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Tipton’s Ben Emrich (8) breaks free from a Durant defender. Tipton’s Keith Penningroth (40) gets a key block on the big gain by Emrich.
Emrich scored the game winning touchdown with 1:49 left in the game and Penningroth added the PAT that put the Tigers up by nine points
late in the football game. Tipton travels to 8th ranked West Branch Friday in week 8. Photo by Darren Miller.
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By Ryan Stonebraker
Sports Editor
TIPTON — The Tipton football team has had more losses than wins this season under first year football coach Joe Zeutenhorst. Coming into last Friday’s game against Durant, Tipton had lost two straight games and three of their last four and sported a 2-4 record. The Wildcats, also 2-4 overall, but had some momentum having beaten state ranked West Branch for most of that game before the Bears escaped with a late field goal. One team would get their third win of the season and that team would be the Tipton Tigers. The Tigers scored just enough to secure a 15-6 win on senior night. The Tigers were 1-2 at home before Friday’s win.
The Tigers calling card for most of the season has been its defense. If you take out the Tigers 42-0 loss at Bellevue, the Tigers have yielded only 93 points in their six other games for just over 15 points a game given up. That defense came up big on the game’s first drive by the Wildcats. Durant had a 6-play drive snuffed out on an interception by Quinten Mesick deep in Tiger territory.
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| Tipton's Nile Schuett hauls in a big pass in the second half. Photo by Darren Miller. |
The Wildcat defense came up big too on the Tigers first possession. Tipton could only muster 4 yards on three plays before punting. The same thing would play out a lot in the first half, as field position battles were the name of the first half. By the end of the first quarter, each team had punted twice and each team had a turnover with Tipton a fumbling to the Wildcats and Durant throwing an interception to the Tigers. Tipton had only four total yards in the first quarter as Durant shut down the Tigers run game, however, the Tigers defense also shut down the Wildcats run game, yielding only 10 first quarter yards for the Wildcats. Durant’s leading rusher Tristan Hughes has 462 yards rushing and two others over 100 yards and Tipton did a good job bottling them up. Durant has a good passing attack too and the Wildcats got 57 yards through the air from quarterback Bryce Lafrenz in the quarter.
Momentum for the game shifted on the first play of the second quarter to the Tigers. Durant faced a 2nd and 6 from the Tigers 45 and lined up in a 4-wide receiver set. On the play Lafrenz hit Mason Compton on a swing pass, but Tipton cornerback Quinten Mesick was right there, and put a hit on Compton that jarred the football loose at the 49-yard line. The ball bounced to the 45 where Ben Emich scooped it up and outran the Wildcat pursuers with a wall of Tiger blockers to the end zone for a 55-yard fumble recovery return for a touchdown and a 6-0 Tipton lead. The Tigers picked up the two-point conversion on a pass from Emrich to Frank Bierman to give Tipton an 8-0 lead.
The Wildcats responded to the Tigers score with one of their own on their ensuing drive. Durant put together a 9-play scoring drive. Lafrenz completed two big first down passes on the drive, one to Mason Compton and another to Curtis Lilienthal. Lafrenz would put the Wildcats on the scoreboard first with a shot 3-yard touchdown run. The two point conversion pass was no good. With 2:56 left before halftime the score was 8-6 Tigers, a score that would stay as the half ended.
Each team would have one long possession in the third quarter. The Tigers put together a long drive at the start of the second half, spanning 14 plays and 61 yards, but the Wildcat defense held the Tigers out of the end zone including a defensive stand within their 10-yard line. The Wildcats drove to the Tigers 10-yard line, but on 3rd and 4 from the 10, Tipton came up with another big turnover as Connor Hermiston cut off a pass intended for Mason Compton in the end zone ending a possible go-ahead score.
Tipton would score the go-ahead touchdown with 1:49 left in the game on a 3-yard Ben Emrich touchdown run. The Tigers converted a 4th and 3 from the 23. Facing a running clock late in the game, Emrich found freshman Nile Schuett wide open on a pass play that would go for 20 yards, setting up the Tigers with a first and goal from the 3. That score put Tipton up 14-6, an 8-point difference. The PAT kick by Keith Penningroth was crucial to get to a 9-point or two score margin. Penningroth delivered with a high, end over end kick that just cleared the crossbar to give Tipton the 15-9 lead.
Durant had one more chance and faced a 4th and 13 from the Tigers 49. The Wildcats attempted a pass, that fell incomplete, sealing the win for the Tigers.
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| Tipton's Ben Emrich tries to get away from a Durant defender during the second half of the Tigers 15-6 win. Photo by Darren Miller. |
The battle for the sledgehammer began in the 2011 season when Durant was coached by Casey Bouska and Tipton Josh Bahr. The Tigers, looking for a spark in a disappointing season entered the game 0-7 while the Wildcats were 1-6 with a win over Columbus Junction as their only victory. Tipton coach Josh Bahr challenged his team that night to break through in the win column. It didn’t happen, as the Wildcats behind 99 yards rushing and a touchdown by Brett Lilienthal and a 42-yard, 1-touchdown night by Tyler Tribble beat the Tigers 18-13. Bahr presented the ‘sledge to Bouska at the end of the game. Bouska raised the ‘sledge above his head turned to the Wildcat crowd and let out a celebratory yell. Since, the battle for the ‘sledge has been one sided with Tipton claiming the ‘sledge back in 2012 in a close 14-8 game. The Tigers have won six straight in the series. Friday’s game was the closest battle since the 2012 game. Tipton had outscored Durant 146 to 44 in the previous four games.
The Tigers had 204 yards of total offense on ten first downs. Ben Emrich passed for 124 yards on 6-of-12 attempts. Emrich rushed for 20 yards on 11 carries to lead Tipton in rushing. Three Tipton players caught a pass in the game led by Frank Bierman who had three receptions for 34 yards. Austin Lenz and Chance Koch each caught passes for 48 and 22 yards respectively.
Defensively, Emrich had 12 tackles and Dylan Mente 10 to lead the Tigers. Bierman had 7, Connor Hermiston, Keith Penningroth and Austin Lenz each had 5.
Durant had 279 yards on 17 first downs. Bryce Lafrenz passed for 188 yards on 20 completions in the game. Those yards, helped push his season total for passing yards over 1,000 yards for the season. He did throw two interceptions. Tristan Hughes rushed for 41 yards on 12 carries and Cale Frett rushed for 28 yards. Mason Compton had a team high seven receptions, but Tipton held his yards down with Compton only getting 39 in the game. Curtis Lilienthal and Cale Frett each caught four passes.
Tipton will travel to 8th ranked West Branch Friday. The Bears are coming off of a 49-7 win at North Cedar and can win the district 3 title with a win over Tipton. The Bears have two of the top players in class 1A. Quarterback Beau Cornwell leads 1A in passing yards (1,627), completions (121) and touchdown passes (16). Receiver Ben Thompson leads class 1A in receptions (36), receiving yards (601) and touchdown catches (10). The Bears had a close call at Durant two weeks ago, winning by one-point, 24-23 on a field goal with under a minute left in the game. The Bears have scored 30 or more points in six of their seven games and 40 or more points in three of their games.
The Wildcats will host Clayton Ridge for their home finale. The Eagles are 3-2 in district play and 3-4 overall. The Wildcats have scored more points and given up fewer points than the Eagles. Eagles quarterback Josef VonHandorf has passed for 312 yards and leads the Eagles in rushing with 673 yards, 5 touchdowns and a 6.0-yard average. Erik Sarazua is the their leading receiver with 12 receptions for 155 yards and three touchdowns.
Team Statistics:
THS DUR
First Downs 10 17
Total Plays 50 70
Total yards 204 279
Passing yards 124 188
Rushing yards 80 91
3rd Dwn. Conv. 1-for-9 5-for-14
4th Dwn. Conv. 2-for-3 0-for-1
Turnovers 1 3
Fumbles Lost 1 1
Interceptions 0 2
Penalties-yards 4-86 7-85
Quarter Scores:
1 2 3 4 Final
Durant 0 6 0 0 6
Tipton 0 8 0 7 15
Scoring Summary:
2nd Qtr (11:47) - TIP - Ben Emrich 55-yard fumble return (Two-Point pass Emrich to Frank Bierman)
2nd Qtr (2:56) - DUR - Bryce Lafrenz 3-yard run (Two-point conversion pass failed)
4th Qtr - TIP - Ben Emrich 3-yard run (Keith Penningroth kick)
Individual Statistics:
Rushing: Durant - Tristan Hughes 12-41, Cale Frett 8-28, Bryce Lafrenz 6-2, TEAM 4-19, Curtis Lilienthal 1-1. Tipton - Ben Emrich 11-20, Keith Penningroth 11-8, Quinten Mesick 8-32, Austin Lenz 5-20.
Passing: Durant - Bryce Lafrenz 20-for-34 188 yards, 0 TD’s, 2 INT’s. Tipton - Ben Emrich 6-for-12 124 yards 0 TD’s, 0 INT’s.
Receiving: Durant - Mason Compton 7-39, Curtis Lilienthal 4-43, Cale Frett 4-25, Cole Miedema 2-41, Marcus Engstler 2-22, Tristan Hughes 1-8. Tipton - Frank Bierman 3-34, Austin Lenz 1-48, Chance Koch 1-22.
Defensive Statistics:
Tackles (S-A-T): Durant - Cale Frett 8-2 10, Zac Badtram 4-2 6, Curtis Lilienthal 4-0 4, Mason Compton 2-2 4, Tristan Hughes 3-0 3, Mason Bird 3-0 3, Joe Lilienthal 1-1 2, Bryce Lafrenz 1-0 1, Cole Miedema 1-0 1, Marcus Engstler 1-0 1, Dawson Frett 1-0 1, Bryce Pracht 1-0 1, Jonah Werth 1-0 1.
Tipton - Ben Emrich 10-2 12, Dylan Mente 3-7 10, Skylar Harroun 2-5 7, Frank Bierman 2-5 7, Connor Hermiston 3-2 5, Keith Penningroth 4-1 5, Austin Lenz 3-2 5, Quinten Mesick 3-0 3, Andrew Rolling 1-2 3, Will Avey 1-1 2, Blaise Thumma 1-1 2, Blake Wilkins 1-0 1, Logan Stolte 0-1 1, Kyle Priebe 0-1 1.
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