Butler kicker Griffyn Bradley boots a field goal for a 3-0 lead. (Press Pros Feature Photos By Lee Woolery)
On the first night of Miami Valley League play, cornerback Tayven Crump is in the right place at the right time twice to help Vandalia Butler remained undefeated on the young season.
Vandalia, OH – Tayven Crump proved his ball skills and pass-catching abilities last year. He led Vandalia Butler with 24 receptions. He had a team-high four in last week’s season-opening victory.
Veteran columnist Jeff Gilbert writes Ohio State football and OHSAA sports for Press Pros Magazine.com.
The hands play.
This year as a senior he’s on double duty as a cornerback where coverage skills are everything.
And the hands play there, too
In the second quarter Friday night against Piqua, Crump gave his team the hand up it needed. He dropped into coverage, and when Piqua quarterback Caiden Thomas’ pass downfield was a smidge high, Crump was ready to make the play of the game.
He snatched the ball out of the air, headed up field, broke a couple tackles, picked up a couple blocks and finished a 67-yard return in the end zone for a 10-0 lead with 3:19 left in the first half. Crump’s big play was the spark the Aviators (2-0, 1-0) needed on hot night in a 17-7 victory in the Miami Valley League opener for both teams.
Jericho Burns carries for a long gain for the Indians.
“It’s a different adrenaline boost after you pick that ball off,” Crump said. “It’s a great feeling.”
He got to do it twice.
Halfway through the fourth quarter with a 10-point lead, Piqua (0-2, 0-1) was driving when Thomas threw downfield to an open Dominique Knisley. The ball bounced on Knisley’s fingertips twice, and when he was bumped the ball got away and landed in Crump’s hands at the Piqua 16. He returned the ball 24 yards.
In between Crump’s picks, junior safety Corey Rice made an interception early in the fourth quarter and returned it 21 yards to the Butler 45 to again flip the field.
“It just gives the offense some confidence when you know you are struggling and the defense has the ability to make plays like some of our guys do,” Butler coach Zach Gueth said. “It’s reassuring.”
Reassurance was necessary.
After last week’s 339 yards in a 49-20 thumping of Northmont, the Butler offense was low on adrenaline. The Aviators managed 166 yards (Piqua gained 218 total yards) and struggled to continue drives that began well.
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“We had some good things going, and then stalled out a little bit,” Gueth said. “Some of it was self-inflicted to some degree, some mental mistakes on assignments. We preach alignment and assignment, and that’s what we got to clean up. The big takeaway is a lot of mental pieces here tonight.”
Quarterback Mason Reckner was 5 for 9 passing for 45 yards a week after a stat line of 10 for 15 for 109 yards and three touchdowns.
Butler’s Riley Seibert gets blasted by Piqua’s Izzy Coleman.
“We just didn’t execute as good as we did last week,” he said. “It was all-around team effort last week, and this week it was the same thing, but we did bad.”
The start of the game was delayed an hour waiting for the heat and humidity to drop to an acceptable level. That followed two days of practicing inside.
“We tried, but I think the week was off because of how hot it was, and we weren’t practicing outside,” Crump said. “It definitely showed, and our preparation wasn’t right.
“We think we’re up and we can just chill out, but we just struggled throughout the whole game. We’ll figure it out this week at practice.”
On the Aviators’ third possession, they moved from their 37 to the Piqua 19 and settled for Griffyn Bradley’s 36-yard field goal with 7:39 left in the half.
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After Crump’s defensive touchdown, Piqua put together its only meaningful drive to close the gap to 10-7 at halftime. Thomas, who threw for 131 yards, hit Joseph Voskul with a 47-yard pass deep down the sideline to take the ball to the 35. After an incompletion, Thomas found Rayshawn Garrett wide open on the left side for a 35-yard touchdown with 1:09 left in the half.
Piqua’s Caiden Thomas completes a touchdown pass.
In the third quarter, Julius Rusk’s punt pinned the Indians at their own nine. Three plays later the Aviators had the ball the 50 after another Piqua three-and-out. That led to Jace Love bursting up the middle for a 13-yard touchdown run with 20 seconds left in the quarter.
“Piqua is always going to be a tough team, and tonight was no different,” Gueth said. “We did enough to get the win tonight. But moving forward, there’s a lot we need to learn from.”
The Aviators are coming off their best season in recent years. They finished 9-3, won a playoff game and finished in a three-way tie for first at 8-1 in the Miami Division with Tippecanoe and Troy.
“Last year should give us confidence as a team that we can win some of the games that we hadn’t been winning in the past,” Gueth said. “But it does not mean we deserve to win. We have to put in the work every day to give ourselves an opportunity this year to be successful.”
The goals are large.
“We want to go undefeated and make a run in the playoffs and show everyone that we can beat those good teams,” Crump said. “We work for everything. That’s our mojo from last year. And this year we have to go and take it, or we won’t be successful.”
Troy comes to town next Friday.
Crump’s hands, more offense and lots of mojo best be on the menu.
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