On a beautiful Friday night of fall football, the Tipton Cardinals soundly defeated the Lincoln Cardinals at Lincoln, 34-8. Tipton's passing attack and three interceptions destroyed the Cardinals momentum time and time again.
After a scoreless first quarter, Tipton hit paydirt when Lucas Cashman raced 22 yards for the TD at 8:19 of the second quarter of play. The 2-point conversion was good as Cashman ran up the middle untouched and it was quickly 8-0.
At the 2:09 mark, Chase Young ran around the left sideline for a 56-yard TD for Lincoln and a nice pass from Riley Sanders to Cam Everhart for the 2-point conversion tied the contest at 8-8.
After a first quarter interception at the five yard line by Sanders killed a drive, Tipton found their passing attack in a big way. A 30-yard pass up the middle to Riley Waters made the score 14-8 after the PAT failed.
A little pooch kick saw Lincoln fumble the kickoff and Tipton recovered at the 45 yard line. Another pass to Cashman made the score 22-8 as a stunned Lincoln crowd looked on at halftime. The PAT had failed.
The second half was a disaster for the Cardinals. It was 28-8 after three periods were in the books. Tipton scored again in the fourth on a pass play as Lincoln defenders were beaten yet again.
Tipton beat Lincoln 60-14 last season.
Lincoln head coach Brad Drehle commented, "We are a football team that needs to find our way. We have improved from last year. We just have to decide what kind of football team we want to be. We have a lot of guys placed in new positions."
He went on to say, "We could have rolled over, but we didn't. We are moving in the right direction. We got challenged tonight. It is about what you do next. Life is about the next thing."
As a team, the rushing attack went 19 times for 55 yards. Without Young's 56-yard trot, it would have been negative yards rushing.
Passing saw Sanders go 15 for 32 for 135 yards while throwing 3 interceptions. Maybe a bit misleading as his receivers dropped several nice passes due to well-timed hits from Tipton's secondary.
Receiving saw Young haul in 6 passes for 79 yards. Parrott caught 4 balls for 36 yards, Everhart brought in 4 for 13 yards and Ben Eckhoff had 1 reception for 4 yards.
This Friday is Homecoming and the Cardinals (1-1) will face Crest Ridge, who is 0-2 with loses to Holden (41-6) and Penney (56-8). Lincoln was forced to forfeit last season after a 42-8 score in the fourth quarter against Crest Ridge as injuries left them with just ten healthy players. The Cardinals have 22 players this time around and are looking to redeem themselves after the disappointing loss to Tipton in week 2.
