Jacob D. Ball
For The Ironton Tribune

SOUTH POINT — Home runs in baseball have become quite commonplace in the modern game. Some would argue that they have even become mundane.
That point of view would argue that sheer volume of home runs reduce the special meaning to the game they used to entail.
Other sports have analogs to the home run that have not lost their luster.
In golf, the hole in one is so rare that it is celebrated widely every time it occurs.
Football has the excitement of a scoring drive that only takes one play to achieve that score.
Last night, Ironton brought the excitement to South Point as 4 times they only needed one play to score in the first half.
The first quarter saw Ironton take possession and march down the field leading to a 5-yard touchdown run by Amar Howard.
After the Tiger defense forced the Pointers into a tough punt near their own end zone, the first of their one-shot scores occurred.
Tayden Carpenter found Aaron Masters for a 34-yard touchdown reception.
Ironton and South Point traded punts, then Ironton went on a drive that resulted in Aiden Young finding the end zone with a 28-yard touchdown catch, and the first quarter ended with Ironton leading 21-0.
The second quarter saw Ironton score on three more of these one shot plays.
The first occurred when after South Point was forced to punt the ball in their own end zone, Ironton took possession on the 11-yard line and Jaquez Keyes only needed that first play to run in for the touchdown.
The second was Tayden Carpenter’s third touchdown of the night which was caught by Ty Perkins. That pass topped off an excellent performance for Carpenter.
The final one-shot score occurred when on the ensuing kickoff.
South Point was forced to take possession of the ball on their own 1-yard line.
That first play in that South Point possession saw Ironton fly into the Pointer backfield and score a safety, leading the halftime score to Tigers 36, Pointers 0.
The story for South Point has to be that penalties they incurred put them in very bad positions that Ironton fully capitalized upon.
This problem with penalties was especially true in the first quarter; as the Pointers had 5 penalties for 45 yards in that period alone. A bright spot for South Point in this game was definitely Alex Lambert who reigned in 4 catches for 64 yards.
The second did not see any scoring and the running clock made that half a very short affair. Thus, leading to a final score of Ironton 36, South Point 0.
Ironton 21 15 0 0 = 36
South Point 0 0 0 0 = 0
First Quarter
Irn – Amar Howard 5 run (Matt Sheridan kick) 9:49
Irn – Aaron Masters 34 pass from Tayden Carpenter (Matt Sheridan kick) 7:23
Irn – Aiden Young 28 pass from Tayden Carpenter (Matt Sheridan kick) 0:43
Second Quarter
Irn – Jaquez Keyes 11 run (run failed)
Irn – Ty Perkins 53 pass from Tayden Carpenter (Matt Sheridan kick) 9:22
Irn – Safety 8:37
Irn SP
First downs 5 8
Rushing yards 79 27
Passing 150 82
Total yards 228 109
Punts 3-34.7 7-28.8
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Individual Leaders
RUSHING-Ironton: Landen Wilson 2-28, Ashton Duncan 3-19, Jaquez Keyes 2-14 TD, Amar Howard 2-12 TD; South Point: Blaine Freeman 8-11.
PASSING–Ironton: Tayden Carpenter 6-6-0 150 3TD; South Point: Jordan Ermalovich 7-16-0 82.
RECEIVING–Ironton: Ty Perkins 1-53 TD, Aaron Masters 1-34 TD, Landen Wilson 2-31, Aiden Young 1-28; South Point: Alex Lambert 4-64, Elijah Wilburn 1-10, Blaine Freeman 1-8.