Chance Short
chance.short@irontontribune.com

IRONTON — The Ironton Fighting Tigers bullied the visiting Sycamore Aviators from Cincinnati, 33-11 on Friday night at Tank Memorial Stadium.
Ironton was originally scheduled to take on South Point, but after a late cancellation due to health reasons, the Tigers picked up a Division I opponent in their place.
The game was scheduled on Thursday, so the teams didn’t get much time to prepare and it showed early.
Both teams blanked the first quarter as they were figuring out one another’s game styles, but Ironton would strike first.
Late in the first quarter, sophomore quarterback Tayden Carpenter hit Kyle Howell on a flanker screen on the left side of the field from 30 yards out to make it 6-0 after the PAT was blocked with just over two minutes remaining in the half.
Sycamore got one last shot to get on the scoreboard before half and they ran the two-minute drill successfully as Sebastian Salas drilled a 37-yard field goal to end the half, 6-3.
“I think it took some time for our guys to adjust to the speed of the game in the first half, I don’t think people understand how athletic that team is,” said Pendleton about his team in the first half.
But, Ironton got the ground game going in the second half and kept the ball out of Sycamore’s hands.
The Tigers opened up the second half with a 10-play, 79-yard drive that was capped off with a touchdown run by Tayden Carpenter. Carpenter tucked it on a fourth and 12 from the Aviator 31-yard line.
Ironton’s two-point conversion attempt was unsuccessful making the score 12-3.
Sycamore couldn’t get it going in the third quarter as the Tiger’s defense forced back to back three stops and punt.
Sophomore running back Trevor Carter got in the end zone midway through the fourth quarter and Jimmy Mahlmeister kicked the point after kick to stretch the Fighting Tigers’ lead to19-3.
The Aviator’s Cairo Ford took the very next kick-off return to the end zone from 81 yards out. Andrew Fehr passed the ball to Alec VanHoose for the two-point conversion to cut the lead to 19-11.
Ironton’s closer —Reid Carrico — carried the ball 9 times for 164 yards and two back to back touchdowns to finish out the fourth quarter. He finished with 222 yards on 23 rushes.
Pendleton was proud of his guys and said, “Our guys are on fire. They played lights out, they played physical, they got after it.”
He also added that, “We need to sure up some special teams and we left two or three scores out there playing too conservative, but we got the job done and I’m proud of our guys.”
Ironton has a bye in the Division 5 playoffs next Saturday and plays the winner of Westfall-New Lexington at 7 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 17, at home.
Sycamore 0 3 0 8 = 11
Ironton 0 6 6 21 = 33
Second Quarter
Irn – Kyle Howell 20 pass from Tayden Carpenter (kick blocked) 2:25
CS – Sebastian Salas 37 field goal. 0:00
Third Quarter
Irn – Tayden Carpenter, 31 run (pass failed) 6:42
Fourth Quarter
Irn – Trevor Carter 2 run (Jimmy Mahlmeister kick)
SC – Cairo Ford 81 kick return (Alex VanHoose pass from Andrew Fehr) 6:30
Irn – Reid Carrico 27 run (Jimmy Mahlmeister kick)
Irn – Reid Carrico 89 run (Jimmy Mahlmeister kick)
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INDIVIDUAL
RUSHING – Sycamore: William Ingle 10-58, Andrew Fehr 4-22, Cairo Ford 6-22; Ironton: Reid Carrico 23-222 2 TD, Trevor Carter 13-73 1 TD, Taden Carpenter 4-38 1 TD, Cameron Deere 9-39, Kyle Howell 2-9.
PASSING – Sycamore: Andrew Fehr 10-26-114 1INT; Ironton: Tayden Carpenter 4-9-70 1TD, Carrico 0-1-0.
RECEIVING – Sycamore: William Ingle 5-31, Alex VanHoose 2-23, Schraffenberger 1-25, Ford 1-19, Brinkman 1-16; Ironton: Kyle Howell 1-30 1TD, Reid Carrico 1-25, Dalton Crabtree 1-11, Angelo Washington 1-4.