On the first play of the second quarter Thursday night in unbeaten Tipp’s 25-7 victory over Vandalia-Butler, when momentum was still being fought over, Tipp’s Lucca Adkins followed the rules. As a safety, his job was to cover the tight end on Butler’s third-and-goal play at the 5-yard line.
When the tight end stayed in pass protection, Adkins’ right place to be was in the middle of the end zone.
“We work on the little things, perfect the little things,” he said. “That prepares me for good moments.”
Adkins saw Butler quarterback Mason Reckner look his way, but Recker didn’t see Adkins. He intercepted Reckner’s pass with a one-handed snag and returned it to the Butler 21.
“I saw that quarterback’s eyes look to the middle of the end zone,” Adkins said. “I was just coming through, and I was right there. Perfect timing.”
Instead of Butler scoring its first touchdown, one that could have led to a two-score lead in the middle of the second quarter and possibly changed the result, Tipp began to wrestle the momentum into its corner.
“We knew coming into this game we’re going to have a big play, and we’ve got to perform on that,” sophomore quarterback Larkin Thomas said. “And that really just changed momentum.”
Butler had secured a first down at the seven on Reckner’s 50-yard pass to Braylen Crump. But they gained only two yards on the next two plays.
“We’re a bend don’t break defense – force them to take another snap,” Burgbacher said. “We don’t want to give up that big, long pass and all that stuff. But you know what? Our kids keep fighting. And great things happen when you do that.”
Butler did get the ball back after a Tipp punt and took a 7-3 lead on Reckner’s 15-yard pass to Crump. But Tipp’s confidence was rising. And two plays later the Red Devils were in the lead for good on Thomas’ 45-yard touchdown strike to Jackson Davis.
Another interception, this one by Dylan Herndon on a pass off the hands of a Butler receiver, set up the Red Devils at their own 29. A 20-yard pass to Herndon and a 35-yard run by Thomas set up Xavier Melton’s five-yard touchdown run for a 16-7 lead. Owen Baileys added his second 20-yard field goal before halftime for a 19-7 lead.
Tipp dominated time of possession in the second half by running the ball effectively for 113 of its 189 rushing yards led by Xavier Melton’s 86 yards on 21 carries.
“It’s a mentality,” Burgbacher said. “At halftime we talked about we had the two-score lead, we’re going to have to run the ball. And we wanted to run some time off the clock, because they can obviously score quick, because they’ve got some great athletes on the outside.”
Tipp, however, did not score on its time-consuming drives that ended with a fumble at the four, on downs at the 12 and a final one to run out the clock. Their only score of the half was a third-and-13 59-yarder from Thomas to Davis with 44 second left in the third quarter.
Thomas finished with 212 yards on 10 of 21 passing. Davis caught four passes for 112 yards and both of Thomas’ touchdown passes. Davis leads the Miami Valley League with 32 receptions and has caught 10 of Thomas’ 16 touchdown passes.
“Me and him have been working every day in the offseason, every day during season,” Thomas said. “After practice, sometimes we go and work on the field. He’s a hard worker. He makes everyone else a hard worker, and that connection is off the field, too. We hang out all the time.”
Both of Davis’ touchdowns came when Thomas saw that the safety was going to move toward the line of scrimmage and leave Davis one-on-one with a cornerback.
“I knew pre-snap,” Thomas said. “I brighten up like light bulb boom. My eyes get real wide.”
And while Tipp’s defense might have bent in the first half, it was inflexible in the second half. Butler was limited to 43 of its 191 total yards on only 13 plays.
“Our defense did a heck of a job tonight,” Thomas said. “From Monday they were doing a great job all week on scout team and everything, and we had a lot of confidence.”
Tipp (6-0, 5-0 MVL) is No. 1 in the playoff ratings in Division III, Region 12. The possibility exists that on the final night of the regular season that Tipp and Xenia will meet as unbeatens in Xenia.
“To be able to get to where we want to be, we got to stay focused on where our feet are, and our kids have done a great job of that,” Burgbacher said. “They haven’t looked ahead, they haven’t done any of that stuff. Our kids have done a great job of handling success, doing the right things and preparing like champions.”
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