Tipp falls to Bellbrook in opener 27-14
Coach Matt Burgbacher made it very clear to his team after they lost their season opener on Friday night to Bellbrook. It is a long season, and one game does not define the season.
But even after the Red Devils fell short 27-14 last Friday night, Burgbacher knows it is about fixing what is wrong and being ready to go into Piqua on Friday night.
“Credit to Bellbrook; they had a great game plan, and they executed,” Burgbacher said following the game. We had our moments, but we have a lot of things to clean up. We are short in a few areas right now, but we will keep working.”
“It’s one game, and this game will not dictate who we are and what we do. We are going back to work and get this going in the right direction. You never enjoy losing, but that’s why we schedule this game; you find out what we got.”
After a two-hour lightning delay that pushed the start time back to 9:05, both teams came out slow in the opening quarter. After each team exchanged punts on their opening drives, Tipp looked to be getting a little momentum in their second possession before a fumble ended their drive. This set Bellbrook up for the game's first score.
Starting at their own 38, the Golden Eagles used the rest of the quarter to march downfield and score with eight seconds left in the first period to take a 6-0 lead,
Bellbrook wasn’t done after another Tipp punt. They took their next possession and drove 60 yards to score on a 2-yard run and pushed their lead to 13-0 with 6:07 left in the half.
Tipp finally put together a drive that led to points. Carson Schultz caught a big pass over the middle from Larkin Thomas to keep a drive alive, then Colston Artz had a big run down to the nine-yard line. Thomas then hit Grant Titley on a touchdown pass, and Tipp was back within one score at 13-7 at the half.
Tipp then took the second-half kickoff. Thomas connected with Titley on a 72-yard touchdown pass to give Tipp the lead at 14-13 very early in the third period. Unfortunately for the Red Devils, that was the last time they would reach the end zone. Bellbrook shut down the Tipp offense the rest of the way and scored twice in the fourth period to earn the win on opening week.
“I don’t think we did a real good job tonight of getting off blocks, and we still have to work on that pass defense,” Burgbacher said. “They (Bellbrook) don't want to throw the football, but when you allow them to throw it when they want to, they will be effective.”
“It stinks to lose. There is a lot riding on this game, but we have more things to worry about now, we have to worry about us.”
The Tipp coach also correctly stated the delay was a non-factor as both teams had to endure the same delay with the same waiting game.
Tipp travels to Piqua on Friday night for a 7 p.m. kickoff.
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