Cards stop ’Cats

GREENFIELD — Defense ruled for the Tipton Cardinals on Saturday afternoon.

The Cardinals scored two early touchdowns and then used their stout defense to smother the Greenfield Wildcats and grab a 19-0 win in Class 1 quarterfinal play.

“From day one after districts, we’ve said that if we’re going to the next game, every week it’s gotta be because of the defense,” said Tipton coach Tony Braby.

“The defense has really shown up for us. I mean, we practiced hard all week with their misdirection. In fact, we even used a small rubber ball so the defense couldn’t see where it was going and we’d play our responsibilities and gaps. I think it really paid off. The defense really won this game for us.”

Greenfield (11-2) came into the game with a high-powered offense featuring a number of effective weapons including Jordan Riehm, Jamie Gray and Jordan Bryant.

Those runners never got started, however, as the Cardinal defense forced the Wildcats to punt seven times and turn the ball over on downs three times.

On the offensive side, Tipton (13-0) got solid contributions from quarterback Marcus Brinkley, receiver/running back Tanner Edwards and running back Jonathan Loganbill.

Loganbill was inserted into the fullback position because of an injury to starter Keil Allison, who did not play.

Loganbill led all runners with 28 carries for 159 yards and two touchdowns. He picked up 106 of those yards in the fourth quarter as the Cardinals pushed the ball down field and ran out the clock.

“He ran hard. They hit him hard and he ran hard,” Braby  said of Loganbill. 

“That’s a lot of pressure, going from the halfback to the fullback spot, not knowing the plays as well as he should, but he gutted it out.”

One of the key plays of the game came even before the opening kickoff. The Cardinals won the coin toss and chose to defer until the second half, meaning they would kick with the strong wind at their back.

That decision paid off quickly as Greenfield was forced to punt on its first possession, a 19-yard kick into the wind, giving the Cardinals the ball at the Wildcats 46-yard line.

Four plays later, Brinkley connected with Edwards in the end zone for a 24-yard touchdown pass.

After a penalty wiped out Weston Wood’s successful extra point kick, his second kick hit the upright, so the Tipton lead stood at 6-0 four minutes into the game.

Later in the first, after another short Greenfield punt, the Cardinals set up shop in Wildcat territory.

Once again the Cardinals needed only four plays to reach the end zone, this time on a 7-yard scoring run by Loganbill.

The two-point conversion was unsuccessful, but the Cardinals held a 12-0 lead after one quarter.

“I think the key was winning that coin toss and deferring and being able to kick with the wind,” said Braby. “I told the guys I wanted to get the ball down in there and hopefully get some nervousness from them and get some good field position early. Everything worked out for us perfectly.”

Both defenses stiffened in the second quarter and neither team could score. Greenfield did mount a long drive that went to the Tipton 15, but Chris Bracht knocked down a halfback pass on fourth down, keeping the Wildcats off the scoreboard and preserving the 12-0 lead at halftime.

Both teams kept the ball almost exclusively on the ground in the third quarter, but neither could put together a sustained drive. That left Greenfield just 12 minutes to try to figure out the Tipton defense and stage a comeback.

The Tipton defense did not allow it.

Greenfield had the ball for two possessions in the final quarter, drove to the Tipton 31 once and the 5 once, but the Cardinals’ defense forced the Wildcats to turn the ball over on downs both times.

The Cardinals took possession after the first Greenfield drive, went 70 yards on 10 plays, used 4:30 of clock, and scored again to put the game out of reach.

Loganbill capped the drive, one in which he carried seven times for 51 yards, with a burst into the end zone from the 1.

That drive featured a key fourth-down conversion by the Cardinals. Facing fourth-and-4 on the 15, Brinkley hit Bracht with a 14-yard pass that gave Tipton a first down and set up Loganbill’s scoring run.

After Wood booted the extra point, Tipton had a 19-0 lead with four minutes left and looked to have the game in hand.

Greenfield, however, had one more test for the Cardinals’ defense.

Bryant threw a screen pass to Riehm, and Riehm took it 75 yards down the sideline to the Cardinals’ 5.
 
The Tipton defense forced two incomplete passes, stuffed a run and then a final incomplete pass to end the Wildcats’ final attempt to score.

The Cardinals used their power running game to run the final three minutes off the clock and secure the win.

Tipton now faces a semifinal rematch against Thayer, the team that eliminated the Cardinals last year.

“We’re playing Thayer, and we’re excited about that,” Braby said. “Maybe this time it will work out for us.”