Tigers sink Pirates remain unbeaten

    Tipton’s No. 3 ranked Tigers remained unbeaten in 2000 as they overcame a sluggish start to roll past Cyril, 50-20, on Friday night.

    After a slow start, Tipton’s offense came to life as the Tigers racked up nearly 500 total yards, including 409 yards rushing.  But the Tigers defense was key in this one as they limited the Pirates’ ground game to a mere two yards.
    Tiger quarterback Justin White scored Tipton’s lone touchdown of the first quarter on a 15-yard scamper.
    The Tiger offense came to life in the second quarter as Eric Hill burst 18 yards for Tipton’s second score.  Hill also added the two-point conversion giving the Tigers a 14-0 lead with 10:16 remaining in the half.
    White extended the Tiger lead with a 23-yard run less than three minutes later, and Robert Jasper added the two-pointer, 22-0.
    The Tigers added a safety on a bobbled Pirate punt before Cyril finally got on the board with a one-yard Josh Wilson run just before the half, 24-6.
    Hill sprinted 45 yards to extend the Tiger lead early in the third.  Jacob Cope booted the PAT giving the Tigers a 31-6 lead.
    The Pirates answered on their next possession as Wilson hit Dustin Halworth for a 12-yard scoring toss cutting the Tiger lead to 31-12.
    Tipton quickly put the game away as Shawn Hill raced 80 yards for the score on the ensuing kickoff before adding a 35-yard touchdown run later in the third.  Cope toed the PAT following Hill’s second touchdown pushing the Tiger lead to 44-12.
    Cyril didn’t quit though as Jordan Ovel scored from four yards out early in the fourth.  Wilson hit Halworth for the two-point conversion, but that would be all the young Pirates could muster.
    Just for good measure, the Tigers added another score as Nathan Soliz sprinted 90 yards on the ensuing kickoff for the final margin, Tigers, 50, Cyril, 20.
    The Tigers suffered a blow in the win as standout tailback Robert Jasper left the game in the second quarter with a hand injury.
    “We don’t know the extent of his injury yet.”  Tiger coach Jim Kerbo said of Jasper, “But Robert’s a tough kid, and hopefully he’ll back in there next week.”
    Luckily for Kerbo he has a whole stable full of great backs as Eric Hill picked up the slack gaining 157 yards on 14 carries and freshman Shawn Hill added 86 yards on nine carries.
    Despite the final score, Kerbo wasn’t pleased with his team’s five turnovers and 11 penalties, which resulted in 95 yards of losses.
    “It wasn’t pretty, but we’ll take it.” Kerbo said of the win. “We turned the ball over and had more penalties than we’ve had in the last five ball games.  We were sloppy, the kids weren’t focused, and the crowd wasn’t even pumped up.  I guess everyone reads the papers and sees Cyril at 1-5 and thinks it’s going to be an easy time.”
    “We just didn’t get up to play the game.” Kerbo added. “We were flat and it’s a good thing Cyril wasn’t a great football team.  Hopefully, we were saving it all for this week”
    The Tigers can’t afford a sloppy performance this week as they travel to Burns Flat for a showdown with the No. 6 ranked Eagles on Thursday.
    “Our kids are going to have to be better prepared to play.” Kerbo said of Thursday’s game with the Eagles. “This is a big ball game, it’s a huge ball game.  Burns Flat has become one of our bitter rivals, and they were a state finals team last year.”
    “You don’t want to put too much emphasis on one game being for the district championship,” Kerbo added of the playoff implications surrounding this week’s game, “but it very well could be down the line, we’ve still got two games left after this with Merritt and Central, but you know this could very well be (for the district championship).”