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ARLINGTON, Texas -- With the whole town watching, Walker Tippie did what everyone knew he would do, dominate.
The do-it-junior for Richland Springs ran all over AT&T Stadium leading the Coyotes to their second consecutive 1A Six-Man Division II championship over Balmorhea 96-50.
It was the eighth state title in school history with all coming since 2004.
“It’s and indescribable feeling winning number eight, these kids have worked so hard,” Richland Springs head coach Jerry Burkhart said. “One thing that we can’t coach is effort, and they give 100% every day and I’m so proud of them.”
Tippie was named offensive MVP rushing for 414 yards and eight touchdowns to go along with two touchdowns and 62 passing yards. His touchdown runs went for 58, 41, 50, 34, 58, 37, 63 and 33 yards.
He also had an interception on defense.
“I was just the one that got the carries tonight and my teammates made great blocks and just had a good night.” Tippie said.
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After a back-and-forth first half, the Coyotes had a 10-point halftime lead. Richland Springs outscored Balmorhea 24-0 in the third quarter thanks to three Trippie touchdown runs. That pushed the lead to 34 points.
“Vance Jones is a great coach and he threw lots of different looks at us, so we started to figure those out,” Burkheart said of what was behind his team pulling away in the third quarter. “Our kids adjusted well and it helped with this 10-day period so we can have our kids adjust in practice.”
In the first half, Balmorhea was able to keep up with the high-flying Coyote offense led by Tippie, but the junior was responsible for all five of Richland Springs (15-0) touchdowns, four on eight carries for 220 yards and one passing on a 50-yard strike to Traven Day.
It was just too much for the Bears to keep up with, though, in the second half.
“We knew we could score on this team, and we just need some stops and once that happened we were able to pull away.” Burkheart said.
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