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ELKHART – When Tippecanoe Valley and Jimtown, the two top teams in the Indiana Northern State Conference this season, met for the first time in September, the result was one of the most exciting games of the season, a 17-15 Viking win. Fast forward to Friday night and the two teams found themselves on a collision course once again, this time in the opening round of 3A Sectional 26. The rematch was just as close as the first, but this time the Jimmies were able to exact revenge with a 15-14 victory, ending the green and gold’s season.
“I think this group of kids set the bar pretty high for Valley football,” Valley head coach Steve Moriarty said. “Obviously it’s disappointing to go out like that, but I’m so proud of these kids and what they’ve accomplished and what they’ve set up the next group to accomplish after them.”
Neither team was able to generate much offense on their first drive. Jimtown used a fake punt on its opening series to retain the possession, moving the chains a couple more times before a second fake on fourth down was stopped for a turnover. Valley wasn’t able to muster much on its first offensive try, going three and out and punting after picking up just two yards.
Defenses continued to rule the day for the remainder of the first quarter, as both the Vikings and Jimmies would punt one more time before the initial 12 minutes of the game ran out. This was smashmouth football at its finest. Both sides were determined to run the ball and their opponents were determined to stop them in their tracks, leading to some violent collisions at and around the line of scrimmage. With every yard being harder to come by than the last at this point, the field-position battle became even more crucial than usual.
A penalty against the Vikings for a late hit out of bounds on the third Jimtown drive of the game shifted that field position in a big way, giving the home side a first down deep in Valley territory. Despite a pair of penalties going against the Jimmies later in the drive, the INSC runners-up wound up being the first team on the scoreboard with a 12-yard run by Nash Hamby. Two minutes into the second quarter, Jimtown led 7-0.
Now it was the visitors’ turn to get something going on offense, but on just the second play of the ensuing drive, disaster struck. The Vikings went into the bag of tricks early, turning a pitch play to Grant Paxton into a double pass. The sophomore had Owen Omondi open downfield, but undercooked the pass, which was picked off by Zander Whitaker. The junior got a great return to go with the turnover, and just like that, Jimtown was back in enemy territory.
Valley was able to get some temporary relief, as the defense took the field and forced a turnover on downs to keep the deficit at seven points. The offense seemed to feed off of this momentum at least a little bit, as the Vikings went on to push forward for their best runs of the game thus far, picking up a pair of first downs. However, just as quickly as things started going well, they fell apart. Facing a third and long near midfield, Hunter Randall dropped back deep looking for Omondi, but he was covered. Perhaps panicking a bit, the senior hurried the ball away, and it was promptly picked off at the line of scrimmage by Max Ganger.
With time running out in the first half, the Valley defense was put in yet another tough spot, but again, they came through. For the second straight drive, the visitors forced a turnover on downs near the red area, giving the ball back to the O with just over two minutes left.
“I thought our defense did a great job tonight, especially in the first half,” Moriarty said. “They got put in some pretty tough spots and continued to bail us out.”
After another lackluster drive, the visitors punted it away with 30 seconds to go. Whitaker was on the return, and it was a beauty. The junior ran past and over a series of defenders before finally being tackled inside the five with nine seconds left. The only problem for him and the Jimmies was a penalty marker at midfield for a hold. With a massive break going the way of the Vikings, they headed into the half still trailing 7-0.
After putting together a first half they’d like to forget, Valley began the second half with the ball and with purpose. Recovering a pooch kick gave the visitors some good starting field position, and they would end up taking advantage. Hunter Paxton was the main man on this drive, running with patience and power as he carved up the Jimmie defense as the first downs began to pile up.
Senior Hunter Paxton of Valley races upfield for a long gain in the third quarter...NIeter
Eventually Paxton’s longest run of the drive, 22 yards, set his team up inside the five. It took a couple of tries, but Randall was eventually able to punch it in himself after a six-minute drive. The Vikings wound up going for two, with Randall selling a fake perfectly before trotting in himself for the octopus. After a brutal start to this game, the green and gold now led 8-7.
“We made some adjustments to account for their defense, which was different from what we’d seen from them this season,” Moriarty said. “Our blocking was better, we did a better job of getting to their linebackers and it seemed to work in that second half.”
Playing from behind for the first time, Jimtown put together an equally impressive drive upon getting the ball back. Hamby and quarterback Cameron Inbody were the yardage leaders as the Jimmies gave the Vikings a taste of their own medicine with some in-your-face running up the middle. Inbody eventually scrambled through a sea of defenders for a 19-yard score. The home side went on to convert on the two-point conversion, and with 90 seconds left in the third, led 15-7.
After the defensive battle that was the first half, the offensive showcase continued here in the second. Trailing once more but not phased at all, Randall ran the option to perfection on this drive, pulling at the perfect moment multiple times to create some serious running room for himself. Just 30 seconds into the fourth quarter, another keeper for the senior QB fooled everybody, as he broke loose for a 29-yard score. However, Omondi’s extra point was blocked, meaning Valley was still chasing a point down 15-14.
That meant the defense needed to come up with a stop to keep the season alive. Jimtown was able to burn just over six minutes off of the clock, converting on a third and long early in the drive to keep it rolling. But facing another long third down, Mason Miller was able to blow the play up behind the line of scrimmage to force a punt. With just over five minutes left, the Vikings had the ball back and a chance to take the lead.
The Viking offense continued to look poised as they attempted to move down the field and into scoring range. The visitors faced a pair of third downs on the wrong side of midfield, but both Randall and Paxton were able to pick up crucial firsts. A long run by Paxton with just over a minute left put Valley just outside of the red zone with all three timeouts left. On third down with 30 seconds left, Randall had Omondi wide open in the end zone on a fade route, but he could not connect with him, resulting in a 34-yard field goal attempt for Omondi. He lined up and hit it, but was iced with a timeout moments before the snap. His second try hooked to left and did not make it through the uprights, resulting in yet another heartbreaking end to a Viking season.
“I thought Coach Weaver made a great play call. They hadn’t been accounting for Omondi on the outside because of our running game, so we thought we could exploit that,” Moriarty said.
“Just out of his reach.”
