[GOREDDEVILS]

Posted: Saturday, September 5, 2015 11:59 pm
Zack Klemme / The Independent
IRONTON Russell was displeased with what it perceived as its lack of physicality and toughness in a narrow escape last week from Greenup County.
Who better for the Red Devils to test themselves against in their second game than Ironton?
Russell fared better by its standards on Saturday night in an 18-14 conquest of the Fighting Tigers.
“(The victory) means a lot, especially with a team like Ironton, big and physical,” junior running back Nick Conley said. “We didn’t play very physical last week against Greenup, and we wanted to come out here and prove ourselves, and I think that’s exactly what we did.”
Conley continued his history of emasculating rivals with the game-winning touchdown run with 1:16 remaining in the Red Devils’ first victory against their rival across the Ironton-Russell Bridge since 1977.
Conley, who also ran for a first-quarter TD and a game-high 52 yards, took over as quarterback in the Wildcat set when Russell starting signal-caller Jacob McKee went down with a twisted ankle in the third quarter after twisting his other one in the first half.
Trailing 14-12, Russell took possession at the Tigers’ 23-yard line with 3:17 remaining. Conley carried the ball from a shotgun direct snap on five straight plays, the last a 10-yard dash-and-leap off right tackle to convert third-and-goal with 76 seconds to play.
Conley has come up big in rivalry wins last season against Ashland and all three times the Red Devils have played the Musketeers during his career.
Where does a Saturday night win in Tanks Memorial Stadium rank among those moments?“I’ve gotta say this is No. 1,” Conley said. “This is a great feeling.”
Added Russell coach T,J. Maynard: “Nick’s one of those guys that the more he touches the ball, the more opportunities you got for him to take it to the house, and I thought our guys up front and receivers on the edge did a great job of blocking for him, and he was able to find a seam.”
The game-winner was the 35th touchdown of Conley’s varsity career. Senior lineman Drew Bultynck produced his first score as a Red Devil, turning in a scoop-and-score of a bad Ironton shotgun snap with 6:57 remaining.
“I  saw that ball bouncing, and I saw the (Ironton) quarterback (Jake Isaac) fall behind it,” Bultynck said, “and I just picked it up and dove as far as I could, and I looked down and my stomach was past the goal line.”
That got Russell within 14-12.
The Red Devils had five turnovers on downs and lost two fumbles and an interception. But Russell seemed to come up with every key ball bouncing free — Jonah Smittle recovered Kurtis Miller’s onside kick to begin the second half, Bultynck bulled his way to that fumble-recovery touchdown, and after Conley’s late scoring run, Jacob Martin chased down Miller’s angled pop-up kickoff to allow the Red Devils to take three knees and celebrate.
“This is a funny game,” Maynard said. “You know how that ball bounces, and in a close game, if that ball bounces your way, it gives you a big advantage.”
The Red Devils (2-0) racked up just 193 yards of offense, but they limited the Tigers (0-2) to 104 — aided by Ironton losses of 13 yards on Bultynck’s TD and 14 on a bad long snap from punt formation.
Furthermore, stud backs D’Angelo Palladino and Desmond Young combined for 64 yards rushing. Young ran for both of the Tigers’ TDs in the second quarter.
Palladino missed the second half and Young sat out the fourth quarter due to injury.


“There were great players just going down left and right, and in a game like this, that’s gonna happen, in a big, physical game,” Conley said. “We came in here and just played our hearts out, man.”
Saturday’s play culminated a contest scheduled for Friday that was postponed to Saturday night due to continuing thunder and lightning.
“I’m really proud of how they handled that situation,” Maynard said of his team, “and we just kept battling for 48 minutes and we were lucky enough to get out of here with a win.”