Ironton drops third state finals in four years to South Range
By: Chloe Gee
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CANTON, Ohio (WOUB) — The Ironton Fighting Tigers found themselves in their third state championship in four years, but they still struggled to find the win as they took on the undefeated South Range Raiders.
The Raiders had an explosive offense as they took the win 53-27.
Both teams got off to quick starts as on the opening drive South Range found the end zone with quarterback Billy Skripac taking it in himself.
Tayden Carpenter had an immediate answer with a 66-yard connection to Lincoln Barnes on the first play of the drive.
The teams traded punts before the Raiders began to open the scoring with a 40-yard touchdown from Skripac JD Crouse.
The squad recovered an Ironton fumble and scored again immediately at the hands of Skripac once again.
The success continued to roll in for the Raiders as Bailey Ryan blocked Braden Schreck’s punt which quickly turned into a South Range touchdown.
Ironton showed some promise as Carpenter connected with Ty Perkins for a 31-yard touchdown. The Tigers offense tried to build momentum but a touchdown right before halftime was called back on a holding call.
The Raiders did not let off the gas as Shane Lindsrom finds himself in the end zone on a 65-yard touchdown.
South Range kept their foot on the gas that eventually led to the dominating defeat.
For Ironton, the senior class set records. They were the first class to win 15 games in a season and to pick up 50 career wins.
They made it to the state championships 3 times but were never able to get over the hump to win.
This was the final game for 16 seniors, including Ty Perkins, Tayden Carpenter, Trevor Carter, Jaquez Keyes, Aiden Young, Amari Felder, Landen Wilson, C.J. Martin, Lincoln Barnes, Evan Williams, DeAngelo Weekly, Cole Freeman, Tanner Moore, Anthony Kirk, Hunter Moore and Kaden Cleary.