St. Marys kicker Brady Triplett kicks the game-winning field goal Friday in the Roughriders win over undefeated Tipp City. (Press Pros Feature Photos by Lee Woolery)
The Red Devils will look back and wonder what might have been if they had taken advantage of two trips to the red zone in the third quarter. Instead, a late field goal ended their unbeaten season in the second round.
Tipp City, OH – Tippecanoe’s football season came down to a desperate attempt to score from 65 yards away on the game’s final play. A short pass and ensuing laterals were exciting for a moment but gained only 12 yards.
And the anticipated deep playoff run after a perfect regular season ended bitterly two games into the playoffs. Everyone in red was in shock.
Veteran columnist Jeff Gilbert writes Ohio State football and OHSAA sports for Press Pros Magazine.com.
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Tipp players put their hands to their helmets in disbelief. Some got off the field as fast as they could. Others lingered. Some went to the turf unable to move.
But it will never be that last play that Tipp regrets because they know it shouldn’t have come down to needing a miracle. The players, coaches and everyone dressed in red who was in the stadium will remember the red zone. They will replay in their minds how football turned against the No. 1 seed Red Devils when they had two chances to score from inside the 20-yard line.
One score might have been enough.
Instead, the Red Devils lost 16-14 to St. Mary’s Memorial when junior Bradey Triplett kicked a 25-yard field goal with nine seconds left in the Division III Region 12 quarterfinals.
Tipp runner Xavier Melton breaks free in the secondary for a big gain.
At St. Marys’ request, both teams gathered in the middle of the field after the handshake line. With everyone kneeling, a player from each team prayed, thanking God for the opportunity to play football together. Then it was time for Tipp players to console each other and be consoled by their coaches.
Tears flowed. Young men sobbed. Coaches didn’t know what to say.
“We got different kids here at Tipp … they care … it’s hard … it’s hard,” head coach Matt Burgbacher said. “You’re around these kids so much. … This group was fun. We enjoyed it, and I know it’s going to be hard.”
The hard parts of the game came in the third when the things everyone says can’t happen if you want to win happened: no points in the red zone, turnovers and untimely penalties.
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Before the bad things happened, the Red Devils (11-1 and 44-9 since 2021) executed the winning formula against the Roughriders’ run-heavy wing-T attack. It didn’t matter that they fell behind 7-0 when St. Mary’s drove 76 yards in 19 plays to score early in the second quarter. Or that they ran 10 minutes, 46 seconds off the clock.
Because the Red Devils responded with great efficiency. Sophomore quarterback Larkin Thomas threw a pair of touchdown passes to junior receiver Will Strong. The first covered 30 yards on third-and-22. The second was for 13 yards with 32 seconds left in the half for a 14-7 lead.
Tippecanoe’s Will Strong goes up for a one-handed catch in Friday’s tournament loss to St. Marys.
The Red Devils got the ball to start the second half and started driving, expecting to put St. Marys in a hole that its methodical, clock-eating offense would struggle to escape.
“We thought we’d get a two-touchdown lead, that’s going to take them out of what they want to do,” Burgbacher said.
Strong drew a pass interference penalty that moved Tipp to the 25. A pass to Jackson Davis moved the ball to the 14. After a five-yard penalty on Tipp, Thomas’ next pass was tipped into the air by Jacob Kessler and intercepted at the 12.
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Tipp’s defense held and the Red Devils started again from St. Marys’ 46. A 23-yard completion to Strong moved Tipp to the 12. But two straight false start penalties created second-and-18. Tipp had to settle for a 26-yard field goal attempt by Owen Baileys.
But instead of a 10-point lead, the snap was mishandled, the kick never happened, and St. Marys got the ball. Other than the final play of the game, Tipp ran only three more plays and punted with under five minutes to play.
“The game was pretty up and down,” an emotional Davis said. “We needed to take the momentum – we had to make the most out of it. We didn’t maximize our opportunities.”
Tipp’s defense puts the clamps on a St. Marys runner during Friday’s Division III playoff game.
Given new life after the field goal miss, St. Marys went to work. Last week they defeated Miami Trace 28-24 on a 41-yard touchdown pass on fourth-and-20 with 31 seconds left.
“We’re about believing,” head coach Bo Frye said.
The Roughriders embarked on a 15-play, 83-yard drive sparked by, of all things, the forward pass. Quarterback Aiden Meinerding threw his first pass of the game, a screen to wingback Colton Mabry, for a 27-yard gain to the Tipp 44.
Then on fourth-and-six, Mabry caught a pass in the flat and gained 24 yards to the four. On fourth-and-goal from the one, Caleb Schmidt plowed into the line. The officials didn’t signal touchdown. They unpiled all 22 players, looked at the ground, looked at each other and nodded, and 21 seconds after the whistle, signaled touchdown.
Then Tipp caught a break when Triplett missed the extra point. They had a chance to add another score or just hold on and win 14-13. But that wasn’t in the script.
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The Roughriders got the ball back with 4:23 left and 64 yards from the goal line. The clock ticked as they ran the ball, took their time between plays and showed no sense of urgency.
Then, almost like they knew it was coming as they frittered time away with no sign of panic, the big run finally happened for the Roughriders. Schmidt burst up the middle for 32 yards to the 11 with 1:20 left.
St. Marys running back Jacob Kessler picks up a big first down for the Roughriders.
“That was the big thing that we had preached all week, don’t give up the big play,” Burgbacher said.
St. Marys kept the ball on the ground, used its timeouts and sent Triplett out to win the game. For someone playing his first year of football fresh off the extra-point miss, Triplett calmly boomed the winning kick down the middle.
“Brady’s been doing that all season,” Frye said. “We put these kids under pressure in practice all the time. He always makes it.”
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St. Marys (10-2) with its two last-minute playoff victories is taking on a team-of-destiny identity as the No. 8 seed. Last year as a Division IV team, the Roughriders had No. 1 Sandusky Perkins on the ropes in the second round before losing 28-21. Two years ago in the second round they were close to No. 2 seed Millersburg West Holmes for a half before getting blown out.
“I said, ‘At some point we’re going to quit finishing close and get over this hump, and tonight we went over the hump and sky’s the limit,” Frye said.
That same sky fell on the Red Devils. The good stat lines don’t matter to them now. Thomas completed 15 of 21 passes for 183 yards. Davis, a senior, caught nine passes for 110 yards.
However, in time, this Tipp team will appreciate what it did with 11 new starters on defense and four sophomore starters on offense.
“We all played together, and at the end of the day, we love each other and we play for each other,” Davis said. “It didn’t go the way we expected, but we’re going to have each other’s back. The community, the coaches, our families, they all had our back the whole way. We just came up short of our goals.”
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