Tipton heads to Penney looking to overcome the hurdle in the football state semifinals

TIPTON – The Tipton Cardinals are hoping the seventh time will be the charm.

The Cardinals have made it to the Class 1 semifinals six times, but each time their season has ended just one step shy of the state championship game.

Tipton gets its sixth chance today when it takes on the Penney Hornets in the Class 1 semifinals. Kickoff is at 1 p.m. at Alumni Field in Hamilton.

“We absolutely talked about it,” Tipton head coach Bill Duke said. “…We talked about the history, the tradition and where it was.

“This round was extremely tough for Tipton. Tipton has been playing football for 65 years and has never made it past this round.”

The fourth-ranked Cardinals (11-1) advanced to the state semifinals after getting a 10-yard touchdown from Paxton Pyle in the final seconds and secured a 42-36 win in the class last week 1 District 2 championship against Harrisburg.

Tipton’s six previous results in this round were a 28-7 loss to Lockwood in 2001, a 21-6 loss to Marionville in 2003, a 35-24 loss to Thayer in 2007 and another 36-12 Lost to Thayer in 2003. 08, one 49-21 loss to Valle Catholic in 2009 and another 43-18 loss to Valle Catholic in 2012.

As one of the final four teams making it to Class 1 for the first time in 12 seasons, the Cardinals team turned heads and even helped secure the team’s charter bus for today’s trip.

“We have a private Facebook page for Tipton football and it’s going crazy,” Duke said. “People have been incredibly supportive. We’ll take a charter bus there so we can get everyone on one bus. We usually have to take a few school buses.

“We did something to get help getting a charter bus and at the end of the day everything was done.”

On the home side today is Penney (8-4), the District 4 winner and No. 1 seed.

The Hornets enter today’s competition on a four-game winning streak, most recently losing 20-6 to Class 2 No. 1 on Oct. 18. 6 Mid Buchanan.

The contest against Mid-Buchanan was one of six regular-season games for Penney against Class 2 schools.

“I know they believe in their schedule,” Duke said.

But Tipton also believes his schedule has prepared the team for games like this.

The Cardinals opened the season with a 40-7 home win over Class 3 California and closed the season with a 46-12 win over Class 2 South Callaway.

But Tipton also traveled to face Class 2 Lamar, which plays in the Class 2 state semifinals today, to prepare for a long road trip that the team will experience again today.

“We agreed to travel to Lamar because we had to travel more than three hours in the playoffs last year,” Duke said. “We wanted to start that process and replicate what we need to do.”

Penney has averaged 30.1 points per game while giving up an average of 15.9 points.

The Hornets’ offense relies on spreading out the defense with wide formations to create space for their running game.

This rushing attack is led by senior quarterback Titus McBee, who enters today with 15 rushing touchdowns and more than 1,000 rushing yards.

Penney also uses sophomore Jack Cooley, who had two rushing touchdowns in last week’s 35-13 win in the district championship, and senior Carter Kanoy in the backcourt.

“Great quarterback, some good fullbacks and a good fullback,” Duke said. “They’re all very, very physical, they’ll hit you.”

Defensively, the Hornets have improved over the course of the year.

Penney allowed 45 points in a season-opening loss to Lafayette County, a Class 2 district champion this season, but has allowed more than 20 points in the regular season only once since then, in a 33-23 win over West Platte in District semifinals.

The Hornets operate in a 4-3 system and defend the run aggressively.

“They are very confident in what they do,” Duke said. “They rely on their front four and their (middle) linebacker to take care of every type of running play. Their full-backs usually stay outside the penalty area, but they get into the penalty area very quickly and make tackles. Their safeties get downhill and they have confidence in their passing game because their corners apply a lot of pressure.”

But no matter what style of defense Tipton faces, he is comfortable in what he does.

The Cardinals are bolstering a run-heavy attack led by senior Lucas Cashman with nearly 2,000 yards and 28 touchdowns and Pyle with more than 1,200 rushing yards and 14 touchdowns, and they have no plans to change that approach.

“Whether we win or lose on Saturday, we’re going to do what we do, that’s just the way it is,” Duke said. “When you have a guy like Lucas Cashman who can rush for 2,000 yards, Paxton Pyle who can sprint for over 1,200 yards, and another running back who can sprint for 300-400 yards, I think you know where we stand Build work.”

Another factor that could affect today’s game is the weather.

With a high of just 35 degrees in the forecast and a chance of snow in the morning, conditions are far from ideal.

“We trained in the weather conditions we were facing,” Duke said. “…We practiced first thing (Thursday) morning, and (Friday) we practiced about as much as we were warming up and playing to try to emulate it.”

Notes: Penney has made it to the state championship five times in program history, most recently when the Hornets won the Class 1 state title in 2016. Penney also won state championships in 2009, 2010 and 2012 and lost in the 2015 state championship. … The winner of today’s contest will face the winner of the other semifinal game between top-seeded St. Vincent (12-0) and third-seeded Adrian (11-1) in the state championship next Saturday at 3 p.m. at Faurot Field in Columbia. Kickoff between the Indians and Blackhawks is also scheduled for 1 p.m. today at the George Bruto Athletic Complex in Adrian. … The Hornets host today’s game as they are even-numbered district champions after both teams hosted all three district games as No. 1 seeds.