Ironton moves past West Liberty Salem to advance to the Division V State Title game
By: Lucy Schaefer
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CHILLICOTHE, Ohio (WOUB) — The one-seeded Ironton Fighting Tigers (14-1) swept past the second-seeded West Liberty Salem Tigers (13-2) 63-21 and are on their way to their 12th appearance in the Division Five state championship. This appearance will be the fourth in head coach Trevon Pendleton’s tenure.
West Liberty Salem of Region 20 came into this game with just one loss at home against Greenview. The Fighting Tigers were also beaten once at home versus Football North Inc.
In their respective Regional Final games last week, Ironton beat 14-seeded Wheelersburg 55-0 while West Liberty Salem won against fifth-seeded Indian Lake 21-14.
The Tigers of West Liberty Salem began on offense but the night began with a bang for the Fighting Tigers after Zayne Williams intercepted a pass from QB Nick Shifflet. One play later, he got Ironton on the board with a rush touchdown. A successful two-point conversion brought the score to 8-0.
Going into the second quarter, the Fighting Tigers led 29-0 with one touchdown each by Williams and Shaun Terry. Kayden Edwards capped it off with a 66-yard run at the end of the quarter.
Ironton just kept rolling. Braden Schreck opened the quarter with a long run of his own to put the Fighting Tigers ahead 36-0. Toward the end of the half, Junior Maddix Markel ran it in himself to make the score 43-0. But West Liberty Salem would find the scoreboard right after with a kick return touchdown from Senior Jack Bahan. The Fighting Tigers didn’t back down with another score from Williams and a punt return touchdown from Terry before the end of the half. Ironton led 56-7 going into the break.
The Fighting Tigers opened the third quarter with a rush touchdown from Junior Tyler Carmon. West Liberty Salem responded right after with another kickoff return touchdown from Bahan to make it 63-14 before the fourth quarter.
The Tigers of West Liberty Salem scored one more time halfway through the fourth with a four-yard run by Josh Wilcoxon. Ironton defeated West Liberty Salem 63-21.
The tiger-on-tiger matchups did not end this week, as Ironton will face the Liberty Center Tigers from Northeast Ohio. They are 15-0 coming off a win in their state semi-final game against South Range 48-14.
That game is set for this Friday in Canton.