Tipton rushing attack wears down Liberal

Dakota Pace takes a handoff from Braden Brownfield in Tipton's 32-12 win over Liberal on Saturday. Pace led the Cardinals with 174 rushing yards.
Dakota Pace takes a handoff from Braden Brownfield in Tipton's 32-12 win over Liberal on Saturday. Pace led the Cardinals with 174 rushing yards.

TIPTON - Coming into its game against Liberal on Saturday, Tipton was in need of a shake-up offensively after the unit had only managed one touchdown in each of the Cardinals' three losses.

The plan was to put senior Braden Brownfield under center in hopes of getting more experience and more of a passing threat from the quarterback position.

The plan worked.

Tipton (2-3) eventually pulled away from Liberal (1-4) in a 32-12 win that saw the Cardinals hit paydirt three times in the fourth quarter. The 32 points were Tipton's highest scoring total of the season.

"(Braden) had been there all last year," Tipton head coach Tony Braby said. "I think he kind of kept the players in the huddle on an even keel. I think they felt comfortable with him and being a senior, I think he handled himself very well."

Trailing 12-8 heading into the fourth, the Cardinals' running game finally got on track in the final frame when Dakota Pace dashed for a 59-yard touchdown run early in the fourth.

With the lead, Tipton was able to let its pass rush take over and it paid off on the very next series as Tyler Pierson forced a turnover with a strip sack of Liberal's Jacob Dermott.

Pierson got in on the scoring on Tipton's next drive when he took a short pass from Brownfield 44 yards to the end zone to stake the Cardinals to a two-score lead.

After a Bulldogs turnover on downs, Pace capped off his day with a second rushing touchdown, this time from 29 yards out. Pace totaled 174 yards on 19 carries while catching one pass for eight yards.

Brownfield finished 2-of-5 passing for 52 yards. Dylan Becker and Matthew Grunder also had a handful of carries for the Cardinals. Becker rushed for 42 yards and punched in all three two-point conversions in the fourth while Grunder had 31, highlighted by a 20-yard touchdown run in the first quarter.

"In the first half I didn't think there was much excitement from the kids," Braby said. "There was no urgency and we looked a little lackadaisical, but we really picked it up in the second half and it made this win that much nicer."

Much of Tipton's success as the game wore on came from its offensive line. Senior Rickey Capestro was integral in allowing the Cardinals to get on the outside with their run game.

"We flip-flopped (Ricky) on the left and right side of the line," Braby said. "He's such a veteran player and such a good, smart kid. He probably was the player of the game overall."

While Tipton's offense picked up once its runners were able to get on the outside, the Cardinals' defense was struggling to stop the Bulldogs from doing that same thing early.

Liberal's Noah Harris got off to a fast start with a 29-yard touchdown run midway through the first that opened the game's scoring. Harris finished with 92 yards on 23 carries, but struggled to break off any big gains in the second half.

"They were picking on one of our defensive ends, so after half we started flip-flopping to their formation," Braby said. "That was a big defensive move by Coach (Ralph) Bestgen to switch our defensive ends and put our best end on our strength side."

Liberal's second score came late in the first half on a Dermott 14-yard touchdown pass to Tyler Stebbins. Dermott finished 6-of-9 for 42 yards. Stebbins hauled in three catches for 29 yards and ran for 52 yards as well.

Next on the schedule for Tipton is a date with undefeated Lincoln. Both teams are 1-0 in the Kaysinger Conference.