Division V State Championship: Ironton (15-0) vs. South Range (15-0)

Who wins?

  • Ironton by 17+

    Votes: 6 3.7%

  • Ironton by 8-16

    Votes: 13 7.9%

  • Ironton by 1-7

    Votes: 27 16.5%

  • South Range by 1-7

    Votes: 39 23.8%

  • South Range by 8-16

    Votes: 52 31.7%

  • South Range by 17+

    Votes: 27 16.5%
  • Total voters
    164
  • Poll closed .
RunandGun6 said:
IMO Valley View Isn’t even close to the talent of SR on Defense or Offenseand If you get behind I don’t think Ironton is a team that’s gonna win a shoot out. I also was surprised by the fact that SR will roll the dice and hit you with trick plays and onside kicks when you least expect it.
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Correct abt the teams being different but they had to be pretty quality to make the final 4. And Ironton is familiar to that playing Wheelersburg their rival who would do all those sorts of things
 
rrwilliams64 said:
A delicious matchup in that it's the two widely accepted best teams in the state. Makes me smile that folks say make statements when most haven't seen the other team. And that's the beauty typically in the Finals when ya get teams from far-flung corners of the state...the "mystery", if you will.

Both teams have the resume, the tradition. I've personally seen SR on a few occasions this year. ...and oh my sweet Lord!!. 😮It'll take a team firing on all cylinders, both sides of the ball to beat them. Is that Ironton? Can't speak intelligently to that, not having seen them in person. (I did stream the VV game to get a feel. Good looking team, but,....) It'll be a whale of a game.
SR 3
Ironton 2
3 OT's
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That score, I'm pretty sure, is "football score final " mathematically impossible. Lol!
 
Raylan_Givens said:
Thanks for those #s. Was looking for the Tiger's record in title games. Didn't realize this was their 11th trip to final (WOW!)
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I feel like I bring this up every year, and posted it last week on the VV/Ironton thread. I remember being at the 1999 DIV State Championship with my dad. Ironton needed less than one yard to get a first down and the ball was on their 30-yard line. Ironton was leading 14-10 with 46 seconds to play. They decided to go for it instead of punting to Perkins which had no timeouts. Perkins stops them, gets the ball, scores immediately to win the state championship, 16-14. It was an insane ending to the state championship.
 
ex_dc_atc said:
To be fair, Ironton also used to run the double tight, Full House offense. So scoring 14 points back in the day, was how they won football games. Ball control, running game, and defense.
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Lutz subscribed to the Woody philosophy on passing, three things could happen and two of them are bad.
 
ex_dc_atc said:
I feel like I bring this up every year, and posted it last week on the VV/Ironton thread. I remember being at the 1999 DIV State Championship with my dad. Ironton needed less than one yard to get a first down and the ball was on their 30-yard line. Ironton was leading 14-10 with 46 seconds to play. They decided to go for it instead of punting to Perkins which had no timeouts. Perkins stops them, gets the ball, scores immediately to win the state championship, 16-14. It was an insane ending to the state championship.
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I was there too. I was shaking my head at the call because they just got stuffed on 3rd down. Immediately I thought of the 93 Steubenville CC vs Liberty Center D5 title game where SCC did the same thing on their own 19-yard line with about 45 seconds left in the game. They also turned the ball over on downs and LC scored with about 10 seconds left . The difference was that SCC had a 7-point lead and won in OT. Ironton also had a heart-breaking loss in 93.

After that 99 game I remember coach Lutz saying something along the lines of "The kids played their hearts out. They didn't lose the game, their dumb coach did."
 
We're on a mission from God!

bluesbros.jpg
 
IHS Alum said:
They may very well be on a mission, but don't you think that maybe a team who has been runner-up 2 of the last 3 years might be on a similar - or maybe more determined - mission ? Not challenging the desire of SR or anything...just a thought.
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algernonsidney said:
I'm taking South Range. They are on a mission this year.
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In the "whose mission is greater" category - These teams have combined to lose to Kirtland 5 times in the last 3 years: South Range in the 19, 20, & 21 Regional Finals & Ironton in the 19 & 20 Finals.

In this completely unofficial "tale of the tape" I'd give the edge to South Range for the following reasons:
1. The 2020 Kirtland-South Range game (49-35) is on my short list of "10 best games I've ever seen"
2. After the 2019 bloodbath (we'll call it Ironton-Kirtland #1) the Tigers basically no showed in the 2020 finals. By end of 1st quarter their body language told anyone watching that the outcome was already decided just not the final score.
3. While it's true the Tigers are finalists for the 3rd time in 4 years, losing their 2021 rematch to Wheelersburg after putting a running clock on them earlier in the season has to be considered a bit of a momentum killer.

And the best of all - none of that matters. The 2022 versions of both of these teams will play on Saturday for the trophy.
 
In just 48 hours all the speculation and prognostication will be over!
I don't even try because I have been wrong (in my head) for just about every playoff game this year.
 
IHS Alum said:
I'm not sure how the 2019 title game was a "bloodbath". It was a 17-7 game.
And I'd bet that the upset loss to wheelersburg is more like motivation for the Tigers, as opposed to a momentum killer.
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I used the term “bloodbath” because it was one of the most physical games I could remember watching at the high school level. By BOTH teams.

As far as Wheelersburg being motivation, no argument here. The difference is South Range hasn’t lost to anyone not named Kirtland since before Halloween 2019.
 
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