Tipp’s defense swarmed Bellbrook’s Wing-T offense, led by Chris Preece (62), Xavier Melton (24) and Ben Bledsoe (68). (Press Pros Feature Photos by Lee Woolery).
Tipp’s defense suffocated Bellbrook from first to final snap, guiding the Red Devils to a 28-7 win. Sophomore QB Larkin Thomas threw two touchdowns and rushed for a third.
By Alan Brads
Tipp City, OH. — Change can resurrect a football program, and change can bury one. This year at Tipp, everything changed, but it doesn’t look like much has changed at all.
Eighteen new starters took the field for the Red Devils against Bellbrook, but they picked up right where last year’s squad left off. They’re younger and a bit smaller, but the 11 new defensive starters overpowered the Golden Eagles, keeping Tipp in front the whole way.
Three TDs from sophomore QB Larkin Thomas plus a scoop and score made for a 28-7 week one victory.
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After the welcome sound of a boot on a football for the first time this fall, Tipp’s defense flexed its muscles early. It didn’t play the role of an inexperienced unit convincingly. The fierce front seven forced a three-and-out on the first drive, including a sack on 3rd-and-long by Collin Isaac on a blitz that hit before Bellbrook QB Aiden Caswell had time to catch the snap and check his first read.
Offensively, the Red Devils gave their first four touches to four different players, including two screen passes to make their young QB comfortable. But Thomas showed he can do more than dink and dunk, rifling a ball into Dylan Herndon’s chest, who plowed through three defenders for the season’s inaugural score.
“That’s a very good defense and we’ve struggled the last few years with running the football,” Tipp Head Coach Matt Burgbacher said. “So we wanted to spread them out and get some easy throws, and that got him going.”
Tipp QB Larkin Thomas started the season strong, despite making his first career start.
Thomas kept it simple, played within the scheme, and the game didn’t look too fast for him.
“We knew we had to start off strong,” Thomas said. “And it really started with our run game and our offensive line pushing us forward. Then everyone came together and made the right reads.”
The Tipp defense didn’t change course in the slightest, forcing two more consecutive three-and-outs against the Golden Eagles run-heavy Wing-T offense.
Bellbrook had no answer for Tipp’s front seven, which ravaged the offensive line all night. The run game struggled to create manageable third downs, and the Red Devils tallied four sacks in obvious passing situations.
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“To stop the run, it was really just the trust between all of us,” senior linebacker Carson Hughes said. “We had to trust each other to do the right things, read the right keys, and hit the right gaps.
As an aside, regardless of the sport, “we” and “us” are words spoken often by Tippecanoe athletes during interviews, and it translates to how they play.
Xavier Melton looked the part of the reliable running back the Red Devils have used to augment their passing game in previous seasons.
“We’ve got people from all grades playing this season,” Hughes said. “We’re so connected and ready to pick each other up. We’ve got such good chemistry this year, it’s different,”
Early in the second quarter, DT Jacob Snyder hit the right gap, ripped through the interior O-line, and stripped the ball. Herndon scooped it up and took it to the house for his second TD, atoning for an interception Thomas threw into double coverage on the preceding drive.
Thomas’ pros and cons were on full display as Tipp didn’t pull any punches, and let him zip it all over the field.
The physical gifts are there, just like they are for Peyton Schultz, who threw for 1,900 yards before graduating last year. He placed the ball well from the pocket and on the run. He reversed field on a run, breaking it for 40 yards down to the 1-yard line before punching it in himself on the next play. He had a good rhythm, finding the open receiver and delivering the ball on time.
Early in the third quarter, he dropped a dime to wideout Jackson Davis down the right sideline for a 35-yard TD, pushing the lead to 21-0.
Mentally, Thomas made some mistakes you might expect a sophomore to make. He forced a few ill-advised balls into the seam, one of which was picked off. He threw a second interception on an RPO where he held onto the football for an extra beat, and probably should’ve just handed it to the Logan Butera, who had an efficient night on the ground. But those are curable ailments.
Will Strong got free for this deep connection to fuel the Tipp getaway.
“The most challenging thing was bouncing back and responding to our misreads and slight mistakes,” Thomas said.
But it didn’t feel like one mistake led to another, more like a group of inexperienced players making a few disconnected mental mistakes.
“The great thing about Larkin is he’s so coachable,” Burgbacher said. “He’s gonna learn and he’s not gonna make that mistake again.”
It’s a good thing he’s willing to learn because soon those can’t be easily brushed off as rookie mistakes. Conference play starts next Friday. But for an underclassman with one pass and two rushing attempts to his name, it’s fair to give him a week to make a few mistakes. Especially considering he’s not working with a veteran crew of skill position players. Nearly three-fourths of Tipp’s offensive production from 2023 crossed the graduation stage in May.
The Golden Eagles broke the shutout late. Thomas dropped a snap he didn’t seem to be anticipating, and Vincent Epifano found the end zone on a two-play eight-yard scoring drive, if you can call that a drive.
Thomas’ rushing TD made the lead 28-7, a score that held for the final 9:56 of the game.
On the occasions where Bellbrook did find an offensive rhythm, usually through a chunk play on the ground, its drive stalled. That was a common theme, reflected by the Eagles’ picking up first downs on two of seven possessions in the first half. A holding penalty and a chop block curtailed both drives.
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In the fourth quarter, Bellbrook summed up its night succinctly. It drove to the 22-yard line, but held a defender during a play, and committed unsportsmanlike conduct afterward.
“We’re gonna enjoy this one tonight, but we still got a lot of things to improve on,” Burgbacher said. “We’ve got a lot of room to grow, but these kids did grow up tonight real quick.”
Tipp may have a couple of weeks to keep growing up and iron out the wrinkles in their offense. They host Fairborn next week, then travel to Greenville. On paper, the Red Devils look pretty good in those matchups, but then again, on paper, teams that graduate 11 starting defenders, shouldn’t nearly pitch shutouts. But that’s the joy of week one of high school football. You just never know!
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