A junior making his first start, Labensky completed 12-of-24 passes for 175 yards and a touchdown. Seven of his completions went to Borondy who ended with 129 yards receiving. Labensky’s 24 pass attempts were the most by a Bellbrook quarterback since his brother Brendan Labensky threw 26 times in a 21-14 loss to Tipp to open the 2017 season.
Borondy, a running back and the reigning Southwestern Buckeye League offensive player of the year, had seven receptions total last season.
“We kind of did what they dictated we had to do,” Bellbrook head coach Jeff Jenkins said. “They loaded the box and were bringing up safeties. They sold out on stopping the run. We had to make some big plays in the passing game and luckily we made enough.”
Said Labensky: “We’re a running offense so you don’t always expect to throw a bunch, but when the time came, we needed the passing game to open it up.”
Labensky’s first three attempts went for incompletions. His fourth was a 43-yard reception by Borondy that set up a 1-yard touchdown run by the quarterback two plays later. Tipp (0-1) had taken a 7-0 lead on Cayd Everhart’s 39-yard first quarter run.
Bellbrook (1-0) took a 14-7 lead into halftime after a 97-yard drive, feuled by seven completions from Labensky, ended in a 5-yard touchdown pass to Tristan Weybrant with seven seconds left in the quarter.
“We had an inkling they would (throw it),” Tipp head coach Matt Burgbacher said. “We did some things defensively to counter it and had some breakdowns. That happens. We’re going to get it fixed.”
Defense dominated the final 24 minutes.
Tipp forced three second half turnovers, including two interceptions by Grayson Ring, one of which he returned 28 yards for a touchdown to tie the game 14-14 in the third quarter. The Red Devils also produced a fourth down stop. They had four takeaways total.
Bellbrook allowed four Tipp first downs in the second half. Three came in the final 73 seconds.
“The defense played phenomenal the second half,” Jenkins said. “The players knew that they had to carry us there for a while because we weren’t getting it done offensively. They stepped up and made huge plays to end the game.”
Bellbrook’s Gavin Rupp returned an interception 32-yards for the game’s decisive play with 1:18 to play.
“We knew this was going to be this type of game,” Burgbacher said. “We lost to one of the best teams in the state tonight. We have to learn from this and move on.”
Tipp hosts Sidney next week at City Park. Bellbrook hosts Badin.
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