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Coming into Friday night’s regular season finale on a four-game winning streak, the Tippecanoe Valley football team looked to stay hot and wrap up the year with a second-place finish in the Indiana Northern State Conference. The Vikings were able to do exactly that, using a big first and third quarter to defeat Bremen 31-7 at Smith-Bibler field.
A large factor in the team’s recent success has been the ability of the defense to set the tone early on. That’s exactly what happened here, as the Lions were forced to punt on their opening drive after failing to pick up a first down. In the last four games to wrap up the regular season, Valley outscored its opponents 144-21.
“I think the simplify and speed things up approach has worked well for us,” Moriarty said. “I thought tonight the defense was all over the place, and quick to get to the ball. That’s been the case for a while now.”
Upon getting the ball for the first time, the Viking offense did not struggle to get going. Using a healthy dosage of Wes Parker and Grady Moriarty, Valley was able to march down the field with ease. The big play of the drive was a 30-yard connection from Hunter Stage to Owen Omondi to put the team in the red zone, a few plays later, a jet sweep to Jamison Phillips put the Vikings on the board 7-0 after a six minute drive.
The Valley defense continued to make an impact after retaking the field, as Hunter Paxton came up with his second interception of the season on a deep pass attempt by Jack Wildauer. On the third play of the ensuing drive Stage connected with Phillips on a slant play that ended up going 63 yards after a Bremen defender slipped, giving the team an instant goal-to-go series. After a penalty backed the team up five yards, Parker was able to find the edge from 13 yards out to make it a 14-0 game in the final minute of the first.
Now down two scores, the Lions were able to move the ball well on their third drive of the night. Bremen burned six minutes off of the clock, but were only able to get to midfield before being forced to punt for the second time. The visiting defense was able to come up with the stop it needed after being thrust into action, forcing a fumble on a Grady Moriarty carry at midfield.
It took just one play for the Lions to take advantage of the turnover. Wildauer dropped back and found a wide open Jace Pippenger racing downfield. He’d throw him the perfect ball and connect for a 57-yard touchdown to make it 14-7.
Things went from bad to worse for the Vikings on the following drive, as another fumble gave the ball right back to Bremen inside of the red zone. Omondi very nearly came up with an interception a play later to get the ball right back, but he was ruled out of bounds coming down with the football.
A few plays later Omondi did come up with a big play for his team. With the visitors facing a 4th and 4 inside of the 10, the junior was able to break up a pass intended to Wildauer to keep the Lions off of the scoreboard.
Senior Jamison Phillips of Valley finds plenty of running room during Friday night's home game against Bremen...Nieter
Getting the ball back with less than two minutes until the half, the Vikings ran a few plays but were unable to get into scoring range. Things had been looking good after a 14-0 first quarter, but two turnovers later, the Valley lead sat at just seven going into the break.
The visitors caught their opponents off guard to begin the second half, surprising the Vikings with an onside kick that the Lions were able to recover. Desperately needing to get momentum back on its side, Valley was able to come up with a stop on fourth and inches just outside of the red zone to get the ball back and stay in front.
After the big stop, the Vikings began their march down the field. The home side had to battle through a series of penalties, but continued to move the chains despite moving backwards quite a few times. A 38-yard carry by Phillips put the team inside the red zone before Omondi dove into the end zone a play later to get a massive score with five minutes left in the third. Valley now had some breathing room with a 21-7 lead.
“You just can’t focus on one player when we have all of those weapons on the field. It shows the diversity of the team and our ability to spread the ball around,” Moriarty said. “They’re not just explosive with the ball either. All of these kids are great blockers.”
The Vikings kept momentum on the next defensive possession, as Hudson Shepherd was able to come down with an interception, his fifth of the year, to give it right back to the offense. The home side was able to drive all the way down to the nine before the drive stalled out. Gage Overbey came on and was able to nail a short field goal, extending the lead to 24-7 in the final minute of the third quarter.
Paxton’s second pick of the night almost turned into a touchdown, as he had room on the sideline after coming up with the interception, but he was taken down near midfield. With the ball, the lead and time ticking away, the Vikings were in great shape to put the finishing touches on this one. With four and a half minutes left in the contest, Parker ran it in from three yards out to give his team a commanding 31-7 lead.
The game ended with Bremen driving the football, eventually wrapping up around midfield.
Tippecanoe Valley (7-2) will travel to Angola next Friday for the team’s sectional opener.
“They’re a good football team that’s better than their record indicates. I think we’re peaking at the right time, and this is the point of the year where you need to be stacking wins on top of each other,” Tippecanoe Valley head coach Steve Moriarty said after the game. “This week it’s going to be just as important that we stack up good practices so that the outcome next Friday is what we want it to be.”
