Jim Walker

jim.walker@irontontribune.com

 

RACELAND, Ky. — The Ironton Fighting Tigers couldn’t get it started, and that meant they had reached the end.

Ironton couldn’t get its offense untracked and thus the Fighting Tigers lost 17-0 to the Raceland Rams Friday in the regular season finale.

The loss also brought an end to the Fighting Tigers’ playoff hopes as finished 3-7 and will be 10th in Region 17 of Division V.

“We didn’t control the line of scrimmage on offense and that’s where it starts,” said Ironton coach Mark Vass. “(Raceland) has got size and they’re pretty good up front. They gave us fits up there so we had trouble running the ball.”

Ironton managed just 151 total yards with 106 on the ground. The Fighting Tigers ran the ball just 28 times. Quarterback Tristan Cox ran 10 times for 48 yards and D’Angelo Palladino had 12 carries for 42 yards.

“They played good defense and we didn’t execute that well on offense. But it all started on the line of scrimmage,” said Vass.

One key area was penalties. Ironton was whistled 11 times for 95 yards in penalties, several coming on third or fourth down stops that kept Raceland drives alive. Consequently, the Rams never punted.

The Rams had six penalties for 45 yards, but three of the penalties were for kicking the ball out of bounds and being forced to kick-off again.

Raceland (8-2) had 310 total yards with 187 on the ground and 123 in the air. The Rams got 47 of their passing yards on a flea-flicker to start the game.

Leading rusher Daylin Beach was held to must 32 yards on 17 carries. However, the Rams’ inside counter was effective as Kane Snyder ran 13 times for 86 yards and a touchdown and Carson Christian had 68 yards on 12 attempts.

“I was happy with the defense. That’s a good offense. It puts a lot of points on the board. To hold them to 17 (points) is a pretty good showing, but if you don’t score you’re not going to win too many,” said Vass.

The Connor Messer to Rodney Vance flea-flicker on the game’s first play got the ball to the Ironton 24.

A penalty on Ironton put the ball at the 11 and another penalty on Ironton moved the ball to the 7-line where David Pennington kicked a 23-yard field goal to give the Rams an early 3-0 lead.

Ironton came back and drove to the Rams’ 48 but a fourth down play was stopped for no gain.

In the second quarter, the Rams had an incomplete pass on a second-and-11, but a penalty on Ironton gave the Rams a first down to midfield. Snyder had runs of 21 and 29 yards, the second for a touchdown with 8:31 left in the half and it was 10-0.

A shanked punt gave Raceland the ball at the Ironton 34 to begin the second half. Four plays later, the 6-foot-3 Messer was able to win a jump ball against 5-8 Ironton defensive back Tanner Price to make a 24-yard touchdown grab and it was 17-0.

Ironton drove to the Rams 7-yard line, but a fourth down and goal pass was intercepted in the end zone by Maverick Dixon.

Raceland moved to the Ironton 8-yard line but the Fighting Tigers had their own goal line stand.

Neither team threatened the rest of the game.

“That’s a good ball club and we knew it. We had to play a pretty good game. You just got to control the line of scrimmage and that sums up both sides of the ball pretty much,” said Vass.

“The effort was there all year. I’m proud of this bunch. We fought through a lot of adversity. But we had trouble running the ball. They were keying Palladino pretty good. We just tried to mix it up. We ran about everything.”

Ironton 0 0 0 0 = 0

Raceland 3 7 7 0 = 17

First Quarter

Ra — David Pennington 23 field goal 10:05

Second Quarter

Ra — Kane Snyder 29 run (David Pennington kick) 8:31

Third Quarter

Ra — Connor Messer 24 pass from Adam Elkins (David Pennington kick) 9:03

—————

Irn Ra

First downs 9 18

Rushes-yards 28-106 46-187

Passing yards 45 123

Total yards 151 310

Cmp-Att-Int 11-20-2 9-12-1

Fumbles-lost 0-0 1-0

Penalties-yards 11-95 6-45

Punts-average 3-22.7 0-00.0

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Individual Leaders

RUSHING—Ironton: D’Angelo Palladino 12-42, Tristan Cox 10-48, Desmond Young 5-16, Jeremy Bodmer 1-0; Raceland: Kane Snyder 13-86, Carson Christian 12-68, Daylin Beach 17-32, Adam Elkins 2-minus 4, Connor Messer 2-5.

PASSING—Ironton: Tristan Cox 11-20-2 45; Raceland: Adam Elkins 8-11-1 76, Connor Messer 1-1-0 47.

RECEIVING—Ironton: Joe Bowling 1-20, D’Angelo Palladino 6-19, Tanner Price 2-4, Jeremy Bodmer 2-2; Raceland: Connor Messer 4-42, Rodney Vance 4-68, Daylin Beach 1-13.