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Tippecanoe beats Bellefontaine

Saturday, 27 September 2008

Jake Budding had left the game earlier after an injury on offense. Alex Trotter and the rest of the Tippecanoe defensive front was sucking wind after spending a majority of the game on the field chasing Bellefontaine’s Jordan Baughman.

By Josh Brown

Associate Sports Editor

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A couple of big fourth-quarter plays, though, took all the pain away.

Budding took a Baughman fumble back 80 yards to give the Red Devils their first lead of the game and Trotter sacked Chieftain quarterback Matt Brisson twice — including on fourth-and-two with 1:10 left in the game — and Tippecanoe protected its home field with a 21-14 win over Bellefontaine in the Devils’ Central Buckeye Conference Kenton Trail Division opener.

Baughman — who rushed for 179 yards on 38 carries — was caught behind the line on third-and-one from the Tippecanoe 19-yard line on the first play of the fourth quarter and stripped of the ball. Budding, who only played on the defensive side of the ball after being injured in the second quarter, picked it up in stride and outraced Brisson the other way to put Tippecanoe ahead.

“Of course it’s a big play,” Budding said. “Tie game, fourth quarter, someone’s got to make a play to win the game.”

“It was huge,” Tippecanoe coach Charlie Burgbacher said. “Somebody’s got to create the fumble, make the hit, and then the kid (Budding) just made a play. Our defensive players make plays.

“There was still an awful lot of time left after that play, but it became huge.”

The return was more yards alone than Tippecanoe’s offense gained in the second half as the Bellefontaine defense held the Devils (6-0, 1-0 CBC Kenton Trail) to just 61 yards after the break by churning out eight first downs and dominating time of possession. In fact, after the score the Tippecanoe defense, already weary from the 10-play drive it had just stopped, had to come right back onto the field.

“Oh yeah, my lungs were burning,” Trotter said.

But on third-and-eight, Trotter broke through the line and dropped Brisson for a nine-yard loss, ending another 10-play Bellefontaine drive, and the Red Devils picked up a pair of first downs on the ensuing drive to chew up some time. Kyle Pignatiello ended up punting and pinning Bellefontaine deep at the 12-yard line, and on fourth down Trotter again victimized Brisson, effectively putting a wrap on the game and help his lungs heal.

Winning has a way of making wounds go away.

“They were fine after that,” Trotter said. “I was fired up.”

Bellefontaine (3-3, 0-1 CBC Kenton Trail) scored first in the second quarter on a 5-yard run by Baughman, but Tippecanoe answered back less than a minute later. A 33-yard completion from Wes Marsh to Allen Comer on a stop-and-go route set up the Devils’ first score. Corey Johnson, who appeared to be stopped just two yards past the line of scrimmage, kept his legs moving and plowed through tackles, and 22 yards later the game was tied.

But the Chieftains pulled out some trickery to retake the lead. Preaston Artis took a pitch on a fake punt 43 yards for a score, resembling Johnson’s run a little and breaking numerous tackles on the way in.

On the second play of the ensuing drive, though, Comer sped through a hole in the line and took it 67 yards to tie the game once again at 14-14.

“Our offensive line really stepped up,” Comer said. “They did work. We went into a pass formation, and we were still in a passing formation on that run. That helped a lot. They did a great job tonight.”

Comer finished with 82 yards on five carries and also caught six passes for another 96 yards. Marsh was 7-for-11 for 95 yards and didn’t throw an interception to lead Tippecanoe, who entered the game ranked No. 4 in Division III. Brisson, on the other hand, only got two passes off in the game — one intercepted by T.J. Smith at the end of the first half and one that led to a pass interference call on the Devils.

“We knew coming in what kind of game we were going to be in, and that’s the way it turned out,” Burgbacher said. “We knew he (Baughman) could take it, but we didn’t expect him to carry it that many times.

“There were no adjustments. It was just an understanding of what was happening, then executing and taking care of our responsibilities. Everyone’s got a responsibility, and we just need to play within the framework of our system and execute.”

The Devils put their unbeaten record on the line at Stebbins next week before returning to Tipp City Park for a homecoming game against fellow unbeaten Tecumseh, who defeated Stebbins 82-8 Friday.