“The fun part comes at practice and you’re surrounded by excellent players with great attitudes,” he said. “We’ve been blessed for a long time here to have kids with great attitudes.”
The next chance to keep having fun comes at 7 p.m. Friday against Edgewood (9-2) at Wayne High School.
Piqua (12-0) dominated the Miami Valley League with a stingy defense and an offense led by running back Jasiah Medley, who has 1,819 rushing yards and 33 touchdowns. His 89-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter last week lifted Piqua to a 17-13 victory over Cincinnati Withrow.
“He’s very quick,” Nees said. “He’s got great skills not only running between the tackles but also outside and as a receiver. He gives you a lot of versatility.”
On defense, the Indians allowed only 5.7 points and 204.8 yards a game led by five three-year starters. When they trailed Withrow 13-10 it was only the second time in two seasons they trailed at halftime. Then they shut them down in the second half.
“As I looked around the room everybody still had a good confidence level going,” Nees said of halftime. “I was very happy with the way our players came out with confidence in the second half.”
Their challenge this week will be a two-man running attack led by junior Tavionne Crosby and senior Jayquan Dailey. Edgewood won’t throw it much, but they pick their spots well and average 24 yards a completion.
Eaton-Cincinnati McNicholas: Eaton’s rebound to old form made for exciting Friday nights. The Eagles’ bid for an unbeaten season came down to senior night against Monroe. An outright SWBL title was also on the line. But in the final seconds Monroe kicked a field goal for a 16-14 victory.
“We had plenty of chances to win that game,” Eaton coach Brad Davis said. “Big picture, we responded pretty quickly afterward.”
The second-seeded Eagles (11-1) have Division IV playoff wins over Oakwood and Milton-Union after trailing at halftime. Next up is No. 3 Cincinnati McNicholas at 7 p.m. Friday at Monroe High School.
“There hasn’t really been much reflecting, we haven’t allowed ourselves to pat each other on the back,” Davis said. “Certainly we celebrate a win, but then very quickly on Saturday after the game we get right to work on the next game.”
The Eagles have been balanced with Brock Ebright throwing to Josh Martin and Leslie Orr and handing off to Aiden Williams. On defense, end Breyden Boston will be responsible for leading his side of the ball. The challenge is McNicholas quarterback Pierce Taylor, who has thrown for 1,323 yards and rushed for 583.
McNicholas also brings with it the history and reputation of the GCL Co-ed.
“Our focus when introduced the game plan this week was simply look where we are,” Davis said. “We’re not playing the entire conference. We’re just focused on what we see from McNick, and certainly they present challenges for us.”
Tippecanoe-Bellbrook: Matt Burgbacher came home for nights like this: a rematch with Bellbrook in the Division III regional semifinals at 7 p.m. Friday at Sidney Memorial Stadium.
The seventh-seeded Red Devils lost to No. 3 Bellbrook 24-14 on opening night. Both teams, of course, have improved in many ways. In Week 9, Tipp played on Thursday night so Burgbacher scouted Bellbrook.
“Right away after the first drive I looked at my wife and said Bellbrook’s gotten a lot better,” Burgbacher said.
Burgbacher is in his third year at Tipp after four years at Troy. He came back and is adding to the Burgbacher legacy. Charlie Burgbacher coached the Red Devils for 26 years.
“We all have to make tough decisions in our life, and I can honestly say that Troy job was one of the best jobs in the state,” Matt Burgbacher said. “But there’s something to be said about going home and there’s something to be said about living in your hometown. And that’s what drew me back here.”
The Red Devils lean on linebacker and running back Cayd Everhart, but quarterback Liam Poronsky has brought balance to the offense with over 1,400 passing yards.
“We are definitely playing our best football right now,” Burgbacher said. “The biggest thing we learned from that Piqua game is we can compete with the best teams out there. We lost by a couple touchdowns to Piqua but still our kids realized we can compete with these teams. That was a big factor in last week’s game against Kettering Alter.”
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