Tipp’s Will Strong eludes a Troy tackler during Friday’s rivalry win over Troy. (Press Pros Feature Photos by Lee Woolery)
Tipp led at halftime, Troy took the lead in the second half and it all came down to a long third-down pass with under three minutes to play for Tipp’s fifth straight win in the rivalry.
Troy, OH – The football hung in the air … and hung … and hung. Whose hands it landed in would probably determine the winner.
Tippecanoe receiver Jackson Davis tracked the ball toward the goal post near the back of the end zone.
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Troy safety Aidan Gorman tracked the ball coming from the opposite direction.
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When all three came together in the air, then fell to the ground, everyone waited for a signal … touchdown, interception, incompletion? The official leaned in, paused for a second, then threw his arms up.
Touchdown Tipp.
With that 26-yard pass on third-and-23 from sophomore Larkin Thomas and Thomas’ ensuing two-point pass to Davis, the Red Devils had come from behind to claim a 25-22 Miami Valley League victory on Hall of Fame night at Troy Memorial Stadium.
“That play all game, without the post, their safety was flying down on it all day on JD on the out,” Thomas said. “So we decided to put a post on it for JD, and we knew it was going to be there. I threw it up and believed in him. He made the play. Touchdown.”
Jackson Davis hauls in a key second half pass in Tipp’s 25-22 Friday win over Troy.
Davis, a senior, said the offense has worked on that play for three years. Finally, it worked and at the most opportune time. And he said his hands were the only ones on the ball. All he knows is he got hit as made the catch.
“For that to come together like that, it was awesome,” Davis said. “It’s a great throw, great protection by the O line. I just brought it in for the touchdown.”
Tipp coach Matt Burgbacher would have gone for two from any distance to extend the lead to three points because Troy had 2:54 left. A sideline interference penalty turned the two-point try into an eight-yard play that Davis caught with a toe tap in the right side of the end zone.
“We practice that every day – it’s kind of our bread and butter on two-point and we knew it was going to be there,” Thomas said.
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Troy had a chance starting from its own 27 with no timeouts left and moved the ball to the 49 in five plays. But a familiar foe got in the Trojans’ way. Two penalties that took their total to 14 moved them back to the 28 with 14 seconds left. Aidan Kirkpatrick was sacked as time ran out.
“When we get things clicking as a team, no one can stop us,” Davis said. “We knew we were going to have one last drive to win the game.”
Troy quarterback Aiden Kirkpatrick gave Troy a late lead with this touchdown run.
Tipp (5-0, 4-0) now sits in first place alone in the MVL Miami Division with its comeback because Vandalia Butler (4-1, 3-1) lost 25-17 to Xenia (5-0, 4-0 Valley Division).
“They’re a good football team,” Burgbacher said. “We knew we were going to be in a dogfight for 48 minutes. They took a lot of time off the clock, and they had a great game plan.”
Tipp had its ups and downs as well with penalties, but the Red Devils continue to come of age with Thomas directing traffic in their up-tempo offense. He threw for 273 yards, completed 21 of 32 passes and ran for the game’s first touchdown.
“He’s a stud,” Davis said. “He’s a 2027 dual threat quarterback, can do it all, can run the ball, can pass the ball. Bright future.”
Thomas, a first-year starter as a sophomore, began working with his older teammates and spending time with them when last season ended. Davis has seen Thomas grow in maturity and confidence.
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“He’s respected,” Davis said. “He says something, everyone’s listening to him. His work ethic and his passion – we see how hard he works – and that’s contagious at the end of the day. If he’s working hard, we want to work hard with him.”
Thomas has a good friend and mentor in former Tipp quarterback Liam Poronsky. He helped lead Tipp to the state semifinals when Thomas was an eighth grader. Poronsky now plays for the University of Dayton.
“He went to the final four and lost and that really motivated me – I want to lead this team back to the final four, and I want to change the script and win it,” Thomas said. “With these guys we have here, we can definitely change that script.”
Friday night’s script had plot twists the Red Devils didn’t like after building a 17-6 lead. That’s when Troy (2-3, 2-2 Miami) began to overcome an abundance of mistakes.
The Trojans scored right before halftime on Kirkpatrick’s three-yard pass to Zachary Ullery and began the second half with a 24-yard touchdown run by Kirkpatrick to take a 19-17 lead. Cameron Stoltz added a 43-yard field goal with 5:51 left for a 22-17 lead.
Troy’s secondary puts the clamps on Tipp receiver Will Strong.
That was a long way back from the penalties and a run of inefficiency in the second quarter. Tipp partially blocked a punt to set up a short field for Xavier Melton’s 1-yard touchdown run on fourth-and-goal.
Troy committed unsportsmanlike penalties on Melton’s touchdown and the extra point. Tipp then kicked off from Troy’s 30 and recovered an onside kick. Owen Baileys followed with a 20-yard field goal for Tipp’s 17-6 halftime lead.
“We got to get out of our own way,” Troy coach Troy Everhart said. “Once we do that, we’ll be pretty good. We played with great energy tonight, and I’m proud of them for that.”
Kirkpatrick did his best to will the Trojans to victory. He rushed for 133 yards on 27 carries and completed 15 of 18 passes for 134 yards. He completed his first 14 throws, most of them on quick outs that his receivers ran up field to keep drives moving.
Troy’s Michael Tucker dodges a Tipp Tackler during Friday’s loss to the Red Devils.
“It was a lot more efficient, and had we’d have played like this two weeks ago we don’t lose the ballgame,” Everhart said of a loss at Vandalia-Butler.
But here the Trojans are with a second straight close loss to Tipp and fifth straight overall looking for consistency and fewer mistakes. And the Red Devils, No. 1 in the Division III, Region 12 playoff points, are right where they planned to be.
Even when the winning pass seemed to hang impossibly long in the air.
“This one feels great because we had this marked on our calendar,” Thomas said. “We knew coming in they’re going to be a tough opponent. It was really just another challenge for us, and we prepared well. We got our job done.”
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