Turpin defense shines in shutout

It was only Week Five of the season, Week Two in conference play, and the Eastern Cincinnati Conference saw its first battle of undefeated teams on Friday night, resulting in the Turpin Spartans edging out the Walnut Hills Eagles 20-0 on Friday night during homecoming at Walnut’s Marx Stadium.

Turpin Head Coach Rob Stoll (photo by Cathy Lachmann/TriStateFootball.com)

Turpin advanced to 5-0 for the second year in a row, while Walnut Hills and new Head Coach Brian Lainhart suffered their first loss of the season, moving to 4-1 on the still young season.

The game was a defensive battle for most of the game, with both teams being forced to punt on each of their first three possessions.
Turpin Head Coach Rob Stoll was pleased with the way his defense performed, etching its first shutout of the season.

“They’re (Turpin’s defense) good,” Stoll said. “We have a lot of disciplined guys; so many good players on our defense.”

While talking about the way his offense performed, Stoll gave credit to Walnut’s defense, calling them “big, physical, and a tremendous amount of speed.”

“I think this is one of the best defenses Walnut Hills has had since I’ve been coaching,” Stoll added.

Midway through the second quarter, Turpin struck onto the scoreboard first on a 67-yard pass from quarterback Lucas Smith to wideout Jake Silverstein to put the Spartans up 7-0.

On the next Spartan possession, Will Hausfeld found the end zone on a short dash from six yards out and after a failed extra point, Turpin found itself up 13-0 with 4:51 left in the first half.

Turpin wide out Jake Campbell made a highlight reel play on the next Turpin drive when Smith connected on a 34-yard pass that saw Campbell bulldoze two Walnut defenders to extend the Turpin lead to the eventual final score, 20-0.

No points were scored in the second half, although Walnut Hills had an opportunity to put some points on the board early in the second half when Turpin fumbled a punt return and Walnut’s Elijah Wales recovered it within the Turpin 10-yard line. However, facing a fourth-and-six, Coach Brian Lainhart decided to go for it instead of the field goal, and the Eagles turned it over on downs.

Turpin finished the game with 228 yards of total offense; 131 through the air, 97 on the ground. Walnut Hills could only muster up 82 yards of total offense, almost all coming through the passing game.

Turpin (5-0, 2-0 ECC) will be tested for a second week in a row next Friday night, when it hosts the Kings Knights. The two co-champions from 2015 faced each other twice last year, with Turpin taking the regular season match 20-16, and Kings taking the playoff tilt 47-13.

Walnut Hills (4-1, 1-1 ECC) will look to rebound next week when it takes on a struggling Milford Eagles team, that currently sits at 1-4 overall, and 0-2 in ECC play after losing to Loveland 27-14 on Friday night.

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