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Even with no trips to the red zone and just one offensive touchdown scored, Tippecanoe Valley had no problem dispatching Plymouth 20-3 in the season opener Friday night. Valley’s defense came up big all night long for the visitors, totaling four turnovers to keep the Rockies without a touchdown in the two school’s first ever meeting.
Just six points were scored in the first half, all of them coming in the final two minutes. Plymouth’s Carlos Carrillo put the first three on the board with 1:38 left on a 25-yard field goal. He’d be outdone not long afterwards as Valley’s Gage Overbey beat the first half horn with a school-record bomb from 48 yards out to tie things up at the break.
“I think I was more excited about that than I was the touchdowns,” Tippecanoe Valley head coach Steve Moriarty said with a laugh. “When you have a kid that can kick from that far at the high school level, it totally changes the game.”
The Viking defense was the story of the first half, as the Rockies offense had plenty of opportunities to come away with more points, but were turned away on two of their three drives. On the first defensive possession of the game, Hunter Paxton came up with a timely interception in the red zone after a great opening kickoff by the home side. The next time out, the visitors came up with a big fourth down stop on their side of the field to thwart another chance.
“I was extremely pleased with our defense tonight. We did a great job filling gaps, stopping them at the point of attack,” Moriarty said.
Tippy Valley also had a bit of luck on their side early on. The home drive that ended in a field goal could have just as well ended in a touchdown with the Rockies facing a 3rd and 3 from the three yard line. Back-to-back penalties moved them back and the defense was able to force the kick.
On the other side, the Viking offense struggled to get going early on. The team gave quarterback Hunter Stage multiple chances to get it done with his arm, and outside of a successful deep ball to Owen Omondi on the team’s first drive, Plymouth had the passing game locked down. Most of the success the team had in the first half was reminiscent of last year’s: the counter play to Wes Parker. The senior torched the Rockies’ defense, especially on the final drive of the half that ended in the Valley field goal.
Senior Gage Overbey sets a Tippecanoe Valley school record with a 48-yard field goal at the end of the first half...Nieter
It took just under 10 minutes into the second half for any more points to go onto the board, once again coming off the leg of Overbey. The senior’s second 48-yarder of the night came after a massive 4th and 1 stop by the Viking defense near midfield. The offense was able to get into Overbey’s range, but it was clear from their first two possessions of the second half that the Rockies’ defense was starting to catch on to what the visitors were trying to do.
Moments later, the game finally saw its first touchdown of the game courtesy of the Valley defense. Facing a second and long, Plymouth quarterback Ben Shively dropped back and corked a deep ball. It sailed on him a bit and landed right into the hands of Omondi for the interception. The junior got some blocking and took it 40 yards into the endzone. In just under a minute, the Vikings had taken a 10-point lead.
“Owen sees the field so well out there,” Moriarty said. “I was thrilled by our entire secondary’s performance tonight. I think when that happened we kicked it up a notch.”
That was still the case heading into the fourth quarter as the Viking defense was still holding the offense in place. With the ball at its own 25 to begin the final period of play, Valley had a prime opportunity to chew some clock and shrink the possessions game for Plymouth.
That’s exactly what they did. Even though the drive didn’t result in any points, six minutes came off the clock with the Rockies still trailing by two possessions. Even after the following punt was shanked to give Plymouth some great field possession, Omondi continued his fantastic night on the first play from scrimmage with a leaping interception.
The big plays kept on coming for the visitors. Just one play after the pick, Stage broke loose on a quarterback keeper and with the help of some downfield blocking, was able to take it 73 yards for the game’s first offensive touchdown, breaking things open by making it 20-3.
The Rockies’ offense, which had stopped in its tracks since the beginning of the second half, finally started to move the ball again after the second Valley touchdown. The big play on the drive came on a double-pass play that set the home team up with a goal-to-go situation. However, Shively’s fourth pick of the game, this one caught by Parker, put things on ice for good.
Plymouth never touched the ball again, as a few first downs were all the Vikings needed to go into victory formation.
Despite only finding the end zone once, the Vikings were still able to manage 248 yards on the ground, led by Parker’s 123.
Tippecanoe Valley (1-0) stays on the road next Friday when they take on Rochester in the Bell Game.
“These guys know what this one means. We’ll be ready for it,” Moriarty said. “We take great pride in holding onto that bell, and we’d like to keep it.”
