The 2024 Ironton Fighting Tigers football team

Paul Boggs | Daily Times

IRONTON — So, who came up with the Ironton Fighting Tigers’ schedule for this season?

Because, simply put, it’s indeed a brutal gauntlet.

Perhaps one of the storied and tradition rich Fighting Tigers’ most difficult schedules ever, and certainly the most challenging in the seven-year tenure of head coach Trevon Pendleton.

The Fighting Tigers’ 2024 schedule is, in part, due to Ironton being voted out of the Ohio Valley Conference — for football only.

Ironton ended its OVC football blitz with five consecutive conference championships —in addition to its two titles in 2015 and 2016, when it first entered OVC play.

Still, Pendleton and the highly-touted Fighting Tigers take on all comers —as Ironton aims to conquer these large names, and in some cases larger schools.

The 58 Fighting Tigers with 16 seniors are still strong on talent and experience, but with new names on the schedule in the middle of the slate, it’s definitely an accelerated level of independent competition compared to the OVC.

Senior members of the 2024 Ironton High School football team are, front row from left, Jesse Copas, Austin Bump, Shaun Terry, Brandon Sturgill, Grant Day, Aiden Layne and Levi Joseph; back row, Tyler Roach, Jacob Jenkins, Dedrick Graves, Josh Johnson, Landon Lewis, Bowen Gossett, Braden Schreck, Nick Sites and Barkley Litton.

Paul Boggs | Daily Times

But five regular opponents in which Ironton has enjoyed recent success against remain — Wheelersburg and Jackson for road shows in the opening two weeks, and former OVC opponents Fairland, Gallia Academy and Portsmouth in October to end the regular season.

The Portsmouth and Ironton rivalry is the second-oldest in the entire state, as the two Ohio River rivals have played 133 times — with Ironton owning a 66-60-7 advantage in the all-time series, thanks to a seven-game winning streak started in 2019, and includes back-to-back regional quarterfinal wins in 2021 and 2022.

While Ironton is once again blessed with good players at every position, on both defense AND offense, the schedule questions came up — of course — to Pendleton on Ironton’s Media Day.

Pendleton preferred to look at the schedule’s perceived benefits, and how wins will certainly provide the Fighting Tigers with plenty of Ohio High School Athletic Association computer points towards the state playoffs.

Ironton indeed will be tested from start to finish, but being battle-tested for 10 weeks will most definitely do it wonders — in preparing for potential playoff opponents.

Of course, the Fighting Tigers need to earn enough points to qualify for the Division V Region 19 playoffs, as the top 16 teams in each region advance to the postseason.

“It’s going to be exciting. Every week is going to be fun, it’s going to be a challenge and it’s going to be different. You’re going to see a lot of different schemes in the people that we’re playing. Teams that are two tight end and they’re gap-scheme running the ball a lot, and then there’s teams that are going to be 11 personnel or 10 personnel and are inside zone,” said Pendleton. “We’re going to see a lot of different things, but ultimately it’s going to make us playoff ready. Our kids are going be excited and hyped and locked in and focused each and every week. That’s the demeanor you have to take because if you don’t practice it, then it’s hard to flip that switch on come playoff time. The playoffs here in Ohio, if you’re not locked in for six weeks you’re going to get bounced pretty early.”

After Division V rival Wheelersburg and Division III stronghold Jackson, the Fighting Tigers tangle with Cabell Midland for the second straight season at Marshall University.

The Knights handed Ironton (11-2 in 2023) its only regular-season loss, as Cabell Midland —one of the largest West Virginia schools —is usually a Division I equivalent in Ohio.

Next up is Ironton’s own host Gridiron Classic, where the Fighting Tigers face St. Francis out of Buffalo in New York.

They then play host to state powerhouse Columbus Hartley, before welcoming Clarkson North out of Ontario in Canada.

Arguably the most difficult game awaits after that — a trip to Kentucky power Pikeville.

Only Division III Hartley, per the respected computer rankings website www.joeeitel.com, has its 2024 classification officially listed —of those aforementioned teams.

Ironton is in Division V Region 19 once again — as is Wheelersburg, Fairland and Portsmouth.

A new look Gallia Academy unit is once again Division IV.

There is some familiarity there with half of the schedule, said Pendleton, who doubles as Ironton’s Athletic Director.

Trevon Pendleton

“It’s not a completely foreign schedule. There are five familiar opponents on there,” he said.

He emphasized that the numbers are the same —whether its defense or offense.

“We’re only playing 11 at a time. There’s 11 defenders out there, there’s 11 offensive players out there against our 11 on each side of the ball. Football is football when it boils down to it,” said Pendleton. “We’re excited to have some different opportunities and play some different opponents at some different venues. Looking forward to it.”

The Fighting Tigers graduated 18 seniors, including first team all-Ohio offensive lineman and Eastern Michigan University signee Noah Patterson.

“It’s hard to replace seniors anytime, especially when you have multi-year starters like Noah Patterson,” said Pendleton. “We had guys that will be hard to replace, but in high school football, you don’t have the luxury of hand-picking people, so you don’t always necessarily replace people. You morph with the athletes and the type of team which you have. That’s something we’re able to do.”

They do return their top offensive and defensive players, though, in seniors Shaun Terry (5-10, 180, wide receiver) and Aiden Layne (6-0, 240, defensive lineman).

Terry was last season’s Southeast District Division V Offensive Player of the Year, and automatic first team all-Ohioan at wide receiver —while Layne landed second team all-Ohio at defensive end.

Terry —having committed to Missouri after committing and decommitting from Notre Dame — was a first team all-Southeast District all-purpose performer.

Also returning is six-foot and two-inch and 185-pound senior Braden Schreck, who steps in as the starting quarterback — after earning first team all-district wide receiver.

Schreck is a three-year starter at wideout, but split time under center last year with all-district first-teamer Bailey Thacker.

Zayne Williams —a 5-9 and 200-pound junior —was a first team all-district running back, as Austin Bump, Bowen Gossett, Jesse Copas and Josh Johnson all return as well.

That final foursome of seniors was all-Southeast District Special Mention, as Ironton advanced to the Region 19 semifinals —following three of four years (2019, 2020, 2022) as the Division V state runner-up.

“I think this year’s team is going to be quite different than last year’s team, but that’s not a bad thing. You just have to cater everything to the type of kids that you have and the type of team that you have,” said Pendleton. “We have about eight or nine returning starters on each side of the ball. Some of them have different strengths than the ones which we graduated. We’re going to try and play to those guys’ strengths, be very explosive offensively and be very fast defensively. Our biggest team strength is our depth. We go two or three deep in just about every position. Our depth is very important and vital going forward. It’s a long season with 16 games now. Then it’s a brutal schedule with no weeks off. You’re going to get guys banged up and nicked up here and there, so having that depth and building that depth and sustaining that depth is going to be key for us to be successful.”

While the personnel always changes, and this year so too massively its schedule, Ironton is “always going to play extremely hard”.

“We’re going to play with great focus and effort every day, no matter who we’re playing,” said Pendleton. “You don’t want to be that team that catches fire early on, some things happen and it all fizzles out. You want to keep the same identity and the same integrity defensively and offensively. We believe we have more than enough guys to do that.”

Reach Paul Boggs by email at [email protected], or on X @paulboggssports © 2024 Portsmouth Daily Times, all rights reserved