“We had to stay mentally strong and we had to stay physically strong and against a hard-nosed running offense,” Liette said. “We put both of those together and we stuck it out all four quarters.”
Liette is one of Tipp’s two-way players, running the ball on offense and playing linebacker on defense. He made big plays both ways and helped lead his team to a 30-21 Division III, Region 12 playoff victory. Next Friday the second-seeded Red Devils go to a neutral site to face No. 6 Celina, a 41-35 winner over Trotwood-Madison, in the regional semifinals.
The bar for this season seemed low after a lackluster 21-7 loss to Bellbrook in the opener. But the only loss since was to Troy for the 10-2 Red Devils.
“We knew we were a high caliber team,” Liette said. “We didn’t come out firing, but we knew we had to turn it around and believe in each other, believe in our offense, believe in our defense, believe in our coaches, believe in everybody, and that’s what we’ve been doing.”
CJ (7-5) possessed the ball for more than 10 minutes in the first quarter and took a 7-0 lead on fullback Nydrell Wright’s 1-yard plunge with 34 seconds left. Tipp responded with a quick drive and Peyton Schultz’s 5-yard touchdown pass to Logan Bowling.
CJ came right back and drove to the 10, but an illegal block penalty moved them back and took away the scoring chance. The Eagles moved the ball every time they had it, but a holding penalty in the third quarter brought the ball back from the 1 and cost them a chance at another score.
“That’s kind of been the story of our young football team the entire season,” said CJ coach Earl White, who loses only five seniors that played a significant role. “Mistake after mistake, so that that kills you. And hats off to them. They’re a very, very good program.”
Tipp coach Matt Burgbacher knew from the game film he scouted that CJ was more than a No. 10 seed.
“The three films I watched on them, I told these boys the seeds don’t matter,” he said. “The regular season don’t matter. These guys deserved to be in the playoffs.”
Tipp took advantage of the opportunities CJ presented by not scoring. Liette’s 39-yard run to midfield and Schultz’s 22-yard pass to Jeremy Walland set the Red Devils up at the 1 for Liette’s go-ahead touchdown late in the first half.
In the third quarter, two plays after CJ failed to score because of a holding penalty, Liette scored on an 86-yard run for a 21-7 lead. CJ wasn’t done and cut the score to 24-21 when Aiden Lowery returned a kickoff 80 yards to the 15 on a reverse handoff and Wright trucked up the middle for the touchdown. Knowing where the ball was going was Tipp’s challenge all night.
“It’s a lot of misdirection,” Liette said. “We prepared hard and our coaches go through hours and hours of films to make us ready for these games. It was hard, but we knew we could tackle any offense out there.”
Tipp added another score on Liette’s 4-yard run and CJ was out of time.
“I’m just so dang proud because I loved our responses,” Burgbacher said. “We bent, we bent, we bent, but we never broke. That’s Tipp football. That’s who we are.”
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