WK 1 Jackson @ Wellston

[Charles Farquar]

Wellston pulled out of the SEOAL at around the same time Meigs did, and they both pulled out for the right reasons. They saw the writing on the wall in the early 80s, they were already having a difficult time in the old SEOAL.Their lack of success in recent years against Jackson had nothing to do with their scheduling. They decided the TVC would be a better fit for them and it would be a league they would be able to compete in year in and year out where even in the old SEOAL that would not have been the case. If scheduling would have been the case , they could have put Desales and Ignatius on their schedule a long time ago and led the series against Jackson. .Wellston has a really tough non-league schedule this year maybe too tough for their situation, with Jackson, Waverly and Gallia. I think the AD needs to do the opposite and lighten the non league up a bit and let the kids have some success.

[billyclydetuggle]

Here's to hoping that it is a competitive game...

[2old]

Charles,

I am a proponent of scheduling up, but i agree that the non league will kill Wellston in non league. Will it help in the TVC? Only time will tell. it is taking it to extremes to say Wellston should schedule Desales or ignatious. Everything in moderation. Sceduling is an art. A good schedule is a thing of beauty. With the Wellston AD the art thing just might work.

[Army]

Wellston pulled out of the SEOAL at around the same time Meigs did, and they both pulled out for the right reasons. They saw the writing on the wall in the early 80s, they were already having a difficult time in the old SEOAL.Their lack of success in recent years against Jackson had nothing to do with their scheduling. They decided the TVC would be a better fit for them and it would be a league they would be able to compete in year in and year out where even in the old SEOAL that would not have been the case. If scheduling would have been the case , they could have put Desales and Ignatius on their schedule a long time ago and led the series against Jackson. .Wellston has a really tough non-league schedule this year maybe too tough for their situation, with Jackson, Waverly and Gallia. I think the AD needs to do the opposite and lighten the non league up a bit and let the kids have some success.

Charles Farquar,

I agree. I think they need to drop Jackson too. And stop playing teams like Gallia Academy and Waverly.

Wellston left the SEOAL after the 1981-1982 school year to join the TVC.
Meigs and Waverly both left after the 1982-1983 school year. Meigs to the TVC and Waverly back to the SOC.

Ask 2old how successful his Wellston Teams he played on were, in the SEOAL even back in 66, 67 and 68 season.

They defeated Jackson, but couldn't Logan, or Gallia Academy.

Ask him if he is so big on scheduling up, why Logan, who he supports now doesn't play Desales or Upper Arlington in non-league on a consistent basis?

I'll give them Lancaster, but we see what the Golden Gales do to them.

I hope the Golden Rockets pick up some games again with Oak Hill. Maybe a River Valley or Portsmouth East or even a Portsmouth ND in non-league.

Here is Wellston's football Schedule the up coming years.

2009 Football season

Sat 08/29/09 @ Jackson High School 8:00PM
Fri 09/04/09 @ Minford High School 7:30PM
Fri 09/11/09 Waverly High School C.H. Jones Field 7:30PM
Fri 09/18/09 @ Nelsonville-York High School 7:30PM
Fri 09/25/09 Belpre High School C.H. Jones Field 7:30PM
Fri 10/02/09 @ Vinton County High School 7:30PM
Fri 10/09/09 Athens High School C.H. Jones Field 7:30PM
Fri 10/16/09 Lancaster Fairfield Christian Academy C.H. Jones Field 7:30PM
Fri 10/23/09 Meigs High School C.H. Jones Field 7:30PM
Fri 10/30/09 @ Alexander High School 7:30PM

2010 Football Season

Sat 08/28/10 Jackson High School C.H. Jones Field 7:30PM
Fri 09/03/10 Minford High School C.H. Jones Field 7:30PM
Sat 09/11/10 @ Lancaster Fairfield Christian Academy 7:00PM
Fri 09/17/10 Nelsonville-York High School C.H. Jones Field 7:30PM
Fri 09/24/10 @ Belpre High School 7:30PM
Fri 10/01/10 Vinton County High School C.H. Jones Field 7:30PM
Fri 10/08/10 @ Athens High School 7:30PM
Fri 10/15/10 @ Fayetteville-Perry High School 7:30PM
Fri 10/22/10 @ Meigs High School 7:30PM
Fri 10/29/10 Alexander High School C.H. Jones Field 7:30PM

So, they are dropping Gallia Academy after this season and have a 2 year series with Lancaster Fairfield Christian beginning in 2009 and 2010. The Golden Rockets drop Waverly and add Fayette-Perry in 2010.

Go Golden Rockets

[2old]

Army,

Now think real hard. Have I this season questioned Chilly's schedule??? Or for that matter last year??? If you find it be sure to paste it in here.

Logan has had an on again off again relationship with Desales. So not a good example. As for UA, get a grip. and EVEN you know better.

I agree reopening the series with Oak hill is a must. It cvould replace jackson as the biggest game in Jackson County.

[Portsmouth98]

I'm thinking about going to this game. I'd like to back the our SEOAL brethren but rooting for Wellston to lose their 18th or 20th in a row to Jackson would seem like kicking someone while they're down, so maybe I'll go as a neutral observer.

[Ironman92]

A christian school and Fayetteville Perry????


Is that the Fayetteville that is in the SHL in Brown County and does not currently even have football???

Jackson and Waverly and Gallia may be a little much.....but close to the competition level......are those teams able to beat a freshman team?

[Ironman92]

Fayetteville Perry


SW Brown County....122 boys (that'll be D6) and as of 2007 season....they do not have a football team.

I'm guessing Wellston's coach has this connection from building a new team while at Manchester as they are in the same league.

This will be a 105 mile road trip for the Rockets and they'll win by 40+

[Army]

Fayetteville Perry


SW Brown County....122 boys (that'll be D6) and as of 2007 season....they do not have a football team.

I'm guessing Wellston's coach has this connection from building a new team while at Manchester as they are in the same league.

This will be a 105 mile road trip for the Rockets and they'll win by 40+

They do have football, just like Manchester, they had to play first, a Jr. High, then Freshman, and JV schedule before they are ready to play a Varsity Schedule in 2010.

In the future, hopefully Wellston's non-league will open up with a Chesire River Valley from the OVC or someone like a Northwest from the SOC II.

I would drop Jackson in football only all other sports keep them on the schedule and replace them with an (open scheduled) series with Oak Hill.

Then add a Portsmouth East, Portsmouth ND, Minford, Lucasville Valley or Chesapeake for the 3rd game.

And hopefully, continue to schedule schools like; Lancaster Fairfield Christian, Grove City Christian, Chillicothe Southeastern-Ross, Chillicothe Huntington Ross, Frankfort Adena, Bainbridge Paint Valley, Chillicothe Zane Trace, Chillicothe Unioto, to round off the 4th non-league game.

GO Golden Rockets

[hawkeyepierce]

OMG!

[ironman02]

Army,

You constantly criticize Jackson's schedule, but you have the nerve to act like Lancaster Fairfield Christian Academy and Fayetteville Perry are quality opponents for Wellston. Give me a break. I don't try to act like Jackson's non-league schedule is difficult by any means, but both of the new schools you mentioned for Wellston are going to be extremely small and they have no foundation whatsoever. Perry will just be starting a football program and it looks as though that's the case for LCFA as well. If you're gonna criticize, at least be consistent.


On a more general note with regard to scheduling. I feel like a team should definitely play a schedule that challenges them and will allow them to make the playoffs, provided they take care of business. At the same time, there's no point in overscheduling. If you play a team that you have no chance of competing with, you can benefit somewhat from the challenge, but you're really not giving your team an opportunity to be successful at the same time. I think Waverly is a great game for Jackson. Waverly has built a very strong program and they have been extremely successful in recent years. I look for that trend to continue as well. The Wellston and Vinton County games draw large gates, but the series with those two teams has not been competitive recently. A couple new opponents wouldn't hurt Jackson at all, but at the same time, it's hard to find a good fit and I understand that completely.

Jackson takes a lot of heat for their non-league schedule and I can see where those people are coming from. However, Waverly, Wellston, and Vinton County have all made playoff appearances in recent years. In most years, all of those teams can potentially provide enough computer points for Jackson to be successful, provided that the Ironmen actually beat them, which has obviously been a problem with Waverly the last few years. I'm all about having a strong schedule, as long as it's not scheduling way over your head.

[loganlocos]

Good Luck to Jackson and the rest of the SEOAL!

[boilermaker]

I am hoping Wellston is worried about 2008 ,and not 2009 2010.

[Army]

boilermaker,

ME TOO

Good Luck Golden Rockets

[Ty Webb]

Army,

You constantly criticize Jackson's schedule, but you have the nerve to act like Lancaster Fairfield Christian Academy and Fayetteville Perry are quality opponents for Wellston. Give me a break. I don't try to act like Jackson's non-league schedule is difficult by any means, but both of the new schools you mentioned for Wellston are going to be extremely small and they have no foundation whatsoever. Perry will just be starting a football program and it looks as though that's the case for LCFA as well. If you're gonna criticize, at least be consistent.

Very good post. I agree!

[OSU Buckeyes 5]

Sometimes this game can be a little sloppy and I have a feeling that it will be this year. I think Jackson wins it, but Wellston has improved enough to make a game of it. Wellston will hang around into the second half, but Jackson eventually puts it away. Wellston probably will score on Jackson's first team defense for the first time since 2003.

Jackson 34
Wellston 12

[ocho stinko]

My guess is it will be a sloppy game. Wellston will keep it close enough to make them start using their mantra of "This is their year" again like we heard since the first George Bush was in office. I won't be at the game tired of the same story different year. Jackson has no class. Wellston has no class. Jackson ran the score up. Wellston got cheated. Jackson stole Wellston players. Jackson has crappy parking. Wellston has a piece of crap football field (wouldn't let my dog take a crap in their locker room) Coach Wolford runs the score up, Coach Mantell cries like a baby, bla, bla bla.. Everyone is to blame. Time for both teams to go their seperate ways. I think it is the best for both teams. Make it sort of a nice divorce like Britney Spears and K-Fed. I think Jackson should open with Vinton County and Wellston open with Oak Hill. Best for everyone involved. Both still get nice gate money. Just a thought.

[Ironman92]

And also like Manchester......they play in the 10 school Southern Hills League....a league that has produced I believe 7 state appearances in basketball in the past 15 years....but ZERO wins in football total as a league in that same time frame.

[Keyser_sozeThrice]

Here's the game preview article for today's (Thursday) Times-Journal. Enjoy.

Ironmen, Rockets renew rivalry in prime time

By PAUL BOGGS
Sports Editor

Minus Brent Musburger and Kirk Herbstreit, it’s Saturday night prime time football at C.H. Jones Field in Wellston.

For the 94th time, the Jackson Ironmen and the Wellston Golden Rockets will do battle on the gridiron, as the Ironmen aim to extend their dubious winning streak over the Rockets to an amazing 18 games.

Conversely, the annual August question in Wellston has arisen: Is this the year which the Rockets finally snap that infamous streak?

Kickoff is set for 8 p.m. at C.H. Jones Field.

The last time the Rockets defeated Jackson, in 1989, the victory came on the road at the former Jackson High School football field.

However, all of the current Rockets on the varsity roster were not even born then.

In fact, the last time Wellston won the first President Bush was in the White House, and current Wellston High School athletic director Jeff Hendershott was the team’s quarterback.

But, the Rockets have a lot of work to do if they are indeed to upset the favored Ironmen.

In the past four years alone, Wellston has only scored twice, with neither of those touchdowns having much meaning on the overall outcome.

Two years ago, Jackson pulled away with a 28-7 victory, then thumped the Golden Rockets 56-6 last season at Alumni Stadium.

Jackson built an insurmountable 42-0 lead at halftime, and led 56-0 before Wellston’s Matt Lockard scored the Rockets’ first offensive touchdown in the series in four years.

Unlike last season, when Wellston returned just two starters, this year’s Rockets feature as many as 10 two-way starters.

The Rockets remember the drubbing they took last season, and do not want to experience it again.

“No question we were outplayed and Jackson was better than us last year,” said second-year Wellston coach Jason Mantell, who made his Rocket debut against the Ironmen. “Last year’s game was difficult all the way around. We had a big fourth-and-a-foot stop early, we had a 60-yard touchdown called back and our kids never really recovered from that. And as a coach, I really never recovered from that. I don’t know if people had the highest expectations for us last year because we lost so many kids to graduation, but we expected to compete a lot better in that game than we did. We can’t let a one-touchdown or a two-touchdown deficit mean we just completely cave in.”

This season’s Wellston team, coming off a 1-9 fall on paper and an 0-10 season on the field, has a year of true varsity experience under its belt.

But, speaking of experience, the Ironmen return 17 letterwinners, 16 seniors and 13 starters from last season’s 6-4 squad.

Jackson has been here before with Wellston, and hopes to repeat as victors on Saturday night.

“I tried to tell our kids to imagine yourself if you are on Wellston’s end, and you haven’t won in so long. All of those kids over there really want to win this game,” said Jackson coach Shane Wolford. “They are going to be motivated, and we’ve got to be motivated to keep the streak going. I think both sides should be very fired up and it should be a war out there. I think if we come out and play hard and play with fire, everything else will take care of itself. But if we come out and we’re not fired up and we’re not doing things right, then it’s going to be a tight game down to the end.”

Wolford said he anticipates many more fiery Ironmen than the team which scrimmaged Wheelersburg last week.

The fourth-year boss admitted that he was unhappy with the way his club performed.

I just felt we didn’t play as hard as we’re capable of,” he said. “Wheelersburg has a new coach and they are doing some different things on offense, and our kids acted liked they were totally stunned with it. And they may have been, but you would think that they would have picked it up a little bit. The intensity wasn’t there. So I’m hoping that we use that scrimmage as a wakeup call and come out with a little bit of fire this Saturday night.”

Wolford was particularly concerned about the Ironmen offensive line, based on his assessment of it in the two scrimmages.

“Right now, I’m not real concerned about Wellston’s defense and what they’re running. I’m more concerned about the fact that in our two scrimmages, our offensive line didn’t get the job done,” he said. “If we go out and we don’t give (senior tailback) Cody Huff any room to run, then we’re in trouble. We’ve been focused a lot on ourselves right now. We think we’ve got their scheme down and those kinds of things, but our offensive line has to fire off the ball and start pushing people around for us to run the plays that we like to run.”

Look for the Ironmen, as Mantell said, to “run right at us and we anticipate a lot of Cody Huff.”

“It’s nothing fancy. The thing about Jackson is that you know what they are doing, there is no point in out-thinking yourself. You know what is coming. They are going to line up and come right at us,” he said. “They typically show us a lot of unbalanced sets and a lot of double-tight stuff. From the Wheelersburg scrimmage we’ve watched the last two years, they’ve shown a little more wide-open football for Jackson as far as twins (receivers formation) and pro. But Jackson is going to go right at us, and if I was Coach Wolford, I would do the same thing. From what I saw last year, I expect nothing but right at us. A fullback dive mixed in with a lot of Cody Huff.”

Huff is expected to be the Jackson featured back, after nearly rushing for 1,000 yards as a junior.

“We didn’t know much about him last year, but I think he’s the kid we definitely have to stop on the ground. I think the Huff kid is a very talented player could play for anybody in the area,” said Mantell.

The Rockets have their own star tailback in fellow senior Lockard — a first-team all-Southeast District all-purpose standout.

He pretty much did everything for the Blue and Gold, including rushing (194 carries for 1,207 yards and 11 touchdowns), receiving (11 receptions for 122 yards), passing (35-for-70 for 365 yards), returning (25 returns for 625 yards), placekicking (10 PATs, six touchbacks, one field goal and 50 yards per average on kickoffs), punting (34 yards per average on punts), defending (82 tackles with three interceptions and three forced fumbles) and scoring (93 total points and 13 total touchdowns).

But overall, Wolford expects to see a much-improved Rocket squad this time around.

“I think they are definitely improved this year,” he said. “Their backfield is loaded with pretty good talent. They have three pretty good runners, and if you add the quarterback, they have four. They run some plays with the freshman wingback (Jaylen Prater). I expect them to try and run the football at us, and normally, we think we’re pretty good at defending the run.”

The Rockets, meanwhile, struggled at defending the run last season, but according to Mantell, did well defensively in their preseason scrimmage at Zane Trace.

“Let’s put it this way. That was the best our defensive performance since the last regular season game two years ago (20-9 win over Vinton County),” he said. “We pretty well shut down their running game. I thought Zane Trace was very good up front, but I thought we closed down well and didn’t let anybody get outside against us.”

But, Jackson’s strength is up front and controlling the tempo between the tackles.

“That’s what we’ve done for the last several years and we’re not changing anything,” said Wolford.

Although, expect the Ironmen — with their three-headed quarterback monster of seniors Josh Brown and Tyler Boggs and junior Eric Landrum — to also feature some midline option mixed in with more passing.

“Without speaking for the Jackson coaches, they appeared very disappointed with their up-front play on both sides of the ball (against Wheelersburg),” said Mantell. “I thought Wheelersburg really controlled the first half of the scrimmage. Jackson did come on and move the ball, ran the midline option and quarterback counter, which really killed us last year. Those were their two most effective plays against Wheelersburg. We have to be aware of the play-action pass, too. We just have to play lockdown defense. We can’t give up four touchdowns in the first quarter, let alone the game.”

Because, if that happens, the result of Saturday’s showdown will be the same as the past 17: an Ironmen victory.

“It’s hard to lose to a team that is supposed to be your rival time and time again,” said Mantell. “And typically, it seems to be by a wide margin more than it is a close game. That’s the most difficult thing. Our kids and our coaches have to believe that we can win the game and execute the way we know we’re capable of. We’re going to have to play tougher mentally if we’re going to beat these guys. They have come into this game more mentally ready than we have 17 years in a row. I think one win will turn things around. But they are a good football team every year, and they’re going to come at us. In their minds, they know they are going to win.”

A double-edged omen

A telephone conversation with Wellston radio play-by-play announcer Rick Perdue brought to light a superstitious — sort of — point.

In years ending in the number eight — 1968, 1978 and 1988 — the Rockets won the rivalry game with the Red and White.

Perdue, a senior in 1968, was the quarterback of the Golden Rockets.

Twenty years later, Hendershott — a junior then — was under center when Wellston won.

In fact, the contest 20 years ago marked Wellston’s last win over Jackson at C.H. Jones Field.

The “eight” omen also works in the Ironmen’s favor.

In 1958 and 1998, Jackson not only won, but blanked the Blue and Gold.

The game 50 years ago was a 7-0 shutout, followed by a 28-0 blanking a decade ago.

Thus, besides the 17-year streak, another trend may end — or continue — on Saturday night.

Pre-sale tickets available

WELLSTON — Pre-sale tickets for Saturday night’s Jackson at Wellston football game are now available.

Tickets can be purchased in advance at the following locations: Wellston High School, Brodigan’s Sports and Trophies in Wellston, Ron’s Trophies in Wellston, Jackson High School and Jackson Middle School.

All tickets, adult and student, are $5.

The gates will open at 6 p.m.

[email protected]

[ironman02]

keyser soze 78,

Nice article. I am, however, curious about the all-time series between Jackson and Wellston. According to Jackson's Football History Book, this is the 99th meeting between the two schools with Jackson currently holding a 66-26-6 lead. I just wondered where you got your information about the series. A five game discrepancy makes me worry that the Jackson record book could have some kind of mistake. Maybe we can figure this out somehow.