WK1 Ironton @ Wheelersburg AUG 29

[Tigercannon71]

Thats sad you cant even get 11 boys out to make a frosh team, but 50 out for varsity is pretty good.

[tigerfan98]

all these people predicting Burg to blow out Ironton please come to the game and remember they didn't face Palladino last season and Ironton didn't have a lot of experienced starters. It should be a good game but 50-6 and all those numbers after losing Eddie and Dylan. There must be some diamonds in the ruff over there. I think Ironton will have a solid defense lead by Bodmer and Young who now have a year of starting under their belt and the secondary has a lot of speed. Offense is a question mark only because the inexperience of the line. Ironton probably wont fill their full potential offensively until midway, so Ironton 21-14

[YOU'RE TIGER BAIT]

cannon , just realize we were 2 people from d6, this may be a one year thing. it may be the new norm.

as far as the burg blowing out ironton, we'll have to see about that burgites. ''we'll show up''

[wobycat]

Eh. You're going to have a few pot stirrers come on here with these type of scores. Burg could of hung 70 on ironton last year but shut it down at the beginning of the third. No team is going to disrespect a program like ironton in a down year. Burg has a terrific team with plenty of playmakers and a strong line. Burg by 14 or 21 on a late score. No blowout here

[YOU'RE TIGER BAIT]

I AGREE, AND THEY DEFINATELY COULD HAVE HUNG 70 OR EVEN 80 LAST YEAR.
with that said it sounds like we have 50 out this year. we were without key starters all year last year, and had little depth.
if ironton can find an offensive identity now. and start playing some defense, we may see a big change early. in my opinion this is a very pivotal year for fighting tiger football.and with that schedule they are gonna have to hunker down n git r done.

[YOU'RE TIGER BAIT]

I don't ever remember an ironton team with more key, very serious injuries than last year. it could be a conditioning issue, or it could just have been simply bad luck, that was more amplified by the lack of depth. but it was really bad.

[wobycat]

Injuries are a part of the game and it does hurt some but ironton was not a physical team last year. I expect them to be more this year.

[Westfan]

I AGREE, AND THEY DEFINATELY COULD HAVE HUNG 70 OR EVEN 80 LAST YEAR.
with that said it sounds like we have 50 out this year. we were without key starters all year last year, and had little depth.
if ironton can find an offensive identity now. and start playing some defense, we may see a big change early. in my opinion this is a very pivotal year for fighting tiger football.and with that schedule they are gonna have to hunker down n git r done.

Agree. This is a very pivotal year. Lutz and his staff were worth 7 to 14 points a game by themselves from an X's and O's point and even more because good athletes transferred there to play for him.

Vass may not be a bad coach but he isn't Bob Lutz in some people's minds and he never will be. You never want to follow a legend. Lutz was Ironton. He coached alot of these kids grandpa's. And no mater what Vass does it isn't going to be right in some people's eyes and it only takes a couple bad apples to ruin a bushel. If you remember when Tripplet coached Ironton in 2006 they went 6-4 and the next year kids were transferring. Rock Hill had a really good team because 2 or 3 of Ironton's better players chose to catch the bus in front of the house instead of driving to Ironton. Not because Tripplet was a bad coach, but because he wasn't Bob Lutz.

[youthsportsfan]

I AGREE, AND THEY DEFINATELY COULD HAVE HUNG 70 OR EVEN 80 LAST YEAR.
with that said it sounds like we have 50 out this year. we were without key starters all year last year, and had little depth.
if ironton can find an offensive identity now. and start playing some defense, we may see a big change early. in my opinion this is a very pivotal year for fighting tiger football.and with that schedule they are gonna have to hunker down n git r done.

Agree. This is a very pivotal year. Lutz and his staff were worth 7 to 14 points a game by themselves from an X's and O's point and even more because good athletes transferred there to play for him.

Vass may not be a bad coach but he isn't Bob Lutz in some people's minds and he never will be. You never want to follow a legend. Lutz was Ironton. He coached alot of these kids grandpa's. And no mater what Vass does it isn't going to be right in some people's eyes and it only takes a couple bad apples to ruin a bushel. If you remember when Tripplet coached Ironton in 2006 they went 6-4 and the next year kids were transferring. Rock Hill had a really good team because 2 or 3 of Ironton's better players chose to catch the bus in front of the house instead of driving to Ironton. Not because Tripplet was a bad coach, but because he wasn't Bob Lutz.

West fan
Well put , Coach Vass has a hard battle ahead of him , however I think he gets it done this yr and wins some fans confidence . It will take 2 good yrs to get 60-70% fan base support. Not sure he will ever get 80%+ no matter what he accomplishes. I for one believes he will have a good yr and I also believe it's a must as well. Skill positions ironton is solid IMO with a break out runner that will make a name for himself. It's a 8-1 season if the line can block on off. And tackle on def. I think worst case our tigers finish 6-3 but I think the key to 8-1 is burg if we can muster up the confidence to play well and win. That will set the tone.

[osu 77]

I AGREE, AND THEY DEFINATELY COULD HAVE HUNG 70 OR EVEN 80 LAST YEAR.
with that said it sounds like we have 50 out this year. we were without key starters all year last year, and had little depth.
if ironton can find an offensive identity now. and start playing some defense, we may see a big change early. in my opinion this is a very pivotal year for fighting tiger football.and with that schedule they are gonna have to hunker down n git r done.

Agree. This is a very pivotal year. Lutz and his staff were worth 7 to 14 points a game by themselves from an X's and O's point and even more because good athletes transferred there to play for him.

Vass may not be a bad coach but he isn't Bob Lutz in some people's minds and he never will be. You never want to follow a legend. Lutz was Ironton. He coached alot of these kids grandpa's. And no mater what Vass does it isn't going to be right in some people's eyes and it only takes a couple bad apples to ruin a bushel. If you remember when Tripplet coached Ironton in 2006 they went 6-4 and the next year kids were transferring. Rock Hill had a really good team because 2 or 3 of Ironton's better players chose to catch the bus in front of the house instead of driving to Ironton. Not because Tripplet was a bad coach, but because he wasn't Bob Lutz.

West fan
Well put , Coach Vass has a hard battle ahead of him , however I think he gets it done this yr and wins some fans confidence . It will take 2 good yrs to get 60-70% fan base support. Not sure he will ever get 80%+ no matter what he accomplishes. I for one believes he will have a good yr and I also believe it's a must as well. Skill positions ironton is solid IMO with a break out runner that will make a name for himself. It's a 8-1 season if the line can block on off. And tackle on def. I think worst case our tigers finish 6-3 but I think the key to 8-1 is burg if we can muster up the confidence to play well and win. That will set the tone.

I agree there were players that left Ironton to attend Rock Hill. But the funny thing about that is Tripplet went to West and gave Rock Hill one of their losses that year. So the Coaching was there as Tiger Bait stated it just was not Bob Lutz.

[rachel1219]

I agree that no one will ever be perceived as good a coach as Bob Lutz in Ironton, but it's important for the success of the football program to move on from him. The generations of football in Ironton thank him for his massive success, but it should now be time to get behind the new regime and hope for the best. Get out and support this program, because from what I've read it seems that is somewhat lacking even though a good product should be on the field this year. Approximately 50 players isn't bad for a Division 5 program, and they have good athletes, speed, and size from what I've heard.

As for the Ironton v. Burg game, look for Ironton to win this game. Burg is always a good team, but replacing basically all of their scoring from a year prior is much harder than what most are typing in this forum.

Ironton 27 Wheelersburg 24

[black76]

I don't like to say much about any coach but Vass has a lot of improving to do JMO. The program was in better hands the first time Lutz left. Too bad that group of guys couldn't get over their egos long enough to make a great coaching staff out of the talented staff they had potential to have back then. It is a pivotal year for the Tigers. Good Luck Ironton!

[YOU'RE TIGER BAIT]

I don't think anybody is expecting him to be bob lutz. we just need to figure out who we are, and our identity, and commit to that and play good sound fundamental football.eliminate the mistakes that we can , have practices where you actually tackle each other and start playing good hardnosed football again.everybody wants to see this program back winning big ball games again. -----------------------if you are not tackling in practice when the pads come on, you won't tackle in a game correctly.

[YOU'RE TIGER BAIT]

anybody have any kind of breakdown of the team this year yet--------how many seniors, juniors, sophomores, frosh.
that should be interesting.

[YOU'RE TIGER BAIT]

I'M GETTING PUMPED ABOUT THIS GAME !!!!!!!!!

[local superstar]

The kid that moved from South Point is probably the best running back in the area.

[bubba_smurf]

The kid from Ashland is probably the best back in the area.Considered a 4-star recruit.Just a junior.He has started since his freshman year.Palladino has only played 5 games.Will need a larger sample size,but athletically I think they are very similar.Time will tell.

[YOU'RE TIGER BAIT]

I sure hope we are a lot more physical this year, we've been getting pushed around bad the last 2 years on the line.

[YOU'RE TIGER BAIT]

you can have barry sanders back there. if your line is not blocking they can't get through the holes or get to the edges.
our line play has been very lackluster. it improves we'll be better for it.

[YOU'RE TIGER BAIT]

another thing is attitude , for decades we had most teams beat before we left the bus.
this was because of extremely physical play and good fundamentals. but we had an attitude.
now we are looking for that back and everybody has the attitude with us.