Tipp Football celebrates Homecoming with 34-0 rout of Xenia
With alumni in attendance for the annual Tippecanoe Homecoming football game, the Red Devils sent them home happy with an impressive 34-0 victory over Xenia to improve to 6-1 on the season.
The Red Devils built a comfortable 20-0 lead at the half and added to the lead midway through the third period. A fourth quarter score sent the game into a running clock and kept Tipp unbeaten in the Miami Valley League.
“You look over the last couple of years, Xenia has been the two toughest games we have had,” Tipp coach Matt Burgbacher said. “Defensively, they are a good football team. Offensively, they have some injuries, but our kids came out and did what they needed to do.”
“Defensively, we set the tone early and only gave up one or two first downs in the first half, so they did a good job getting after it.”
Tipp scored on their third possession after both teams struggled to move the ball on their first two possessions. The Red Devils drove 52 yards, capped off with a 28 yard touchdown run by Larkin Thomas. This gave Tipp a 7-0 lead with 5:44 left in the opening quarter.
With both offenses sluggish in the opening period, Tipp came back and added to their lead early in the second period. Thomas scored again with 8:09 left in the opening half to extend their lead to 14-0.
Xenia could not get anything going in the first half, punting on all six possessions. Meanwhile, Tipp went back to work to close out the half. Starting at their own eight yard line, the Red Devils drove 92 yards in two minutes. With 1:09 left in the half, Colston Artz scampered in from five yards out, pushing the Tipp lead to 20-0.
On their first possession of the second half, Thomas launched a deep pass to Grant Titley for 75 yards and another score, giving Tipp a 27-0 advantage.
Tipp closed out the scoring with 5:16 left in the game when Levi Jones took it in from three yards out to extend the lead to 34-0, putting the game into running-clock mode.
Even with the big win, Burgbacher says there are things to clean up before heading into the big games later in the year.
“We have to maintain ball security. We have done a good job the last five weeks, and tonight we didn’t, and we have to fix that,” he said. “And with the penalties, we shoot ourselves in the foot with those.”
Tipp now heads to Greenville this Friday to battle the Green Wave for a 7 p.m. start.
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