“It was chaos, in my opinion,” Smith said. “Both teams just running the ball up the middle the whole game.”
Missed red zone scoring opportunities, penalties canceling big plays, interceptions, and fumbled snaps stacked up against both teams. But it was Tipp that sidestepped the most chaotic moments and emerged with a 13-12 victory over Troy in a Miami Valley League midseason showdown.
Tipp (4-1, 4-0 MVL) defeated Troy (4-1, 3-1) for the fourth straight time and vaulted from No. 9 to No. 4 in the Division III Region 12 playoff points. Smith knew about the streak. He also knew that in the four years previous to his freshman season, Troy won four straight.
The talk had been that Troy would win to set up a showdown of MVL unbeatens against Xenia in two weeks. But Tipp and Butler shut up that talk Friday. Butler stunned Xenia 28-21. Now Tipp has three potential big ones against 3-1 league teams starting next week at Butler, the following week at home against Sidney and the season finale at home against Xenia.
For these games to mean the most, Tipp’s first job in the trenches Friday was to keep 215-pound running back Jahari Ward from running over them. Ward rushed for 132 yards and a touchdown on 26 carries. Ward scored from six yards out on the first play of the fourth quarter to make the score 13-12.
Troy had an extra-point kick blocked in the first half. This time they went for two points and the lead. Ward was the obvious choice, but the Red Devils stopped him inside the one.
“It’s a team effort,” Smith said. “He’s a big dude, tough to bring down solo. And we knew it was going to take everyone to wrap up and bring him down.”
Smith is the only returning starter on the offensive line that helped lead Tipp into the Division III state semifinals last year. That unit has been growing up since the Red Devils generated no offense in their season-opening loss at Bellbrook. With the lead they needed to make more room for running back Cael Liette. And they did to melt away the final minutes with first downs.
“We got fired up,” Smith said. “We got tired of seeing our guys hurt out there, and it kind of lit a fire under us. And we decided to come out – give it everything we had.”
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