WK 2 (1-0) Jackson @ (1-0) Waverly

[hbk2016]

I would take Derek Roback in a street fight over burg09 any day! ha!

[FromTheBleachers]

grndma1 - don't strain yourself trying to figure it out. All you'll do is get a headache and then, the next thing you know, real irnman will go through puberty and you'll have to start interpreting the incoherent ramblings all over again.... [code][/code]

[Ironman92]

ough Kay.....sew their' wuz prissire on thu qB......annd hei tru ay duk


........thin howl ded thu krnr buk knot fnd thu bal

wilston'ss bust atlite kutchng u bul tron n 2 hiz handz iz nut luk

[Seops123]

Waverly wins because there defense will step up and stop jackson on a important drive and it will give waverly the big mo

[Keyser_sozeThrice]

Here is the preview story which will appear in today's (Thursday's) Times-Journal. Thanks to Julie at the News-Watchman for her help. Enjoy.


Ironmen try to snap skid against Tigers

By PAUL BOGGS
Sports Editor

Jackson High School head football coach Shane Wolford said his “birthday is coming up in a couple of weeks.”

His Ironmen defeating host Waverly, and snapping a four-game losing streak to the Tigers in the process, would indeed be an early birthday present.

“That would be a heckuva of a gift, wouldn’t it?” said Wolford.

The Ironmen kept one streak alive on Saturday night, but want another one to end on Friday as Jackson travels to Waverly for their annual week two tilt.

Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m at Raidiger Field in Waverly.

With the Ironmen’s 41-14 win at Wellston on Saturday, Jackson extended its winning streak over the archrival Rockets to a dubious 18 games.

However, in Wolford’s four-year tenure as the Ironmen boss, Jackson has lost every meeting with Waverly, including two two years ago which included the 26-20 overtime heartbreaker in the Division III, Region 12 playoffs.

The first two regular-season meetings were also close, with Waverly upstaging the Ironmen 17-16 in 2005 before rallying for a 28-21 triumph two years ago.

Only last year’s 42-7 outcome was one-sided.

Waverly has won at least 10 games in each of the past two seasons, and are back-to-back participants in the state playoffs.

The Tigers did graduate 21 seniors, though, including the Division IV Southeast District Offensive Co-Player of the Year in quarterback Trevor Walls.

Walls, a first-team all-Ohio signal-caller and Waverly’s all-time leading passer, is now a redshirt freshman at New Mexico State.

Also graduated are receivers Casey Williams and Mason Good; linemen Dalton Scott, Myles Deacon and Ian Colegrove; and tight end/linebacker Ramone Conley.

In all, the Tigers graduated seven starters on both sides of the ball.

Wolford explained that Jackson’s 16 seniors should be plenty motivated to tame the Tigers.

“If they’re not motivated, shame on them. We’ve been beaten by them four times in the last three years,” he said. “The first three tries, we were right in the game. Someway, we have to get over that hump. We need to make a big play or do something that is going to help us win the game.”

The Ironmen made those big plays against Wellston, especially in the second half.

Jackson scored twice with long plays for touchdowns, including a 73-yard strike from quarterback Tyler Boggs to tight end Brandon Trace.

The Ironmen also succeeded with their patented midline option attack, as the Jackson ground game accounted for 364 of the team’s nearly 500 yards of total offense.

Three backs — quarterback Josh Brown, fullback Klay Arthur and tailback Cody Huff — had at least eight carries and 76 yards apiece.

“This is a typical Jackson football team,” Waverly coach Rusty Wright told The Pike County News-Watchman. “They look like a college squad and they have lots of experience. They have 18 to 19 returning lettermen and they’re going to line up and run the football with Cody Huff.”

Boggs also threw for 130, including another 28-yarder to Trace.

“After watching the film, we were pretty pleased with what we were able to do,” said Wolford of the Wellston win. “Our offensive line did a pretty good job. In the second half, they were able to open several holes and we started running the quarterback counter play a little more. That was very successful, too.”

But the Ironmen must do an even better job of playing keep-away from the Tigers this week.

Jackson’s run-oriented offense is predicated on ball control and clock-consuming drives, featuring the midline option and moderate-to-hefty rushes between the tackles.

Defending the run will be important for the Tigers, which saw the Piketon Redstreaks rush for 434 yards and seven touchdowns last Friday.

“We have to get better defensively. We need to swarm to the ball this week,” said Wright. “We saw some hesitations with our young defenders. They would start to make a tackle and then they would let someone else do it. We have seven new defensive starters.”

Against the Tigers, and other teams with athletes such as Derek Roback, the Ironmen’s best defense may be their offense.

“That’s what our plan is going to be. We’re going to line up and run the football at them,” said Wolford. “Hopefully, we can get three or four yards a crack and keep the clock winding. If they don’t have the ball, they can’t score.”

When Waverly does have the ball, all eyes will be on Roback — the 6-3, 210-pound junior quarterback.

Roback, who was first-team all-district as a wide receiver last year, takes over for Walls under center, and will have the ball in his hands on every Waverly snap.

He was the first name mentioned when Wolford was asked about Waverly.

“The Roback kid is the best player in the area in my mind,” he said after the Wellston win. “I don’t think you can stop the kid, you can only hope to contain him a little bit.”

The Ironmen did not do that last season.

Jackson turned the ball over five times, providing the Tigers more opportunities and enabling Roback to rack up 132 yards and two touchdowns on five receptions.

In the Tigers’ tremendous 54-53 comeback win over county rival Piketon, Roback easily led the way.

In fact, he amassed a team-high 98 rushing yards on 16 carries, threw for 422 yards and six touchdowns on 27-of-47 attempts, and added an 85-yard punt return for a touchdown which pulled the Tigers to within a point.

The punt return occurred with less than a minute to go.

Roback then connected with Kevin Malone for the two-point conversion, giving Waverly the victory.

“It’s a lot of the same, with the exception that Roback can run the football a little better than Trevor Walls,” said Wolford. “Last year, they were looking to pass most of the time. This year, they try to get Roback out of the pocket and roll him out because he is pretty dangerous with his legs. We have to find ways that we can contain him.”

Thus, don’t expect the Ironmen to just sit in their base 4-4 defense.

“We’re going to throw a lot of different combinations at them, we’re not just going to sit in one defense this week,” said Wolford. “We’ll probably put a spy on him in certain situations, but our front four is going to have to have a good game as far as containing him. Our defensive ends have to keep him in the pocket, because if you let him get outside, he’s going to cause trouble. Several times, Piketon was able to get pressure on him, but he was able to elude the defenders and run down the field for several yards. Somehow, you have to put the pads on him.”

Although, Roback does have some weapons.

Against the Redstreaks, at least six Tiger receivers caught at least two passes for 32 yards.

Shane Price caught 10 of those and Malone four, as each eclipsed the century mark in receiving.

“They run just about every pass pattern and combination that you can think of. Our defensive backs and linebackers have to do a good job this week,” said Wolford. “We’re hoping that we can throw their timing off on some of their routes.”

If they can, then the Ironmen stand a good chance at throwing the recent monkey — or Tigers — off their backs.

Other streaks at stake

The four-game winning streak which Waverly holds on the Ironmen is not the only mark on the line on Friday night.

Jackson, with a win on Friday, will have captured a half-dozen in a row, dating back to the seventh week of last season.

The Tigers have also been victorious in their last 16 home games, including the playoff wins over Jackson and Union Local last year.

sports@timesjournal.com

* * *

Julie Billings, sports editor of The Pike County News-Watchman, contributed to this story.

[Ironman61]

call it lucky if ya want. but roback and waverlys passing won't be so lucky. i still say waverly by atleast 28 and if im wrong hey laugh at me but i don't think im wrong .. cause again another factor if im not wrong and i may be roback returns kicks for waverly and he's 2's as good as lockard.

first off Dont worry ill be ready to laugh. and secondly if he's returning kickoffs, then that means our offense is doin their job, i have a feeling special teams have been working overtime this week to step up coverage. Jackson may win, or loose but i don't think theres gonna be a 28 point difference either way.

[fbone]

seops123,
Waverly did what worked last week to the tune of 54 points. If Malone only rushed the ball 6 times that's okay. No-one is trying to make Roback the star of any game.

"He looked good at times last week and he also looked bad last week against Piketon."
Are you serious, it was his first start at QB against a very good Piketon team.

Waverly will be fine as they continue to run the plays that will lead to the success of the TEAM.

Are you serious tigers2010onhuddle?
To be an awesome athlete, you should be able to handle anything, including a first start as quarterback. Piketon was good, but Waverly was better. Stop throwing so much and they would have dominated.

[fbone]

call it lucky if ya want. but roback and waverlys passing won't be so lucky. i still say waverly by atleast 28 and if im wrong hey laugh at me but i don't think im wrong .. cause again another factor if im not wrong and i may be roback returns kicks for waverly and he's 2's as good as lockard.

first off Dont worry ill be ready to laugh. and secondly if he's returning kickoffs, then that means our offense is doin their job, i have a feeling special teams have been working overtime this week to step up coverage. Jackson may win, or loose but i don't think theres gonna be a 28 point difference either way.

I already am laughing, interesting to see Waverly might win, but IF they do, barely. Still rooting for jackson though cause roback and his passing arent that good, its the guys on the other end of the ball that make the plays great

[fbone]

ough Kay.....sew their' wuz prissire on thu qB......annd hei tru ay duk


........thin howl ded thu krnr buk knot fnd thu bal

wilston'ss bust atlite kutchng u bul tron n 2 hiz handz iz nut luk

two words

stinkin genius

[briandixon]

Sounds like both defences could use a little work.... after watching the waverly - piketon game about 15 times on the website that Knight put up (THANK YOU) I am not gonna put up a score anymore lol but I think waverly has this game as well maybe not by much. We all know Waverly dont give up they never have! But on the same token neither does Jackson! So with that said I believe I see another high scoring game with some plays that nobody has seen before from both teams to try and take it in the forth I am excited! Lets get this party started! Oh and Coach Knight have we found a way to fix our special teams like recruiting a kicker j/k GL to both teams and hope for a safe, close game!

[tigerdad]

GO SEOAL, GO IRONMEN!!!

[Pigskinplayer]

call it lucky if ya want. but roback and waverlys passing won't be so lucky. i still say waverly by atleast 28 and if im wrong hey laugh at me but i don't think im wrong .. cause again another factor if im not wrong and i may be roback returns kicks for waverly and he's 2's as good as lockard.

first off Dont worry ill be ready to laugh. and secondly if he's returning kickoffs, then that means our offense is doin their job, i have a feeling special teams have been working overtime this week to step up coverage. Jackson may win, or loose but i don't think theres gonna be a 28 point difference either way.

I already am laughing, interesting to see Waverly might win, but IF they do, barely. Still rooting for jackson though cause roback and his passing arent that good, its the guys on the other end of the ball that make the plays great

You have GOT to be kiddin',right? Roback not that good!? Yes he was off time on a some passes last game, and yes, we do have good receivers, but he IS the best player around. This is a young man being recruited by several major colleges.There are articles about him on Bucknuts and Buckeye Planet maybe you should go read those and rethink your postion.You are either just trying to get people fired up, or you have no clue what you are talking about.

Go Tigers Waverly by 17

[fbone]

You have GOT to be kiddin',right? Roback not that good!? Yes he was off time on a some passes last game, and yes, we do have good receivers, but he IS the best player around. This is a young man being recruited by several major colleges.There are articles about him on Bucknuts and Buckeye Planet maybe you should go read those and rethink your postion.You are either just trying to get people fired up, or you have no clue what you are talking about.

Go Tigers Waverly by 17[/quote]

First, I am not kidding and second I am not denying he is a good player because he is but not great. Walls was great and i know about the articles but its kinda like when people keep telling you something is good over and over again you start to believe it and that is what is happening why when people talk about him they don't say him and the guy on the other end of the ball had an awesome play 99% of the time they just say him and a lot of people are like sheep per say and will be led anywhere finally i am not trying to get people fired up and i like to think i do know what i am talking about but that personal attack on my intelligence is unneccessary, everyone is entitled to thier own opinions just like you are entiltled to yours and is not right to put that infringment upon me.

[Trooper]

roback and his passing arent that good

I am not denying he is a good player because he is but not great.

Well, which is it? Is he good or not?

[Judge Smales]

Roeback is the real deal!

[Dudley87]

There is allot of speculation about how good the TEAMS are after only one week. And for those of you that think that Roback is not that good, please report to the lab for your drug test. I was at both games and both teams (Jackson and Waverly) need to get better on a number of things. Everybody keeps talking about Roback and his show. The young man put on a display. Granted... he took a while to get going but it was his first start at QB. But wnce he got going he looked remarkable. 47 passes, 6 TDs, 0 INTs. But nobody is talking about how young the rest of the team is. This was a first start for many of the other kids as well. They now have a game under their belts. In watching both teams, I personally feel that Waverly has the most room for improvement. I will not make a prediction on the score, but if Waverly can improve 10% the winning streak over Jackson wont end Friday.

[19eightyfive]

waverly by maybe a touchdown, depends on if we can get the extra points or 2 pt convo's. i was skeptical about my hometown boys this year and i still havent made my mind up about them yet. this should be a great game. go tigers.

[tigerfan4life]

Haha i just wish Walls could Have 47 throws in a game against a weak secondary like that

800 yards 12 tds?

Roback is Clearly more of a threat on the run but his arm is not nearly as close as good as Walls

In time his arm will develope but to give him this much praise is obsurd

[Dudley87]

Haha i just wish Walls could Have 47 throws in a game against a weak secondary like that

800 yards 12 tds?

Roback is Clearly more of a threat on the run but his arm is not nearly as close as good as Walls

In time his arm will develope but to give him this much praise is obsurd

Evidently you did not see him rolling to his left with pressure coming from his right and in front, pull up and flip the ball 50 yards right on target.

[19eightyfive]

yeah, that throw was freakin amazing! i think roback was a little to amped for the game, hence the over throws and such. i believe as the season progresses he will be able to settle in and complete a much larger percentage of his passes.