Tipp rolls past Talawanda in opening playoff game

BY JIM DABBELT

For the second consecutive season, Oxford Talawanda has made the long trip up I-75 to battle Tippecanoe in the OHSAA football playoffs. And for the second straight year, the trip home was not a great one for the Braves.

After a big first half that saw the Red Devils open a comfortable lead, they scored early in the third period and used the running clock to defeat Talawanda 55-7 to advance to the regional semi-finals this Friday night. Hamilton Badin comes to town on Friday following their seven point win over Alter last week.

“It was a great effort by our guys tonight,” said Tipp coach Matt Burgbacher. “You have that bye week, and it’s new, but our kids prepared like champions last week. They came out and beat a very good football team over there.”

“I like the energy we played with, the response we played with, and everything was great tonight. We get one more home game, and we will take advantage of our home field advantage.”

Tipp scored on their opening possession when Larkin Thomas connected with Will Strong for a 19-yard scoring strike just two minutes into the game to take a quick 7-0 lead.

The Red Devils scored again after a long drive that saw them go 64 yards by keeping the ball on the ground, capped by a one-yard run by Xavier Melton with 3:33 left in the quarter, pushing the Tipp lead to 14-0.

After an interception from Drew Husic set up a quick strike when Melton scored on the next play to make it 20-0, still with two minutes left in the quarter.

Melton scored again in the first minute of the second period, taking the Tipp lead to 27-0, and the running clock was within reach.

Melton found paydirt from a yard out, making it 34-0 before Talawanda crossed the endzone with 14 seconds left in the half, making it 34-7 at the half.

A flurry of points in the third period got the clock running. Thomas hit Deckard with a long touchdown pass to make it 41-7. Then, with the clock running, James Merry scored from a yard out to secure the running clock for the rest of the game.

Colston Artz scored the final Tipp goal in the fourth.

“It’s a one week season from here on out,” Burgbacher said. “I was very impressed with our defense, and offensively, we scored on every possession with one turnover.”