Tippecanoe quarterback Liam Poronsky avoids a tackle as he fires a pass downfield Friday night against Western Brown at Bellbrook High School. Tippecanoe won 41-30 in a D-III, Region 12 semifinal.
MVT Photos By Mike Ullery and Amanda Prior
Tippecanoe’s Blake Thompson (49) and Cael Liette wrap up a Western Brown ball carrier Friday night.
MVT Photos By Mike Ullery and Amanda Prior
Tippecanoe’s Xavier Jones turnes the corner Friday night as Western Brown’s Colton Rogers gives chase.
MVT Photos By Mike Ullery and Amanda Prior
Tippecanoe’s Stanley Clyne goes vertical to haul in a pass as Western Brown’s Andrew Schneerman defends Friday night.
MVT Photos By Mike Ullery and Amanda Prior
SUGARCREEK — Tippecanoe football quarterback Liam Poronsky turned in an amazing performance to lead the Red Devils back from an early deficit to a 41-30 win over a high-powered Western Brown offense Friday night at Bellbrook High School.
Tippecanoe advances to the D-III, Region 12 regional final against Hamilton Badin at 7 p.m. Friday night at Trotwood-Madison High School.
Poronsky accounted for an amazing 400 yards of total offense in the game and the Tipp defense made enough plays against “Air Novak” to come away with victory.
Tipp improved to 12-1 with the win, while Western Brown closes the season at 11-2.
Novak, the Western Brown quarterback, completed 35 of 62 passes for 394 yards and rushed for 132 yards on 20 carries.
He had touchdown runs of 7 and 2 yards and Camdyn Cunningham kicked both PATs to give the Broncos a 14-0 lead after one quarter.
Tipp cut it to 14-7 when Poronsky hooked up with Stanley Clyne on a 36-yard TD pass and Jackson Kleather kicked the PAT.
Tipp also had a field goal attempt blocked in the first half, but made several big plays on defense to stay within one score.
Andrew Oen intercepted a tipped pass to stop one drive.
Late in the first half, it looked like Western Brown would get a touchdown, driving inside the Tipp 20.
But, Lucas Merry made an interception near the end zone to keep the score 14-7.
With 6:57 remaining in the third quarter, Poronsky ran nine yards for a score and Kleather’s PAT kick tied the game 14-14.
Xavier Jones would run 4 yards for a touchdown with 3:00 to go in the third quarter and Kleather’s kick gave Tipp its first lead at 21-14.
But, the lead would not last long.
Zackery Chrisman would run 10 yards for a Bronco score with 1:00 remaining in the third quarter and Novak threw to A.J. Graham for the two-point conversion to give Western Brown a 22-21 lead.
Jones would score on a 10-yard run with 11:00 to go in the game to give Tipp the lead for good and Kleather’s kick made it 28-22.
Then, Poronsky would finish off the win with his legs.
He ran 46 yards for a touchdown and after Kleather’s kick, the Red Devils led 35-22 with 5:56 remaining in the game.
Western Brown would get a 23-yard TD pass from Novak to Isaiah Smith and Novak ran for the 2-point conversion to make it 35-30 with 4:30 remaining in the game.
But, Poronsky would answer with another big run to seal the win.
He ran 56 yards for the score with 3:30 remaining to make it 41-30 and Tipp held on from there.
Poronsky would finish with 237 yards on 19 carries, while Jones added 63 yards on 24 carries.
Poronsky completed 13 of 20 passes for 163 yards, with Clyne catching six passes for 108 yards.
Maddox Sivon had a second-half interception for Tipp, while Josh Dietz had 13 tackles for the Red Devil defense.
Payton Bey had 12 tackles, including 11 solo and Cael Liette also had 12 tackles.
DJ Martin and Christian Hartman both had eight tackles and Blake Thompson had seven tackles.
Chrisman rushed for 100 yards for the Broncos on 23 carries and caught 11 passes for 141 yards.
Matthew Osborne had nine catches for 88 yards, Isaiah Smith had six catches for 85 yards and Brady Sutton had five catches for 43 yards.
Spencer Smith led the Broncos defense with nine tackles and Colton Rogers had eight tackles.
Dane Tomlin forced a fumble with Spencer Smith recovering.
