure that the 31-6 number (indeed very impressive) is for district games only.

[The Flying Dutchman]

Trojandave, When it comes to PHS athletics you are the man, you had me thinking on that one. Good luck to your Trojans!

[pembrook burrows III]

Gray Tiger, I went back and checked, and you are correct. I got the information out of the programs sold at the Convo for district play, and the record I quoted from the program was for district games only. Sorry about the confusion.

It has been a week now since the Tigers bowed out against Portsmouth. But it is never too late to say "thank you" to a special group of Ironton seniors - Joe Bowling, Tristan Cox, Tanner Price, and Isaac Sherman.

Those four guys stuck with the program when others with less determination may have not. Their junior years were difficult, going 3-7 in football and not making the playoffs, and 2-22 in basketball and not getting out of the sectionals. They didn't hang their heads or quit, however. They continued to work and improve their games. During their senior year, they took things to a totally different level of accomplishment, and enjoyed an 8-3 football season with a playoff run, and a 17-10 basketball season with a run to the regional semifinals. In each sport, they reached the Ohio Sweet 16 in their classification. There were welcome contributions in basketball as well by senior newcomers Dylan Malone and John Johnson, the latter being relegated to a practice player due to an eligibility snafu.

That's a lot of memories for the players and the fans, and a great example to all young athletes to persevere, and never quit. A young person's opportunity to play interscholastic competitive sports is a relatively short window that ends about age 18. The vast majority will spend their next 50+ years watching and wishing they still had that opportunity to compete. The temptation will always be there after a tough season to take the easy road out by quitting.

I think this group of Ironton Fighting Tigers may tell you how shortsighted and self-limiting that decision would be.

Well done, guys.

[Gray Fighting Tiger]

Gray Tiger, I went back and checked, and you are correct. I got the information out of the programs sold at the Convo for district play, and the record I quoted from the program was for district games only. Sorry about the confusion.

Not a problem.

...
It has been a week now since the Tigers bowed out against Portsmouth. But it is never too late to say "thank you" to a special group of Ironton seniors - Joe Bowling, Tristan Cox, Tanner Price, and Isaac Sherman.

Those four guys stuck with the program when others with less determination may have not. Their junior years were difficult, going 3-7 in football and not making the playoffs, and 2-22 in basketball and not getting out of the sectionals. They didn't hang their heads or quit, however. They continued to work and improve their games. During their senior year, they took things to a totally different level of accomplishment, and enjoyed an 8-3 football season with a playoff run, and a 17-10 basketball season with a run to the regional semifinals. In each sport, they reached the Ohio Sweet 16 in their classification. There were welcome contributions in basketball as well by senior newcomers Dylan Malone and John Johnson, the latter being relegated to a practice player due to an eligibility snafu.

That's a lot of memories for the players and the fans, and a great example to all young athletes to persevere, and never quit. A young person's opportunity to play interscholastic competitive sports is a relatively short window that ends about age 18. The vast majority will spend their next 50+ years watching and wishing they still had that opportunity to compete. The temptation will always be there after a tough season to take the easy road out by quitting.

I think this group of Ironton Fighting Tigers may tell you how shortsighted and self-limiting that decision would be.

Well done, guys.

NIce post.

[gotgame?]

And NO Trojan Dave did not play !!!!!! Maybe at Wilson or McKinley occasionally on the playground.