St. Marys frustrates Tippecanoe in playoff victory

TIPP CITY - When Tipp City Tippecanoe's first punt of the night - which traveled a mere 18 yards - crossed the sideline in front of him, Red Devils coach Charlie Burgbacher punched the ball in frustration.

By the time St. Marys finished off its 21-14 win over Tippecanoe in a first-round Division III high school football playoff game Saturday, the Reds Devils probably would have needed something much larger, like a giant beach ball, to vent their frustration.

St. Marys' win meant Tippecanoe had qualified for the playoffs for the fifth time in the last seven seasons and had gone out in the first round for the fifth straight time.

The Roughriders (9-2) built a 14-0 halftime lead, saw Tippecanoe come back to tie it in the third quarter, then pulled out the win with a scoring drive in the game's final six minutes.

Josh Zimmerman's 3-yard touchdown run with 2:52 to play provided the winning margin.

Jeremy Frye rushed for 185 yards on 32 carries and scored a touchdown for the Roughriders, who rolled up 297 yards on the ground. Aaron Homan added 67 yards on 10 carries.

Tippecanoe (9-2) appeared poised to end its playoff frustrations when it tied the game with a pair of third-quarter touchdowns, then broke off a 91-yard punt return for an apparent touchdown early in the fourth quarter.

But the play was called back for an obvious illegal block in the back and the Red Devils never seriously threatened to score after that.

And St. Marys, which had struggled offensively in the second half, found its second wind.

"I told them you have to handle adversity to be a champion and continue to play on," St. Marys coach Doug Frye said. "There for a while I didn't think we were handling it too well.

"When it was 14-14, I thought we were hanging our heads a bit and I said, ‘Boys, let's go. You've got about six minutes left in your football careers. All of a sudden they pepped up and got it going."

St. Marys' game-winning drive covered 74 yards in eight plays.

"We just didn't play well defensively in that scoring drive in the fourth quarter," Burgbacher said.

The Roughriders dominated the first half.

They marched 49 yards on nine plays and went up 7-0 on a 1-yard dive by quarterback Jake Taylor with 4:31 left in the first quarter.

They made it 14-0 when Frey ended a 71-yard drive with a 2-yard scoring run with 11:13 left in the second quarter. Chaz Adkins kicked the extra points on both TDs.

St. Marys nearly went up 21-0 before halftime, but was stopped at Tippecanoe's 6-yard line late in the first half.

Tippecanoe struck early in the third quarter, going on a 75-yard march to get within 14-6 on a 3-yard run by Corey Johnson. The extra point was blocked.

A fumbled punt by St. Marys' Derek Freewalt set up Tippecanoe at St. Marys' 26-yard line later in the third quarter and the Red Devils capitalized. Allen Comer scored on a 3-yard run, then ran for a two-point conversion to tie it, 14-14.

But those were the last points Tippecanoe got against St. Marys' defense.

"We just kind of go in spurts at times. But we're spurting enough to keep going and that's a good thing," Frye said.