Undefeated Piqua hands Tippecanoe first loss

“It was a great performance all the way around," Piqua coach Bill Nees said. “They’re an outstanding defense, and they were putting a decent amount of people in the box and we were slugging it out, but also our passing game was helping loosen things up.”

Field position played a big part in Piqua’s dominance.

“Every time we scored, our guy was kicking it out to the street,” Nees said. "They started every drive at the 20-yard line. They were not getting good field position. Another time we got a punt back in there. They started six drives inside the 20. That’s gold for your defense.”

Tippecanoe fell behind early in this one but had a chance to get back into the game in the second quarter.

Coleman started the scoring with a 13-yard touchdown run in the first quarter. Piqua’s Tanner Kemp then scored on a 5-yard run in the second quarter to extend the lead to 14-0.

After a Piqua fumble, Owen Hadden got Tippecanoe on the board with a 30-yard field goal with 7:30 left in the half. The Red Devils had a chance to cut into the lead later in the second quarter, but Piqua’s Aidan Meyer picked off a pass in the end zone.

In the third quarter, Coleman scored on runs of 8 and 44 yards to give Piqua a 28-3 lead. He doubled his season rushing touchdown total to six. He finished with 112 yards on 14 carries.

Piqua’s Brady Ouhl completed 13 of 21 passes for 111 yards. Tippecanoe’s Troy Taylor completed 18 of 37 passes for 142 yards.

Tippecanoe, which had a game against Fairborn in Week 3 cancelled, fell to 3-1 overall and 3-1 in the Miami Valley League. It closes the regular season at Xenia next week, while Piqua plays at Sidney.

One game remains in the six-game regular season. Coaches will vote on seeding for the playoffs early next week, and the brackets will be announced Thursday.

“It will be interesting," Tippecanoe coach Matt Burgbacher said. It’s the first time for all us football coaches because we’re so used to the points system. It will be different. But like I told the kids, ‘If you want to be the best, you’ve got to be the best.' All that stuff is down the road. It’s going to be exciting. We’re already in the playoffs. You don’t have that pressure on you of, ‘Hey, we’ve got to qualify for the playoffs.’"