'I'm proud of them.' Top-ranked Badin football's perfect season ends in DIII thriller
TROTWOOD − The Badin High School football team was about 13 minutes away from another trip to Canton Friday night in its regional final matchup with Tippecanoe.
But when winning time came, the Red Devils from Tipp City had different intentions, stunning the top-ranked Rams 20-17 with a field goal in the fourth quarter to claim the school's first-ever regional championship and semifinal birth.
The cold-temperature game hosted at Trotwood Madison High School was an instant classic. Badin took a commanding 17-10 lead with a minute left in the third quarter after quarterback Alex Ritzie hit Austin Buckle for a 19-yard score. It was a significant momentum shift to boisterous cheers after the back-and-forth game yielded only 20 total first-half points. The Red Devils had the answer though, scoring the equalizer just 76 seconds later. A Jackson Kleather field goal in the fourth then made history for Tippecanoe.
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"Games like this, the farther you get, it comes down to one play," Badin coach Nick Yordy said, "and they made a couple and we didn't. Credit to them. They're a good football team."
The Rams threw for nearly 300 yards, rushed for 159 more, and outgained the Red Devils 409-279. But when Tippecanoe coach Matt Burgbacher needed a grind-it-out type of play from his guys, he got it. The Red Devils clawed their way to a win by winning a number of key battles within the game.
"The one guarantee that I can make about our football team is we're going to leave it all on the line every night, every play," Burgbacher said after the win. "We're not the biggest team. We're not the fastest team, probably not the strongest team. But when our kids play with heart and play every play like it's their last play, we got a chance."
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Kleather kicked off the scoring for Tippecanoe on the first drive of the game, drilling a 42-yard field goal with ease. Not to be outdone, Badin's Nick Warner added a field goal to tie the game the very next possession and a touchdown from Carter Russo gave the Rams their first lead of the game with under a minute left in the opening quarter. The Red Devils answered early in the second quarter when Liam Poronsky hit Lucas Merry from 28 yards out to tie the game at 10.
In the second half, both teams committed enough blunders to become costly. But each defense stood tall in the face of sudden change. Then when it mattered most, Tippecanoe rose to the occasion.
"If you watched our 14 games this year, it's been somebody different. Everybody steps up and tonight we had a bunch of kids step up," Burgbacher said.
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Badin's season ends after an impressive undefeated run that Yordy says may have surprised some people given all the talent lost from last year's state runner-up. The coach told his team after the game to hold their heads high and celebrate their success.
"I'm proud of them," Yordy said. "Nobody thought we'd be at this point, undefeated after last year losing all those guys. I don't even know if these players and these coaches thought we'd be here. But credit to these seniors for four years, I think they lost three games. Unbelievable careers."
Ritzie threw for 282 yards in the game while Russo rushed for 140. Braedyn Moore had 13 catches for 125 yards and buckle added six catches for 78 yards.
Tippecanoe will face Bloom-Carroll in the semifinal.
Tippecanoe 20, Badin 17
Badin 10 0 7 0-17
Tippecanoe 3 7 7 3-20
T − Kleather 42 kick
B − Warner 30 kick
B − Russo 4 run (Warner kick)
T − Merry 28 pass from Poronsky (Kleather kick)
B − Buckle 19 pass from Ritzie (Warner kick)
T − Liette 32 pass from Poronsky (Kleather kick)
T − Kleather 23 kick
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Cincinnati high school football: Hamilton Badin falls to Tippecanoe
