Always falling forward, carrying defenders with him, Xenia’s Deaunte White rushed for one TD and 195 yards to become his school’s career rushing leader (PressPros Feature Photos by Sheri Hooley).
It was painful and beautiful at the same time, with unbeaten Tippecanoe staying perfect despite an array of misadventures forced upon it by a determined Xenia defense and star running back Deaunte White.
Xenia, OH – They make medicines to mitigate the pain and anxiety that came with Tippecanoe’s 16-14 survival of Xenia Friday night at Doug Adams Stadium, but Matt Burgbacher and his still-unbeaten Red Devils instead embraced the agony that accompanied the ecstasy.
“We needed to be tested like this,” Tipp quarterback Larkin Thomas said. “Xenia is a great program, but so are we. And to get where we want to go, we’re going to have to face this kind of adversity and overcome it.”
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Yet to trail all season, with shutouts in its last two games and half of its six wins prior to kickoff, Tipp fell into a 14-13 hole when Buccaneers’ battering ram Deaunte White carried two defenders across the goal line from the six with 11:03 remaining.
That second Xenia TD matched the total Burgbacher’s defense had allowed all season, and followed the second of two Tipp touchdowns called back by penalty on possessions the Devils wound up getting zero points from.
“Obviously, he’s a great back and they have a great offensive line,” Burgbacher said. “We gave up a big one to him in the first half and when they get you in those third-and-two, third-and-three situations it’s really hard to stop them.”
White became Xenia’s career rushing leader with 68 yards by first-quarter’s end, but he was far from finished at that point.
He broke a 55-yarder in the second quarter to set up a touchdown that closed Tipp’s lead to 13-7 at halftime on his way to a 195-yard night on 29 carries.
Six of those attempts came on the Buccs’ final drive that began at their own 26 after Tipp’s Preston Harding converted a 19-yard field goal with 7:23 to play.
Xavier Melton kept pounding for Tipp, despite moderate success, until his late 39-yard run set up the game-winning field goal.
Xavier Melton’s 39-yard run around left end put the Red Devils in position for that score, which atoned for Harding’s initial extra-point try in the first quarter that doinked off the left upright.
Harding actually made that conversion on his first attempt, but a Xenia offside penalty nullified the kick. Even though there was no contact along the line of scrimmage, such plays are ruled dead in high school football.
That foreshadowed the root canal without novocaine this victory would become for Tipp, which got both its touchdowns from Will Strong on scoring catches of 31 and 3 yards – both on fourth-down plays.
Strong also had TD catches of 24 and 34 yards called back by offensive line penalties.
“That was a killer when those came off the board,” Strong said. “But that’s what Coach Burgbacher told us all week that we were going to have to battle. He kept saying we were going to finally face some adversity and so we were prepared for it. It wasn’t pretty, but we needed a game like this.”
Sans Prozac or an epidural, most coaches wouldn’t have welcomed the manner in which Tipp rose to 7-0, staying astride Troy atop the Miami Division of the Miami Valley League, and likely maintaining its top spot in Division III, Region 12 over London, which pounded Bellefontaine, 47-0.
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“Our kids did a great job and made the plays when we needed them,” Burgbacher said. “There were a lot of big plays and there were a lot of things we missed, so there’s a lot to clean up that we can learn from. I believe we’ll do that. I believe this one will help us in the long run.
Tipp quarterback Larkin Thomas threw for two touchdowns, and another pair called back by penalty, while rushing for 51 yards.
Strong’s 31-yard TD on Tipp’s first possession converted a fourth-and-10 predicament. Lined up on the right side in the slot next to teammate Grant Titley, Strong sold Xenia’s cornerback on a move to the outside and then cut to the middle for a wide-open throw from Thomas.
The Red Devils padded that 6-0 lead with a second-quarter march that had a little bit of everything, a lot of which cried out for a dose of morphine.
An offensive holding penalty inflicted a second-and-18 early.
A Xenia roughing-the-passer flag resuscitated the drive, only to see Melton get squashed for an immediate eight-yard loss.
Thomas nearly converted that, but Atticus Poulos dropped a throw at the 40 to force a Tipp punt. Two Xenia defenders seemingly had Bryce Eckert’s attempt smothered, but he threaded it between them to the Buccs’ 33.
Shawn Fishwick fumbled Eckert’s boot and Tipp’s Ethan Storer recovered to put the Devils in position to score, which they eventually did, but not until after taking a delay of game penalty immediately following a Xenia timeout.
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“That’s what I mean when I say, ‘We have a lot of things we can clean up,’ ” Burgbacher said.
One of them won’t be the call he put into the playbook this week, on which Thomas took a fourth-and-goal snap at the 3-yard line, rolled right to attract the defense and then flipped to Strong in the left flat for the TD.
“We noticed their back-side safety tended to follow the play and we thought we could get a mismatch with Will,” Thomas said. “We thought we were going to get that and we’re happy it worked.”
Likewise, Xenia coach Maurice Harden wasn’t upset to face a two-point deficit after Harding’s go-ahead field goal with 7:23 left.
“That’s an ideal situation for us,” said Harden, whose Buccs fell to 5-2, but still lead the Valley Divison of the MVL ahead of Fairborn and Stebbins, both 3-3. “There’s plenty of time to ride Deaunte and win the game. He does everything that we ask and what we want for the style of football we like to play.”
Except once inside Tipp territory, White was out of the game for a quick breather on second down and Tipp stopped Marqus Keller for just a two-yard gain.
White rumbled for half the needed yardage on third-and-8, but on fourth-and-4 Xenia tried a quick slant to Fishwick and the ball went through his hands as Tipp’s Max Deckard applied sticky coverage.
“The way we responded and fought through it in the second half, I’m proud of the way we battled,” Thomas said. “The defense bailed us out with a big stop at the end. That was phenomenal.”
Tipp’s sideline reaction said it all when Xenia’s fourth-down pass fell incomplete at the Red Devils’ 30-yard line, preserving a two-point victory.
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