By Michelle Garmon
Tipton Tribune

WEST LAFAYETTE – Against the best team they’ve faced this year, Tipton’s Blue Devils needed their best performance.

And they didn’t get it. Tipton also was unlucky.

West Lafayette’s Class 3A No. 2-ranked Red Devils, meanwhile, left no doubt as to how good they are in ringing up a 35-14 victory over the 2A No. 9 Blue Devils in a Hoosier Conference showdown.

The Red Devils celebrated their homecoming by improving to 3-0 in the conference and 5-0 overall.

The Blue Devils, meanwhile, fell to 2-1 in the conference and 4-1 overall.

It was an inspired and fired-up West Lafayette crew that took the field last night. The Red Devils controlled both lines of scrimmage for much of the first half.

The Blue Devils matched neither WL’s emotion nor intensity in the early going, much to the chagrin of their coach.

“I was surprised with how flat we were (at the start) to be honest," Tipton Coach Aaron Tolle said. "I was disappointed in us as much as I was impressed by West Lafayette.

“They do a good job of spreading you out and you have to have guys in the right position. We had guys in position – I'll have to watch the film – but I don't think we tackled well.”

And Tipton literally had injury added to insult as senior Taylor Maxey re-injured an ankle in the third quarter and sophomore quarterback Ross Schulenburg hurt his leg in the fourth quarter. Both players did not return.

“(Taylor) has had a high ankle sprain all week,” Tipton Coach Aaron Tolle said. “I think he gave us everything he had. We’ll have to see where he’s at at the beginning of the week.”

The Blue Devil coach would not speculate on his quarterback. But he did have plenty of praise for his performance.

“I thought Ross played really well,” Tolle said. “He did a real nice job.”

Schulenburg completed 9 of 18 passes for 110 yards and also gained 21 yards on four carries. He was sacked just once and showed tremendous poise even when pressured.

Those injuries followed by a fumbled snap on a fourth-and-goal at the WL 1-yard line capped off what turned out to be a nightmarish evening.

“Nothing went right. We had two catches in the end zone, one we're out of bounds and the other is in our hands; we fumble at the goal line and we had two nice passes over the middle that we fumble the ball away on," Tolle said. "I'm not trying to take anything away form them but we absolutely killed ourselves.”

The Red Devils made a couple of mistakes of their own but they were not costly. And they got stellar play from their 6-foot-3 senior quarterback.

Matt Lancaster got the job done with both his arm and feet. He completed 15 of 27 passes for 180 yards and two touchdowns, while getting intercepted once. He also ran 13 times for 71 yards and 2 TDs.

And if that wasn't enough, he also had a pair of outstanding pooch punts that trapped the Blue Devils at their own 2-yard line.

West Lafayette’s defense set the tone forcing a three-and-out on Tipton’s game-opening possession and getting the ball at its own 41 following Drake Dell’s 29-yard punt.

The Red Devils picked up three first downs and advanced to the Tipton 23 before the drive stalled.

Lancaster’s first pooch punt was followed by another Tipton 3-and-out that led to WL getting the ball back at the THS 30.

Three plays later, Lancaster ran a quarterback draw straight up the middle 23 yards into the end zone. Ben McCartney's PAT kick gave the Red Devils a 7-0 lead at the 3:58 mark of the first quarter.

The Blue Devils attempted to answer. Dell’s 25-yard kickoff return gave Tipton the ball at its own 43.

A face mask penalty against WL following a 6-yard Schulenburg completion to Seth Jacobs, gave Tipton its first first down of the night – at the Red Devil 36.

Sean Hickman then bulled his way for 12 yards and another first down at the 24. But two plays gained just 2 yards and then Tipton lined up offsides and was left facing a third-and-8.

Jake Dye caught a Schulenburg pass in the end zone but was out of bounds. On fourth down, Jacobs was unable to hang on to a Schulenburg pass in the end zone as he was hit by two defenders.

After an exchange of punts, West Lafayette took over at its own 33. A holding penalty on first down backed the Red Devils up to their own 20. But the penalty didn’t slow them down as they used nine plays to reach the end zone, scoring on Lancaster’s 10-yard scramble.

Schulenburg had passes of 25 and 11 yards to Dylan Ford and Jake Dye, respectively as Tipton again marched into WL territory. But the Blue Devils turned the ball over on downs at the 37.

Nine plays later, the Red Devils extended their lead to 21-0.

Lancaster completed 4-of-7 passes for 52 yards. The last completion came on a fourth-and-5 and was a 15-yard strike over the middle to Justin Bernhard with 1:06 left to play in the first half.

Tipton tried to strike quickly with Schulenburg hooking up with Jake Dye on a quick slant that went for 20 yards. Dye, however, fumbled and WL recovered at the Tipton 40.

West Lafayette scored on the opening possession of the third quarter. The Red Devils went 64 yards in 7 plays.

Lancaster completed passes of 22 and 40 yards to Wodicka to set up a first-and-goal at the 6. Four plays later, he found Wodicka in the back of the end zone for a 3-yard TD pass. Cooperider’s PAT kick increased the lead to 28-0 at the 9:04 mark of the third period.

Tipton attempted to answer as Taylor Maxey ran twice for 11 yards and Schulenburg hooked up with Jacobs on another quick slant that went for 20 yards. Jacobs, however, fumbled and the Red Devils recovered at their own 47.

They were unable to cash in, leading to Lancaster's second pooch punt.

This time, however, Tipton was able to move the ball but not without a price as Maxey left after two plays and Schulenburg was hurt following an 11-yard scramble that gave Tipton a first-and-goal at the WL 9.

Jake Dye took over under center. Three rushing plays left Tipton with a fourth-and-goal at the 1. Dye dropped the snap, picked it up but was stopped short of the goal line.

But the Blue Devils got the ball back four plays later as Colin Warner forced a fumble that Ford recovered and returned 20 yards to the 5.

Harlow ran 4 yards and then Kevin Moats scored on a 1-yard burst. Zach Spencer’s PAT kick cut the lead to 28-7 with 5:12 left to play in the game.

Spencer attempted an onside kick that was mishandled by WL. But Tipton could not gain possession before the ball went out of bounds and the Red Devils got the ball at the THS 49.

Walker ripped off runs of 22, 23 and 4 yards and Cooperider added the PAT kick to make it 35-7 with 4:03 left to play.

Walker, who entered the game with 88 yards rushing on the season, finished with 135 yards on 15 carries.

The Blue Devils went 74 yards on the final drive of the night.

Dell carried three times for 34 yards. Harlow then carried five times for 39 yards. Dell gained the final yard for his first varsity touchdown.

The Blue Devils will travel to Clinton Central next Friday. The Bulldogs were 54-12 winners over Tri-Central last night.

Tipton                 0  0  0 14 – 14
West Lafayette    7 14  7  7 – 35
                      
 T        WL
FIRST DOWNS              16        19
Rushing                     8         12
Passing                      5          7
Penalty                     3          0
RUSHES-YARDS      36-170    33-232
PASSING YARDS         110        180
Comp.-Att.-Int.         9-18-0  15-27-1
PENALTIES-YARDS      5-50      7-75
FUMBLES-LOST           3-2        2-1
PUNTS-AVG.               3-30      3-33

SCORING PLAYS
WL – Lancaster 23 run (McCartney kick)
WL – Lancaster 10 run (Cooperider kick)
WL – Bernhard 15 pass from Lancaster (McCartney kick)
WL – Wodicka 3 pass from Lancaster (Cooperider kick)
T – Moats 1 run (Spencer kick)
WL – Walker 4 run (McCartney kick)
T – Dell 1 run (Spencer kick)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING – Tipton: Harlow 10-68, Maxey 11-25, Dell 4-35 and 1 TD, Schulenburg 4-21, Hickman 4-19, Moats 1-1 and 1 TD. West Lafayette: Walker 15-135 and 1 TD, Lancaster 13-71 and 2 TDs, Schumann 2-10, Wodicka 2-9, Woodard 1-7.
PASSING – Tipton: Schulenburg 9-18-0 for 110 yards. West Lafayette: Lancaster 15-27-1 for 180 yards and 2 TDs.
RECEIVING – Tipton: Jake Dye 4-35, Jacobs 3-38, Ford 2-37. West Lafayette: Wodicka 7-115, Pekny 5-36, Bernhard 2-24, Walker 1-5.

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