WK1 Wheelersburg @ Ironton

[YOU'RE TIGER BAIT]

frankly ironton needs to have more football players out for depth, and the success of the program. there are awesome athletes playing video games nowadays at every school that could be playing sports.

[4thgoal]

I agree with the past few years, maybe not so much because of jobs or population as Ironton has only lost 2000 people since the early 90s.

Take a look at the enrollment numbers over the past several counts
2008 - 216 boys
2010 - 182
2012 - 162
2014 - 158
I didn't take the time to look up the population figures, but by having a decrease of 25% in the number of boys in the school and if your estimate of the population is accurate, there must be a growing % of the population of Ironton who are over the age of 50.

[Tigercannon71]

I agree with the past few years, maybe not so much because of jobs or population as Ironton has only lost 2000 people since the early 90s.

Take a look at the enrollment numbers over the past several counts
2008 - 216 boys
2010 - 182
2012 - 162
2014 - 158
I didn't take the time to look up the population figures, but by having a decrease of 25% in the number of boys in the school and if your estimate of the population is accurate, there must be a growing % of the population of Ironton who are over the age of 50.

There's a huge population over 50 in Ironton. With not a lot of jobs the kids go to college and very rarely come home because there is no jobs here for them once they graduate. Until we start getting businesses other than restaurants in Ironton that trend will continue.

[maniac66]

I agree Ironton was dying a slow death for many years now it is plunging.
my worry is with the state of Ohio moving toward consolidating so many schools how long before they turn to the southeast and start looking at Ironton , Portsmouth even far eastern Lawrence county area ?

[YOU'RE TIGER BAIT]

I hope that never happens down here.
these communities need these schools.

[IBTT]

That's amazing numbers. Had no idea it had dropped that low in the high school boys numbers. Wow!!

[Piratefan2]

I remember when our seniors now were in the 7th grade and we went up to Jackson for a scrimmage game to watch and let me tell you something....those Jackson boys were HUGE!!! we had a few RB's try to run the ball against them. like Jordan Howard and a couple others and there was no yards gained hardly at all! We had only two boys that were 7th graders that could run against Jackson at that time named Chase Foster and Kyle Davis. Kyle ran the ball about 8 times for about 42 yards and that Foster kid ran the ball 3 times for about 48 yards. Hopefully those two seniors now will help the Pirates contribute in winning this year against ironton and all the other teams they play this year. Don't know much about the Foster boy but I heard Davis might be the QB this year????

[YOU'RE TIGER BAIT]

I hope the foster boy had nothing too serious happen. I have no idea who it is. but hate seein the young'uns hurt.

[Tigercannon71]

Ironton will have a good team. They had a good team last year and will in the future. But these posts of unrealistic expectations aren't fair to the coaching staff or the players. This isn't the 90s anymore, or the early 2000's for that matter. And Bob Lutz isn't there anymore.

And I agree with the previous poster. Wheelersburg will win big again. Mostly because of coaching. Not that Vass is bad, but because he is in a no win situation playing a style from the 1940's that doesn't translate to today. But because it worked for 40 years and he's following a legend that swore by it, he can't change even if he wants to. Ironton will never be better than average because what made them great will always haunt them. The game has changed. Change with it or be left behind.

The game on the pro level and college level has changed, but the high school game hasn't changed. You still need a running game to win. Sure you have teams that every once in a while come along and are a pass happy team like Kenton when Mauk played there, but for the most part teams run the ball. Your big D1 schools run the ball. Look at Athens, Yea they passed the ball a lot, but they had one heck of a running back.
Unlike college where you can recruit players to fit in your scheme in high school you need a scheme that you can run with anybody that you get. That's what made Coach Lutz great he was able to plug players in where they could make the best use of their abilities. Look at teams like Westfall and even Raceland who run a spread offense when you look at their offense plays still like 80% of their offense are running plays. So to stay the game has changed and you can't run the same offense is completely wrong.

[knightruner]

Well I guess I live in Pass Happy area because if you don't have a passing game up here ur gona get ur butt kick. Or maybe the game has change and some of you folks down south don't know it yet. Just maybe that's why the MAC keeps on winning those championships. It don't take a lot to stop the run if there is no fear of a pass. I watch the teams Ironton plays and they just stack the middle on them. I sat in their stands and told my brother what the next play was going to be and I was right 90% of the time, he just shook his head. Ironton is not hard to figure out and that's what is really hurting them. They have got to mix things up. They also got to start beating the halls for players cause the yesterday kids are not coming out. The days the coaches could sit and not beat the halls for players are over and been over for a while. The players themselves can help in that part too. Bring a friend to practice it don't hurt.

[ohbuckeye2]

Well I guess I live in Pass Happy area because if you don't have a passing game up here ur gona get ur butt kick. Or maybe the game has change and some of you folks down south don't know it yet. Just maybe that's why the MAC keeps on winning those championships. It don't take a lot to stop the run if there is no fear of a pass. I watch the teams Ironton plays and they just stack the middle on them. I sat in their stands and told my brother what the next play was going to be and I was right 90% of the time, he just shook his head. Ironton is not hard to figure out and that's what is really hurting them. They have got to mix things up. They also got to start beating the halls for players cause the yesterday kids are not coming out. The days the coaches could sit and not beat the halls for players are over and been over for a while. The players themselves can help in that part too. Bring a friend to practice it don't hurt.

Coldwater won the State Championship game last year with 37 Rushes for 314 yards and 8-10 Passing for 172 yards.

[YOU'RE TIGER BAIT]

great point.

[YOU'RE TIGER BAIT]

Well I guess I live in Pass Happy area because if you don't have a passing game up here ur gona get ur butt kick. Or maybe the game has change and some of you folks down south don't know it yet. Just maybe that's why the MAC keeps on winning those championships. It don't take a lot to stop the run if there is no fear of a pass. I watch the teams Ironton plays and they just stack the middle on them. I sat in their stands and told my brother what the next play was going to be and I was right 90% of the time, he just shook his head. Ironton is not hard to figure out and that's what is really hurting them. They have got to mix things up. They also got to start beating the halls for players cause the yesterday kids are not coming out. The days the coaches could sit and not beat the halls for players are over and been over for a while. The players themselves can help in that part too. Bring a friend to practice it don't hurt.

awesome post.

[tl895]

until ironton shows me some DISCIPLINE i dont think they will ever beat the burg......

[Westfan]

The game on the pro level and college level has changed, but the high school game hasn't changed. You still need a running game to win. Sure you have teams that every once in a while come along and are a pass happy team like Kenton when Mauk played there, but for the most part teams run the ball. Your big D1 schools run the ball. Look at Athens, Yea they passed the ball a lot, but they had one heck of a running back.
Unlike college where you can recruit players to fit in your scheme in high school you need a scheme that you can run with anybody that you get. That's what made Coach Lutz great he was able to plug players in where they could make the best use of their abilities. Look at teams like Westfall and even Raceland who run a spread offense when you look at their offense plays still like 80% of their offense are running plays. So to stay the game has changed and you can't run the same offense is completely wrong.

If you can stop the run you can take Ironton totally out of their game on first and second down. Their is no threat of a pass other than the tight end, back out of the backfield, or a screen. Agree you don't have to pass much, but the threat has to be there. A 70-30 ratio in Ohio is fine. But waiting until 3rd and long and then changing to a formation that you can pass out of every series isn't gonna cut it against elite teams. They're as predictable then as they were the T formation in the first two downs.

[Tigercannon71]

There you go you aren't changing the offense any you tweak it yet you can still run the ball. You don't have to total change like you said in your first post all you got to do is tweak the offense yet you can still run the same type of offense.

[Jolly P(irate)]

It's easy to see if they came out you have more athletes to play which means more depth. Ironton was definitely lacking in depth last year. In the Burg playoff game they had 3 starters out hurt and 4 more starters dressed, but playing limited time because of injuries. Depth is huge in this area if you can get it.

Not by the way you put it last year. They were a completely different team after week one. You are still butt hurt. LOL you're kidding, right? The same thing is going to happen this year. Palladino left, Palladino right, screen to Palladino. Come one. I don't have to even watch the game. Ironton team stats be like: 5-8 passing for 96 yards, 32 rushes for 129 yards.

[YOU'RE TIGER BAIT]

I think the atmosphere week 1 at the tank will be electric for this matchup week 1.

[BigBlueNation]

Well I guess I live in Pass Happy area because if you don't have a passing game up here ur gona get ur butt kick. Or maybe the game has change and some of you folks down south don't know it yet. Just maybe that's why the MAC keeps on winning those championships. It don't take a lot to stop the run if there is no fear of a pass. I watch the teams Ironton plays and they just stack the middle on them. I sat in their stands and told my brother what the next play was going to be and I was right 90% of the time, he just shook his head. Ironton is not hard to figure out and that's what is really hurting them. They have got to mix things up. They also got to start beating the halls for players cause the yesterday kids are not coming out. The days the coaches could sit and not beat the halls for players are over and been over for a while. The players themselves can help in that part too. Bring a friend to practice it don't hurt.

Coldwater won the State Championship game last year with 37 Rushes for 314 yards and 8-10 Passing for 172 yards.

Coldwater also spread you out and the qb Hoying had most of the rushing yards from out of the shotgun.

[LHS 72]

From what I am reading, I think this game will be decided by special teams!