Using its old smashmouth style running game, Ironton pounded out a 28-14 upset of the Cincinnati Wyoming Cowboys Saturday night in the Region 16, Division IV playoffs.

Saturday, November 06, 1999

Using its old smashmouth style running game, Ironton pounded out a 28-14 upset of the Cincinnati Wyoming Cowboys Saturday night in the Region 16, Division IV playoffs.

Ironton’s senior running tandem of Jason Harmon and Michael Henry combined for 51 carries for 252 yards. Harmon ran 20 times for 147 yards and a touchdown and Henry was a workhorse with 31 carries for 105 yards and two touchdowns.

Harmon also caught a 51-yard touchdown pass.

"That’s the old Ironton football," Ironton coach Bob Lutz said. "We just line up, come right at you and say stop us if you can.

"And if we are in four-down territory, you have to stop us four times."

Ironton, 7-3, will now play Cincinnati Indian Hill next Saturday at a site to be determined, possibly in the Columbus area or Washington Courthouse.

The Fighting Tigers used an early break to jump out in front 7-0 less than 3 minutes into the game.

Wyoming fumbled on the second play of the game and Eli Dalton recovered at the 35.

Four plays later, Harmon ran 19 yards for the touchdown and Clark Cooper kicked the conversion at the 9:55 mark.

Wyoming, 9-2, answered on its next possession behind the passing of Kyle Lewis who completed three passes for 49 yards and moved the ball to the Ironton 12.

Tailback David Dupree ran 12 yards for the touchdown with 6:08 left in the quarter and Drew Kaszubski kicked to tie the game.

But as quickly as Wyoming tied the game, Ironton went back ahead even more rapidly.

Four plays after the ensuing kickoff, quarterback Jimmy Peyton scrambled to his right and threw back to Harmon on a 51-yard pass play for the touchdown. Cooper’s kick made it 14-7, with 4:19 on the clock.

Ironton began another scoring drive at the end of the first quarter that carried over into the second period.

Henry capped the 57-yard, 12-play drive with a 5-yard touchdown run with 8:15 left in the half to make it 20-7.

"That was a big score right before the half. That put us in control," Lutz said. "We felt if we could get one more we could put the game away. But we had some costly penalties that stopped us and allowed them to get back in the game."

Wyoming came out after an Ironton punt in the third quarter and went 79 yards in 15 plays. Dupree ran the final 3 yards for the touchdown and the Cowboys trailed just 20-14.

After an exchange of punts, Ironton went back to its ground game and pounded out the clinching touchdown.

The Fighting Tigers drove 57 yards in 15 plays with Henry carrying 13 times in the drive including the final yard with 1:41 to play. Harmon ran the conversion and it was 28-14.

"I was tired, but I still wanted the ball," Henry said. "We needed that touchdown. This was a big win for us. We beat a good team."

Wyoming made one more play, but Harmon’s interception sealed their fate.

Ironton piled up 323 total yards and held Wyoming to 196 including a mere 65 yards rushing. Dupree, who ran for more than 1,600 yards during the regular season, was held to 46 yards on 15 carries.

"We got down for a while, but then we got back up and drove the ball for the winning touchdown. I think that was the key to the game," Ironton tackle Jay Colegrove said.