Tipp improves to 2-0 with home opening victory

Coming off a big season opening win at Bellbrook, the Tippecanoe football team hoped to repeat that performance in their home opener last Friday as Piqua came to town in the MVL opener.

The defense rose to the occasion again, holding the Indians to seven points while the offense moved the ball at will early to set the tone. They cruised to a 40-7 victory to run their record on the season to 2-0. The Red Devils scored the first 20 points and never looked back, getting the game into a running clock in the third quarter. “Piqua is a great football program, and you have to prepare for them, they are so well coached,” Tipp coach Matt Burgbacher said. “Our kids wanted to get off to a fast start, which we did.” “We didn’t let a turnover on the first drive affect us. We responded well and I loved the response of the kids all night.”

Tipp nearly scored on their opening possession when Larkin Thomas threw a short pass that turned into a long gain inside the ten yard line, but a fumble gave the ball back to Piqua to end the opening drive. The Red Devils answered on their next drive, going 40 yards. Capped by a Xavier Melton touchdown run from short distance with 7:08 left in the first quarter, giving Tipp a 7-0 lead. Tipp came right back with a good mix of short passing, and an eventual 14 yard scoring strike from Larkin Thomas to Jackson Robbins pushing the Tipp lead to 14-0. Another score early in the second gave Tipp a 20-0 lead, this one on a short run by Thomas. Piqua answered with their lone score of the night, only to see the Red Devils respond with a 45-yard drive culminated with a Xavier Melton four-yard touchdown run making it 27-7 at the half. It was a first half that saw Tipp deal with a large number of penalties but they battled through it.

“Some of those penalties are ok, we are going to play aggressive and do some things,” Burgbacher said. “But there are some of those reaction penalties, we have to fix those. We have to just keep working to be a better team, but I think we are pretty good now.” Tipp added to their lead in the third quarter when Melton scored two more times, from six yards out and two yards to end the scoring in the third period and run the clock. Burgbacher praised the offensive line, who allowed Tipp to put 40 points on the board. “The line was awesome,” Burgbacher said. “They are the reason we put up those points.”

Tipp (2-0, 1-0) now hosts Fairborn on Friday at 7p.m. at the stadium. It will be Hall of Fame night as the latest class is inducted.