Tippecanoes’ Will Strong drives for yardage against a tribe of Indians. (Press Pros Feature Photos By Julie McMaken Wright)
From penalties galore to a few feisty moments, it wasn’t always pretty. But the Tipp passing attack overwhelmed Piqua and earned the Red Devils a 35-10 victory.
Tipp City, OH – Both teams played sound defense. Both teams have tough guys on the line of scrimmage, and both are very well-coached.
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Both started hot on offense, both played turnover-free, and both committed double-digit penalties.
But only one team could throw the football over top of the rock fight. Tipp’s passing attack paved the way for a 35-10 win over Piqua.
The holy grail of the modern football era is a dynamic passing attack. And if you think the Red Devils lost theirs to graduation, think again. They just traded it in for a new one.
Larkin Thomas picked apart the Indian secondary, finding receivers Jackson Davis and Will Strong for a touchdown apiece on deep balls. He dropped veteran-looking dimes to convert 3rd&16, 3rd&17, and 3rd&20 and rushed in a TD of his own for good measure.
“Our guys did a great job of going and getting the ball,” Tipp Coach Matt Burgbacher said. But they often didn’t have to.
Tippecanoe’s Jackson Davis runs in for a 41 yard touchdown on a reverse play.
Even since our last viewing of Thomas in week one, the game has clearly slowed down for him. Whether first game jitters or inexperience caused a few rookie mistakes in week one, those ailments appear to be in full remission.
Piqua has proven they can win with a grounded offense. But the Red Devils had a few more pitches in their arsenal than Piqua, and once Tipp buckled down and stopped the Indian’s duo of rushers, the Indians seldom moved the chains.
“They’re a fast-paced offense and they got a lot of weapons,” Piqua Head Coach Bill Nees said. “They spread it around and everybody contributes.”
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The Indians played the game on their terms early, quickly forcing a poorly executed punt, then cruising to a smashmouth 37-yard touchdown drive featuring running back Jericho Burns. Quarterback Caiden Thomas, also a threat in the run game, snuck it in from the 1-yard line.
Piqua’s quarterback Caiden Thomas, (in the pile somewhere), snuck in from the 1-yard line for a touchdown.
“We needed that adversity in the first half,” Burgbacher said. “We haven’t had that yet this year, and our kids responded the right way.”
Jackson Davis responded with a 41-yard touchdown run on a reverse. What some figured would be a defensive slugfest teetered toward shootout territory early.
A drive later Larkin Thomas began his third down heroics, a theme that would prevail, nailing Davis while rolling out to pick up exactly the 16 yards they needed to move the chains.
“I’ve known I had to build that connection with my receivers since Winter and it’s really progressed,” Thomas said. “I trust my guys, they’ll do their job.”
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A few plays later, Thomas and Davis connected in the end zone on another outbreaking route to claim a 14-7 advantage.
“Larkin made a great read there,” Davis said, pointing out one of many ways Thomas plays beyond his age. “Two defenders collapsed on another receiver. He found me and I found the end zone.”
Indian Isaiah Martin ripped the helmet off by the facemask of Xavier Melton in front of the Red Devil sideline.
Piqua’s offense mounted a counterattack in classic Piqua style. They’ll rarely stab you with a chunk play, but they’ll prick you 1,000 times until you bleed out. They marched methodically to the red zone, where the penalty bug set in. Tipp got dinged twice for facemask penalties, giving Piqua 1st & Goal from the 2-yard line. But Piqua returned the favor by grabbing a defender, which set them back ten yards and resulted in a field goal.
Tipp held an uncomfortable 14-10 lead at the half but came out firing in the third.
A trick play put the ball in the hands of Davis, who fired deep to Strong for a 31-yard pickup, then Thomas faked a toss to Cade Havill and scampered in for six.
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The Piqua offense stalled out, going three and out on their first four drives of the second half, and picking up only two first downs after intermission.
“Right around the quarter the momentum just hit like a tidal wave,” Nees said. “We kept trying to fight our way back but they’re too good of a football team to get down like that.”
Piqua’s Caiden Thomas is taken down by Red Devil Cade Frazier.
Still plagued by penalties in the third quarter, the Red Devils faced 3rd & 20 in plus territory.
Thomas hit Strong along the right sideline to convert, placing the football where only his receiver ever had a chance at it.
Two downs and one penalty later, Tipp confronted 3rd & 17, and yet again he dropped it into Strong’s bucket on the exact same fade route to score.
“When he drops back and throws me that fade, I’m telling you it’s money every single time,” Strong said. Indeed it was 2/2 on Friday night.
As evidenced by those two throws, Thomas’ ball placement rivals that of any other quarterback in the conference, including some much more seasoned upperclassmen.
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Whether it’s Strong’s vertical routes from the pocket, or Davis’s out-breakers on designed rollouts, there just aren’t many throws he misses.
But not everything on Friday night was as appealing as his spiral. The teams combined for 23 penalties, 13 on Tipp (one declined) and 10 on Piqua.
Red Devil Will Strong receives a pass from quarterback Larkin Thomas.
The frustration of penalties and an ever-increasing margin on the scoreboard boiled over in the fourth quarter. A Piqua defender ripped the helmet off a Tipp ball carrier by the facemask in front of the Red Devil sideline. Then after Cavill put the nail in the coffin with a touchdown run, a tackler extended his efforts well after the whistle blew, drawing another unnecessary roughness foul.
While those might be the more memorable scenes, Tipp had penalty issues of their own.
“Did we play perfect? No,” Burgbacher said. “Way too many penalties and too many little mistakes. But to have as many mistakes as we made tonight and still be able to beat a good football team like Piqua by 25, that’s a credit to our kids.”
Piqua falls to 1-3, a win ahead of last year’s pace, but well short of the program’s standard. But the schedule lightens up significantly. With Tipp and Butler in the rearview mirror, they should get to flex their ball control style against less explosive opponents. After four weeks they’re ranked 17th in the region, but should have enough wins left on the schedule to play postseason football in 2024.
Conversely, Tipp stands atop the Region 12 rankings, but travels to Troy next week, then seeks its 27th straight regular-season home win against Butler, a game that could decide the Miami division, if not the conference. And if they do keep winning against the MVL heavyweights, there’s a good chance they’ll have John Heisman, the legalizer of the forward pass, to thank.
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