Ironton bounces back with blanking of Bulldogs

IRONTON — For the Ironton Fighting Tigers, it might be better to receive than to give.

Ironton had 3 receivers gain more than 100 yards led by Kayden Edwards as quarterback Wyatt Wolfe threw for 434 yards in a 37-0 rout of the Bloomington South (Indiana) Panthers on Saturday at Tanks Memorial Stadium.

Wolfe was 18 of 23 passing for 434 yards and 3 touchdowns. His passing yardage benefitted from nearly half the yards coming after the catch, including Edwards who went 49 and 85 yards with screen passes.

Wolfe was 18 of 23 passing for 434 yards and 3 touchdowns. Edwards was a major key in piling up those passing yards with his yards after catch — with a pair of screen passes resulting in 49 and 85 yard gains.

Edwards finished with 6 catches for 187 yards and a touchdown. Nolan Wolfe — Wyatt’s older brother — had 5 receptions for 103 yards and Easton Caudill caught 2 passes for 101 yards.

Ironton head coach Trevon Pendleton said the sophomore quarterback has settled into the position during his first season as a starter.

“I think he’s getting more comfortable the more he’s into it. In the film sessions, he’s trying to understand what we’re trying to accomplish when we call certain things,” said Pendleton.

“He’s just getting better and better every week. He’s growing in the offense and he’s doing a better job of leading.”

Ironton is now 6-1 on the season and handed the Indiana Class 5A Panthers their first loss in 7 games.

The Fighting Tigers defense pitched a shutout by holding the Panthers' high-scoring offense to 271 total yards including 90 yards rushing while quarterback Duncan Combs was 17 of 29 for 181 yards with an interception.

“It was just a relentless effort. There were times we definitely bent tonight but we never broke. It’s a testament to how hard those guys play,” said Pendleton.

“We’ve got some guys banged up. We’re trying to get healthy, but those guys laid it on the line tonight and played really hard and they definitely sparked us.”

Neither team could dent the scoreboard in the first quarter as the defenses were in control.

The Panthers drove to the Ironton 12-yard line to start the game only to have Tyson Harvey intercept a pass at the 2-yard line.

The Fighting Tigers drove the field to the 9-yard line before they bogged down and attempted a field goal. But the 26-yard attempt hit the upright and the Panthers had survived their scare.

But Ironton didn’t resort to any scare tactics in the second quarter. They finished off their drives.

Ironton had the ball at its own 11-yard line after a 46-yard punt. The Fighting Tigers moved the ball to the 26-yard line where Wolfe found Caudill wide open at the 47-yard line and the Ironton sophomore running back raced the rest of the way into the end zone for the score.

Beckham Waginger added the conversion kick and it was 7-0.

Bloomington South marched to the Ironton 28-yard line before the drive stalled and a 45-yard field goal attempt went wide left and the shutout remained in tact.

Ironton then went on a 10-play drive that ended on a 1-yard touchdown run by Caudill with 2:42 left in the half.

Ironton used a trick play on the conversion as Brycen Mullins threw to Harvey for the conversion and a 15-0 lead.

Following a punt, Ironton had the ball at its own 31. But a screen pass to Edwards got the ball to the Panthers' 31 and then a little brotherly love got the ball to the Panthers’ 9-yard line as Wyatt Wolfe connected with Nolan Wolfe for 33 yards.

The brothers clicked on an 8-yard pass and Mullins caught a one-yard pass from Wolfe with 3 seconds left, and Ironton led 22-0 at the half.

Ironton came out the second half and got to the 5-yard line only to be stopped on a fourth-and-goal play.

The Panthers drove to the Ironton 38 only to have the drive halted on a bad snap that led to a bad punt. A penalty moved the ball to the Panthers’ 42 where the Wolfe brothers were successful on a 30-yard pass play to the 4-yard line.

Harvey scored on the next play and the lead was 30-0.

After forcing another punt, Ironton had the ball at its own 15-yard line. This Ironton scoring drive lasted one play and only a matter of seconds as Edwards took a screen pass and raced to the end zone. Waginger’s conversion kick made it 37-0.

Next Friday, Ironton visits Columbus World Harvest.

Bloomington South 0      0    0    0  =  0

Ironton 0    22    8    7  =  37

Second Quarter

Irn — Easton Caudill 74 pass from Wyatt Wolfe (Beckham Waginger kick) 10:46

Irn — Easton Caudill 1 run (Tyson Harvey pass from Wyatt Wolfe) 2:42

Irn — Brycen Mullins 1 pass from Wyatt Wolfe (Beckham Waginger kick) 0:03

Third Quarter

Irn — Tyson Harvey 4 run (Bryson Kerns pass from Wyatt Wolfe) 1:56

Fourth Quarter

Irn — Kayden Edwards 85 pass from Wyatt Wolfe (Beckham Waginger kick) 8:49

——————

BS     Irn

First downs         17     14

Rushes-yards     25-90 18-60

Passing yards     181   434

Total yards         271  494

Cmp-Att-Int.        17-29-1 18-23-0

Fumbles- Lost 0-0    2-0

Penalties-yards   9-87.5 7-70

Punts-average    5-33.2 1-34.0

———————

Individual Leaders

RUSHING — Bloomington South: Hayden Clark 14-54, Lucas Smith 9-33, Duncan Combs 1-0; Ironton: Easton Caudill 12-45 TD, Tyson Harvey 4-31 TD, Brycen Mullins 1-minus 2, Wyatt Wolfe 1-minus 4.

PASSING — Bloomington South: Duncan Combs 17-29-1 181; Ironton: Wyatt Wolfe 18-23-0 434 3-TD.

RECEIVING — Bloomington South: Mayson Lewis 8-104, Connor Parker 3-28, Jonathan Winstead 2-23, Ray Kante 1-14, Myles West 1-2, Connor Christensen 1-0, Lucas Smith 1-10; Ironton: Kayden Edwards 6-187 TD, Nolan Wolfe 5-103, Easton Caudill 2-101 TD, Brock Biggs 2-34, Bryson Kerns 1-6, Tyson Harvey 1-2, Brycen Mullins 1-1 TD.