Wednesday, August 29, 2018

Tigers Wear Down Knights In Second Half

By Ryan Stonebraker
Sports Editor

  TIPTON — It was the proverbial tale of two halves last Friday in the season-opening football game for the annual Tipton-North Cedar game. The Tigers held a narrow 19-18 halftime lead as North Cedar fought hard in the opening half, but the second half was all Tipton. The Tigers scored 20-unanswered points and ran 41 plays to the Knights 22 in the second half to grab a 39-18 victory. The Tigers 39 points was a high for points scored in a season in at least the last ten seasons. The last time the Tigers scored over 30 points in a season opener was in the 2014 season when they beat West Liberty 32-21. The Tigers also tasted victory in their season opener for the first time in three seasons. The Tigers last season-opening win was a 27-0 win against West Liberty to start the 2015 season. The Tigers have now won the last four games against North Cedar. The Knights last win over Tipton came in the 2014 season.

  Tipton had 474 yards to total offense in the football game with 440 of those from their ground game and 34 from the passing game. The Tigers collected 26 first downs in the football game. The Tigers averaged 8.1 yards per carry on the ground in the game.

  Tipton had nine players carry the football at least once in the game. Two running backs rushed for over 100 yards and a third nearly topped the 100-yard mark. Two ball carries had 15 rush attempts and another had nine carries. Austin Lenz led Tipton in rushing with 134 yards on 15 carries and scored two touchdowns. Jaxson Murphy added 101 yards on six carries. Logan Stolte rushed for 99 yards on 15 carries and scored two touchdowns.

  Tipton used two quarterbacks in the game with each having at least one completion. Payten Elijah had a 27-yard touchdown pass to Frank Bierman. Bierman caught two passes for 34 yards. His other catch was from starting quarterback Blake Wilkins. Wilkins guided the Tiger offense for much of the game. He had six carries and scored a rushing touchdown.

  Defensively, seniors Dylan Mente and Logan Stolte led Tipton with each collecting 8 tackles. Chance Koch had 7 tackles while Nile Schuett and Frank Bierman each had 6. Peyton Elijah had an interception and Nile Schuett had a fumble recovery. Schuett also recorded a tackle for loss.

  “We wore them down, which is what we want to do to teams,” said Tipton football coach Joe Zeutenhorst.

  “We ran the football very well and our line did a great job blocking and opening up the running lanes,” he said.

  Tipton scored first in the opening quarter on a Logan Stolte 13-yard run for a 6-0 lead. A 1-yard Brody Hawtrey touchdown run later in the quarter tied the game at 6-6. Each team scored two touchdowns in the second quarter. Tipton scored their touchdowns on a Blake Wilkins 3-yard run and an Austin Lenz 24-yard run. North Cedar scored their touchdowns on a 52-yard pass from Ethan Sahr to Kael Unruh that tied the game at 12, and later a 15-yard pass from Sahr to Tyler Alexander got the Knights to within 19-18 with under a minute left in the first half.

  The Tigers came out after halftime with renewed vigor. Tipton and North Cedar traded possessions to start the second half. Tipton would put the game away after the Knights were forced to punt on their first second-half possession. Tipton would embark on a 14-play drive on their second drive of the third quarter, chewing up most of the clock in the quarter. The drive ended with a Logan Stolte 12-yard touchdown run. After a Frank Bierman PAT, the Tigers led 26-18. Though it was a one-possession ball game, the Knights found it hard to gain any momentum the rest of the way and could not find the end zone the rest of the game.

  The Tigers added two, fourth quarter scores, a Lenz 15-yard run and a 27-yard touchdown pass from Peyton Elijah to Bierman, to set the final score at 39-18.

  “We were in a ball game and with eight minutes to go were in an 8-point game. We were in it because we played well,” said North Cedar coach Adam Hadenfeldt.

  “The one major goal is to win the ball game. We didn’t, but I thought that for the most part, watching Friday night, we are pleased with things. We did a lot of things well and a lot of things that we can clean up,” he said.

  North Cedar had 12 first downs in the game and 292 yards of total offense. The Knights were 4-for-13 on third down conversions, but better on 4th down conversions, going 4-for-6.

  Brody Hawtrey led North Cedar rushers with 32 yards on 17 carries. Logan Thimmes added 31 yards on seven carries. Ethan Sahr passed for 225 yards on 13-of-25 attempts with two touchdowns. Tyler Alexander caught a team-high five passes for 90 yards. Kael Unruh caught four passes for 86 yards.

  Defensively, Thimmes and Tyler Thurston each led the Knights in tackles with 11 while Caden Wendt and Jon Scheer had 8 and 7 respectively.

  It was not a good week for class 2A district 5 teams. Tipton and Camanche were the only two of the six district teams to get victories. Camanche beat Northeast 34-18. Three of the four teams - West Liberty, Mount Vernon, and West Burlington each lost by more than two touchdowns. Louisa-Muscatine lost a close game to Wapello 34-28. The Tigers will host Vinton-Shellsburg Friday night. The Tigers will travel to Durant in week 3.

  North Cedar will play at home for the first time this season Friday when they host Durant. The Wildcats also lost in week one. Durant fell 27-13 to Wilton at home in similar fashion. The Wildcats led 13-12 with 6 minutes left in the third quarter before the Beavers scored 14 unanswered points. Tipton will host Vinton-Shellsburg. Vinton-Shellsburg lost 49-7 at home to Alburnett last Friday.

  “We will get back at it this week. We have a bigger school coming in Friday, one we haven’t played in a while and it will be a challenge,” said Zeutenhorst.

Team Summary:

TIP NC

Total Plays 71 59
First downs 26 12
Total Yards 474 292
Pass C-A-I 2-3-0 13-25-1
Pass yards 34 225
Rushes-ave. 58-8.1 31-2.1
Rush yards 440 67
3rd Conv. 4-for-10 4-for-13
4th Conv. 3-for-3 4-for-6
Turnovers 1 2
Penalties-yds. 11-120 4-56

Quarter Scores:

1 2 3 4 Final
North Cedar 6 12 0 0 18
Tipton 6 13 7 13 39

Scoring Summary:
1st Qtr (TIP) - Logan Stolte 13-yard run (2-pt. Conversion failed)
1st Qtr (NC) - Brody Hawtrey 1-yard run (Brody Hawtrey PAT no good)
2nd Qtr (TIP) - Blake Wilkins 3-yard run (Frank Bierman PAT no good)
2nd Qtr (NC) - Kael Unruh 52-yard pass from Ethan Sahr (Brody Hawtrey PAT no good)
2nd Qtr (TIP) - Austin Lenz 24-yard run (Frank Bierman kick)
2nd Qtr (NC) - Tyler Alexander 15-yard pass from Ethan Sahr (2-pt. Conversion failed)
3rd Qtr (TIP) - Logan Stolte 12-yard run (Frank Bierman kick)
4th Qtr (TIP) - Austin Lenz 15-yard run (2-pt. Conversion failed)
4th Qtr (TIP) - Frank Bierman 27-yard pass from Peyton Elijah (Frank Bierman kick)

Individual Statistics:
Rushing: North Cedar - Brody Hawtrey 17-32, Logan Thimmes 7-31, Kael Unruh 1-4, Ethan Sahr 6-0. Tipton - Austin Lenz 15-131, Jaxon Murphy 6-101, Logan Stolte 15-99, Conner Hermiston 9-44, John Crowley 3-25, Blake Wilkins 6-9, Lake Anderson 2-8, Davis Butler 1-12, Peyton Elijah 1-9.
Passing: North Cedar - Ethan Sahr 13-for-25 225 yards 2 TD’s, 1 INT. Tipton - Peyton Elijah 1-for-1 27 yards 1 TD, 0 INT’s; Blake Wilkins 1-for-2 7 yards 0 TD’s, 0 INT’s.
Receiving: North Cedar - Tyler Alexander 5-90, Kael Unruh 4-86, Brody Hawtrey 3-33, Logan Thimmes 1-16. Tipton - Frank Bierman 2-34.

Defensive Statistics:
Tackles (S-A-T): North Cedar - Logan Thimmes 9-2 11, Tyler Thuston 7-4 11, Caden Wendt 5-3 8, Jon Scheer 6-1 7, Chase Gallagher 4-2 6, Brady Burcum 2-3 5, Gage Walshire 3-1 4, Brody Hawtrey 2-0 2, Tyler Alexander 2-0 2, Kael Unruh 1-0 1, Evan Patterson 1-0 1, Alex Woodward 1-0 1, Tadan Lange 1-0 1, Tyler Jackson 1-0 1.
Tipton - Dylan Mente 6-2 8, Logan Stolte 5-3 8, Chance Koch 1-6 7, Nile Schuett 3-3 6, Frank Bierman 2-4 6, Austin Lenz 3-1 4, Skylar Harroun 2-2 4, Peyton Elijah 1-2 3, John Crowley 1-2 3, Kyle Priebe 1-1 2, Conner Hermiston 1-1 2, Jack Boldt 1-0 1. TEAM: 4-3 7.
Tackles For Loss: North Cedar - Brady Burcum 1, Tyler Thurston 1. Tipton - Nile Schuett 1.
Sacks: North Cedar - Tyler Thurston 1. Tipton - none.
Interceptions: North Cedar - none. Tipton - Peyton Elijah 1.
Fumble Recoveries - Tipton - Nile Schuett. North Cedar - Jon Scheer 1.

Kicking Statistics:
Kick-Offs: North Cedar - Tyler Thurston 4-177 yards 44.2-yard average. Tipton - Frank Bierman 7-325 yards 46.4-yard average.
Kick-Off Returns: North Cedar - Kael Unruh 4-13 yards, Brody Hawtrey 3-19 yards. Tipton - Logan Stolte 2-7 yards, Austin Lenz 1-12 yards. TEAM - 1-21 yards.
Punts: North Cedar - Brody Hawtrey 3-87 yards, 29.0-average. Tipton - none.
Punt Returns: North Cedar - none. Tipton - TEAM 2-0 yards.

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