Jim Walker

jim.walker@irontontribune.com

 

Secondary, get ready.

Although the Portsmouth Trojans will line up and run the football, the offense rests in the hands of quarterback Cole Lowery and he isn’t bashful about putting the football in the air.

Lowery — a 6-foot-1, 171-pound sophomore — is a duel threat who will lead the Trojans against the Ironton Fighting Tigers when the teams meet at 7 p.m. Friday at Tanks Memorial Stadium.

Portsmouth comes into the game 2-2 and 1-0 in the Ohio Valley Conference after beating Fairland 35-7 last week in their first-ever league game.

Ironton enters the contest 0-4 on the season.

Fighting Tigers’ head coach Mark Vass said Portsmouth has plenty of weapons, but he acknowledged that Lowery is the straw that stirs the offense.

“He played last year when (starting quarterback Sky) Oliver got hurt, so he was kind of thrown into the fire as a freshman and it showed,” said Vass.

“But he’s really improved and matured. He’ll run the ball, but he likes to throw it and he throws the ball well. He’s pretty athletic.”

One of the key weapons for the Trojans is slotback Austin Hollins — a 6-foot, 190-pound senior — who led the team in rushing and receiving last week.

Also in the backfield is the speedy Darray Richardson (6-0, 155) and senior fullback Austin Mullins (5-8, 180).

“Hollins and Richardson can both run and Mullins gives them a good blocker and power runner. They can all run and catch the ball,” said Vass.

Speaking of catching the ball, the Portsmouth receivers are ends Luke Purdy (5-10, 165) and Ryan Williams (6-0, 171), both juniors.

“They give you a lot of different formations and they have a lot of guys who can catch the ball,” said Vass.

Up front the Trojans have sophomore Anthony Ferrara (6-1, 245) at center, junior Levi Monraga (6-2, 217) and sophomore Jadan Josey (5-11, 205) the guards with freshman Colin Boehm (6-3, 230) and junior Harrison Bianco (6-2, 272) the tackles.

On the defensive side, the Trojans use a 4-3 base but will switch to a 4-4 and 5-3 look.

The tackles are junior Andrew Maxzie (6-0, 260) and Ryan Sutherland (5-9, 261) with the ends sophomore D.J. Pearsall (5-10, 232) and senior Caden Lowery (6-3, 210).

The linebacking corps has senior Zach Delotell (5-11, 242) in the middle flanked by Austin Mullins on the left and senior Travis McKenzie (5-8, 150) on the right side.

The corners are Austin Hollins and senro Dylan Mullins (5-9, 166) with the safeties Richardson and junior Blake Wedebrook (5-8, 141).

Delotell does all of the kicking.

The game will be the 121st meeting between the two schools but their first against each others as members of the OVC.

They have met previously as members of the Central Ohio League, the Ohio-Kentucky Athletic Conference and the Southeastern Ohio Athletic League.

Ironton leads the series 57-55-8.