After pregame festivities featuring the Wee Rams football organization, one of several Trotwood youth football players tried to run to the Trotwod-Madison varsity sideline. He was quickly turned a away by a coach who claimed he had to “earn” the right to stand there.
After kickoff, the host Rams earned another hard-fought victory over visiting Tippecanoe.
Intimidation wasn’t a factor. Athleticism was.
Fueled by its latest stable of college prospects, Trotwood handled previously unbeaten Tipp 43-6 in a Greater Western Ohio Conference crossover game at Good Samaritan Sports Complex.
The meeting, the teams’ third in four years and first in the regular season, ended the same way the two previous postseason matches went — with a Trotwood victory.
“Tip your hat to Tipp City,” Trotwood coach Jeff Graham said. “They play hard and well and they play good against us every time.”
This game, like those, was close for a half.
Trotwood improves to 3-1 with the victory, while Tipp drops to 3-1.
Kickoff was delayed an hour and 33 minutes due to weather.
This was the third GWOC American North Division opponent the Rams have faced. Trotwood, which plays in the GWOC American South Division now, lost its opener to Troy (10-6) and beat Piqua (38-6) in Week 2.
Tipp got its first taste of big-boy football after easy wins over Graham, Springfield Shawnee and Milton-Union by the combined score of 135-33.
Trotwood proved a much tougher test. And Tipp proved up to it.
Like the previous two meetings, victories in the Division III playoffs, Tipp held a lead against the hosts.
Cashing in on two first-half Trotwood fumbles, the Red Devils took a 6-0 lead on 32- and 36-yard field goals by Caiden Smith.
Trotwood, without star running back Raveion Hargrove (out with a a deep thigh bruise), struggled in the first half. The Rams had the ball for just 6:21, but on the first play after Smith’s second field goal, Trotwood’s William McDaniel ran 79 yards to the Tipp 1. Sophomore quarterback Markell Stephens-Peppers scored on the next snap and McDaniel added a 2-point conversion run.
Trotwood led 8-6 at half.
Any questions about Trotwood’s explosiveness were answered in the third quarter. The Rams scored four touchdowns in the first nine minutes to force a running clock. Two of the scores — an interception return by Darius Wortham and a fumble recovery by Devon Smith — were defensive. McDaniel added a touchdown run and Stephens-Peppers threw two second-half touchdowns.
“With the rain delay I think our guys were too hyped to start,” Graham said. “By the time we got situated things worked out. We got some turnovers and there it is.”