Photo by Kim North Former Linsly standout Chance Knight (0) lowers the boom on Erie quarterback John Amon during first-quarter action last Saturday night. Knight, a Bridgeport resident, is a starting defensive end for the Ironmen. He was a two-time All-American at Marietta College. Ohio Valley is currently 2-0 and welcomes the Tennessee Hornets to Monarch Stadium in Moundsville Saturday night.

MOUNDSVILLE — A large crowd is expected at John Marshall’s Monarch Stadium on Saturday night when the Ohio Valley Ironmen host the Tennessee Hornets in professional football action on the artificial surface.

The Ironmen will be honoring all first-responders at the game with free admission.

“They’ve worked their tails off in the last couple of days,” Ohio Valley head coach/general manager Manny Matsakis said. “We want them to take some time out of their busy schedules to relax and enjoy some football.”

Some of the Ironmen players actually helped out during the recent tragic flash flooding in Ohio County.

“On our off day (Monday) we delivered some DeFelice pizzas to the (flood) workers. One of our guys asked if they could help out and the next thing I knew the big guys were all sweaty and muddy. I think by doing that, it gave those players a bigger sense of what it is to be a part of this community.”

Matsakis also said fans are urged to bring cleaning supplies that will be distributed to those in need.

“We want the fans to bring bleach to the bleachers,” Matsakis noted. As of today (Thursday), we’ve got more than 1,000 tickets already out for this game, so it will be the biggest so far.”

As for this week’s opponent, Matsakis said he really doesn’t know much about their personnel, but they have been a formidable franchise over the past few years.

“The Tennessee Hornets are a professional organization. They pay their players who come from a wide range of areas,” Matsakis said of the opponent. “They all go to Tennessee and stay in a motel all week for practice. This week they stayed in Pittsburgh and had plans on coming to the Ohio Valley to practice, but with the flash floods they decided to stay in Pittsburgh for another week and practice up there.

“They have their base team and then they fortify it with other players from the area where the game is,” Matsakis added. “We’ll probably see some former University of Pittsburgh players on their roster.”

This is, basically, the Hornets season-opener.

“They had a scrimmage game about three weeks ago, so this is when their season really gets going.”

Ohio Valley has put up 84 points in two games while giving up zero.

“We’ve been playing well on both sides of the football. I think our two opponents so far have been shocked by our overall team speed and how physical and agile our two lines have been,” he continued. “Our offensive and defensive lines are not only pretty big, but those guys can get out and move,” he added. “You go indoor (football) games and see the big linemen, but most of them can’t move like these guys can.”

The five players in the trenches, offensively, are center Aiden Ferguson (6-5, 320); right guard Edward Gatling (6-3, 335); right tackle Deontae Veney (6-5, 300); left guard Ameer Hollowell (6-5, 340); and left tackle Kedonis Haslem (6-4, 290). Defensively, the front includes ends Chance Knight (6-3, 255), Mylic Ritche (6-3, 250), Tai’yon Devers (6-4, 240) and Connor Huffman (6-2, 255); and down tackles Channing Hames (6-5, 275), Josh Lamb (6-0, 300), Kevin Thurmon (6-3, 300) and Deshawn Bell (6-4, 250).

“As we’ve built this team over the past three to four months, we’ve gone through more than 300 guys to get the 40 that we’ve got here now. I wanted to find the right type of guys that could fit into the area and run the systems that we do. I think we’ve got the right guys and we’ve got guys that still want to come in and get noticed.

“However, in order to sign a player you have to release a player. That’s the one big difference between high school and college and professional football teams,” Matsakis added. “There’s a lot of guys out there that want to get seen, and they know playing with us they’re going to get seen.”

Matsakis said he currently has seven players on his roster that are ‘under watch’ by the Canadian Football League. They include wide receiver Cashid Raymond who is closely being watched by the Toronto Argonauts. Thurmond and Hames; linebacker Kyle Sapp; and quarterback Javonte Howard are the others.

Knight, Linsly and Marietta College alum, has made an impact on the defensive side of the football for the Ironmen. Listed as a defensive lineman, the Bridgeport, Ohio, resident, had a look from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers earlier this year and has a couple of CFL looks.

“Chance has been our best local player so far,” Matsakis raved. “There are probably other guys out there in the Ohio Valley that see what he is able to do with us and want to get their opportunity. As we continue to build this product, I think we can get some other Ohio Valley guys to supplement the talent that we’re bringing in.”

No new players were added to the roster this week, but Matsakis said running back Terell West will miss this week’s action due to a knee injury sustained last week against Erie. The Ironmen only have Howard listed as quarterback as backup Chris Barrett suffered a broken collarbone against Cincinnati in the season-opener.

Matsakis said the athletic Raymond can play quarterback, if needed.

With the success the offense has had, Ohio Valley hasn’t yet punted this season.

“This is sort of an interesting deal,” Matsakis said with a smile. “There is a petition going around for Isaac (Parks) to punt. A couple hundred people have signed it.

“The thing is, we’ve only had one fourth down in two games and we attempted a field goal. It’s not like we got fourth down and we’ve been going for it.”

Kickoff is set for 7 o’clock.