TIPP CITY – On a sun-drenched evening in Tipp City’s City Park, the homestanding Red Devils of Matt Burgbacher dominated the Greenville Green Wave by a 49-6 count in Miami Valley League play. The Devils home opener was dedicated to the memory of Carson Robbins, a senior stalwart on last year’s D-III state semi-finalist squad, who passed away in April following a brief illness.
GHS won the coin toss and elected to receive the opening kickoff, picking up two first downs before having to punt. After a Tipp turnover, the Wave were guilty of a holding penalty and forced to punt again, giving Tipp great field position at the Greenville 44 leading to an 11- yard touchdown run by the Devils’ senior running back Cael Liette at the 5:47 mark of the first quarter. Sophomore kicker CJ Bailey converted the first of his six extra points and Tipp was up 7-0, at which point the flood gates opened with Tipp putting 35 more points on the board in the first half.
After the Wave drove down the field to the Tipp 43, an interception gave the ball back to the home team at their own 28. In short order, or long, depending on how you looked at it and who you were rooting for, senior quarterback Peyton Schultz threw three touchdown passes hitting senior Evan Liette for scores of 26 and 54 yards and later senior Jeremy Walland from 15 yards out. A Logan Butera run of 12 yards and a 4 yard run by Carson Hughes completed the first half scoring with Tipp in total command at 42-0, as the Wave defense struggled to contain the Devils attack while the offense had trouble maintaining ball control.
With a “running clock” in effect throughout the second half, scoring was limited, with Xavier Melton of Tipp taking the ball in from 5 yards out in the fourth quarter for a 49-0 advantage before sophomore Gabe Rammel scored the Wave’s only points with 1:16 remaining in the game to make the final tally 49-6.
Schultz completed 10 of 13 passes for 203 yards and three TDs while junior Rylan Caldwell had five carries for 61 yards to pace the ground attack. Evan Liette had two catches for 80 yards and two touchdowns while sophomore Collin Isaac led a stout defensive effort with 11 tackles.
For the Green Wave, senior quarterback Evan Manix completed 8 of 14 for 55 yards and rushed for 50 yards on seven carries. Rammel rambled for 64 yards on 12 rushes and the lone score while sophomore receiver John Barr had two catches for 33 yards. Rammel had 8 tackles, senior Jack Royer 7, and senior John Rey Abao 6.
After an opening loss to Bellbrook, Tipp has recorded two straight wins and travels to Piqua next week to take on the winless Indians while Greenville boards the bus to Vandalia to face the 1-2 Butler Aviators. In losing the first three games of the season the Wave of Head Coach Bart Schmitz have been taking a page from “The School of Hard Knocks”, having been outscored 152-13, as the mostly underclass roster is learning that the competition is pretty stiff in the MVL, particularly in the North or Miami division.
