Tigers overcome ugly play, Rockets to stay undefeated

IRONTON — There’s a saying that an ugly win is still a lot better than a pretty loss.

While Ironton head coach Trevon Pendleton wasn’t happy with how his team won, he was still happy that they did get a 17-10 win in a tough physical game against the Cincinnati McNicholas Rockets on Friday.

“Hats off to them guys. They are physical. They’re well-coached,” said Pendleton. “We’ve got a lot of stuff to clean up on. It’s bad when after a win, you feel like you lost, and that’s not taking anything away from our kids. They played hard and battled, too."

“But we just have so much to clean up on and so many things to improve on before we can completely celebrate this.”

The defense was dominating against the run for the third straight week. With quarterback sacks, Ironton held the Rockets to minus 39 yards rushing on 19 attempts.

McNicholas’ quarterback Evan Sandfoss was 13 of 24 for 198 yards and a touchdown with an interception. The Rockets (1-2) finished with 159 total yards and only 8 first downs.

“The defense played great. They’re well-coached on that side of the ball. They played with a lot of intensity and effort. You see that week in and week out. I’m very proud of those guys,” said Pendleton.

“We’ve had a lot of adversity and we’ve handled it. It hasn’t been pretty all the time, but we just keep plugging along and doing some positive things.”

Ironton (3-0) finished with 264 total yards with 103 on the ground and quarterback Wyatt Wolfe 16 of 24 for 161 yards and a touchdown.

Tyson Harvey had a strong all-around game as he ran 18 times for 69 yards and a touchdown while also catching 4 passes for 45 yards and a score.

Harvey was filling in for injured starting running back Easton Caudill.

“(Harvey) stepped up quite big and he’s not 100 percent healthy. So, very proud of his effort,” said Pendleton, who returned to the Ironton sidelines after a two-game suspension from the OHSAA for an intentional forfeit to end last season.

“We’ve got to find more rainbows and more ways to be explosive.”

Ironton came out in the second half and went 80 yards in 16 plays. Waginger’s 32-yarder that made it 10-3 at the 5:27 mark.

After forcing another McNicholas’ punt 5 plays later, Ironton began a 65-yard drive in 12 plays.

But a key moment game when facing a fourth-and-4 at the Rockets’ 32.

Wolfe attempted a pass that was tipped by McNicholas’ defender, but Bryson Kerns was able to keep his focus and make the catch for a 24-yard gain to the 8-yard line. Two plays later, Harvey scored on a 4-yard run and it was 17-3 with 8:59 to play.

A big factor in the second half was Ironton’s ability to control the football. The Fighting Tigers ran 35 plays to just 18 for McNicholas. Ironton ran 20 plays to just 6 plays for The Rockets in the third quarter.

Still, McNicholas wasn’t done.

Sandfoss threw a couple of short passes and then threw deep to Isaac Troutman for a 60-yard touchdown pass. Iliev’s kick made it 17-10 with 7:32 to go.

Ironton was forced to punt and McNicholas got the ball back at its own 11-yard line after a penalty on the punt return. Thanks to a sack by Ironton’s Ayden Justice, the Rockets’ found themselves back at the one-yard line and they were forced to punt.

The Fighting Tigers got the ball at the Rockets’ 41 and went for the first down on a fourth-and-3 only to get stopped with a 2-yard loss at the 36.

But Sandfoss slipped and fell for an 11-yard loss and then an incompletion and an interception by Bubby Kidd ended any McNicholas’ hopes of a comeback.

Ironton visits Somerset, Ky., next Friday.

McNicholas 3   0   0   7 = 10

Ironton 0   7   3   7  =  17

First Quarter

CM — Bobo Iliev 25 field goal 8:32

Second Quarter

Irn — Tyson Harvey 2 pass from Wyatt Wolfe (Beckham Waginger kick) 7:29

Third Quarter

Irn — Beckham Waginger 32 field goal 5:27

Fourth Quarter

Irn — Tyson Harvey 4 run (Beckham Waginger kick) 8:59

CM — Isaac Troutman 60 pass from Evan Sandfoss (Bobo Iliev kick) 7:32

———————

            CM      Irn

First downs     8          12

Rushes-yards  19-(-39) 36-103

Passing yards  198      161

Total yards      159      264

Cmp-Att-Int    13-21-1 16-24-0

Fumbles-lost   0-0 2-0

Penalties-yards            8-77 11-90

Punts-average  6-31.5 4-39

———————

Individual Leaders

RUSHING—McNicholas: Joe Reuss 7-10, Tyler Richardson 5-4, Evan Sandfoss 7-minus 45; Ironton: Tyson Harvey 17-69 TD, Kayden Edwards 5-22, Wyatt Wolfe 6-13, Brycen Mullins 6-17, Team 2-minus 18.

PASSING—McNicholas: Evan Sandfoss 13-24-1 198 TD; Ironton: Wyatt Wolfe 16-24-0 161.

RECEIVING—McNicholas: Brody Reinhart 2-20, Tyler Richardson 3-16, Max Orlando 3-39, Finn Mayer 2-35, Joe Reuss 1-9, Brody Conrad 1-13, Isaac Troutman 1-60 TD; Ironton: Kayden Edwards 4-47, Tyson Harvey 4-45 TD, Bryson Kerns 2-31, Nolan Wolfe 1-32, Brock Biggs 4-10, Brycen Mullins 1-minus 4.

MISSED FIELD GOALS—None.