St. Mary's 21 Tippecanoe 14

High School Football
Home Team: Tippecanoe Red Devils
Visiting Team: St. Mary's Memorial Roughriders
Venue: Park Stadium
Game Time: 7:00 p.m.
Fellow Attendees: None

OHSAA State Playoffs Round 1 - Division III Region 10

Make no mistake, I live and die with the Troy Trojans. But, I must admit, I've got the tiniest little soft spot for Tipp. I used to work in Tipp City, just a block over from the park (and, hence, the stadium), and on nice days I would occasionally take my lunch there. However, as my Friday nights during football season are booked with Troy games, I had never seen a game there, so I decided to take the opportunity.

The Tipp City Park is a great setting for a game. Even the lack of a parking lot doesn't really hinder the experience, as there's plenty of parking available on the nearby side streets. I drove into the area about half an hour before kickoff and found myself a perfect Taurus-sized spot just a short walk from the stadium. And that was with a good crowd - the stands weren't jam-packed by any means, but they were pretty full, and there were plenty of people hanging on the railing or camped in the green spaces surrounding the field. The park is filled with trees that were in their full fall glory, rioting with color in the glare of the stadium lights. And the weather was absolutely perfect - I took a jacket along, but I put it on only after it fell through the stands to the ground below, as a way to ensure that such an occurrence would not happen again.

Another thing that I thought was cool was that Tipp had a sign language translator on the sideline facing the home stands for all pregame activities and announcement. I'm not fluent in sign language, but I thought she was fascinating to watch nonetheless. She even signed the words of the fight song as the band played, keeping time with the music. Very cool, and I think it's awesome that they do that for their fans.

As for the game itself, it was pretty simple: Tipp just couldn't stop St. Mary's ground game with any consistency, and they couldn't get their own offense going. They looked the best coming out of halftime when they mixed up the offense and worked in some passes, but Tipp's coaches seemed far too insistent on reverting to their own run-heavy tendencies, and the Roughriders were having none of it. Still, I have to give the Red Devils credit for fighting - they were down 14-0 at half and being pretty much dominated, but they were able to come back and tie the game 14-14 in the third quarter. They actually would have taken the lead on a punt return TD, but one of the blockers unnecessarily hit the very last Roughrider defender in the back, which nullified the score. From there, Tipp couldn't get back on the board, St. Mary's ground it down the field and into the endzone, and that was the ballgame.

EDIT: Another random note I just had to mention. One guy sitting behind me was a very loud clapper (totally acceptable at a football game, but irritating when it continually happens at a distance of what sounds like approximately two inches behind your head) and a constant second-guesser of the players on the field. I noticed at one point when he left the stands that he was wearing a pair of obnoxiously loud and ridiculous-looking boots. Later in the evening, we were at a party here in Troy, and I saw Brandi talking to a guy in a Tippecanoe shirt, so I wandered over to chat about the game. Then I looked down and saw the obnoxious boots he was wearing, and realized it was the same guy. I ended up not saying much about the game, or anything at all.