Red Devils crush Xenia to remain unbeaten

After a gauntlet of four consecutive season-opening battles, the Tippecanoe boys soccer team finally got to catch their breath. They did so with an 8-0 rout of Xenia in a Miami Valley League contest.

Tipp opened the season with Monroe, Summit Country Day, Bellbrook, and their league rivals from Troy, with the last two games ending in ties. For the Red Devils, they jumped out to a three goal lead at the half and never looked back against the Buccs.

“It was good to get back into conference play and the game was enjoyable all around,” Tipp coach Joel Slyman said. “The guys were playing together and getting other teammates involved.” “I was really proud of one of our leaders, Cameron Smith, who got other guys involved. He had some opportunities where he could have taken it himself, but he found other guys. It showed how much he wanted to get his teammates involved.” Smith scored seven individual points in the game with two goals and three assists to lead the way for Tipp. “He has been big for us to start the year, and I think he continues on that upward trend of filling  up a box score,” Slyman said. “He is a guy who creates a lot of positive things and this game showed that.”

Tipp led 3-0 at the half before turning things up a notch in the second half to round out the win.

“It was a slow start, honestly,” Slyman said. “It was only 3-0, but we honestly dominated the game, but it was one of those things where guys were maybe forcing the issue too much, pressing a little bit.” Also scoring twice in the game for Tipp were Brayden Kocher and Maddox Robinson.  Adding one each was Landon Rhoades and Wes Tipton. Dishing out the assists in addition to the three from Smith were two from Logan McEntyre and one each from Mason Mader and Colin Turner. “It was one of the better second halves we had all season with guys playing for each other,” Slyman said. “Even the guys on the bench were really supporting their teammates.” “In the first four games, it has been brutal, but we take pride in (our non-conference schedule). It was good to have a game like this to get everyone involved.”

Slyman was impressed with the balance of the second half to get a lot of players involved. “Two guys included in that are Maddox Robinson and Braydon Kocher,” he said. “We need those guys to step up and it is good confidence for them to see the ball go into the back of the net. I am also so happy for Landon Rhoades to score his first ever goal at the high school level.”

Tipp’s defense shined again with the shutout from Lucas Stout and Cole Venters.