PERU – The Tippecanoe Valley Vikings lost starting quarterback Tanner Trippiedi to an injury in the first quarter, struggled to slow Peru’s offense and saw their season end with a 33-14 loss Friday night.
In the opening round of Class 3A Sectional 27, Trippiedi suffered an ankle injury on Valley’s first possession and never returned.
Meanwhile, the host Tigers found all the footing they needed, as they scored in the first two minutes of the game and raced out to a 26-0 advantage.
Senior Jordan Rader, the Three Rivers Conference’s leading rusher with a little over 1,300 yards in the regular season, scored from 10 yards out with 10:09 left in the first quarter.
Rader found the end zone from four yards out with 2:39 remaining in the opening frame to give the Tigers a 14-0 lead.
“It just seems like our season has gone that way ... before we can score we gotta get down by two (scores) first,” Valley coach Steve Moriarty said in a postgame radio interview.
“We had some success offensively. Cam Parker ran the ball well ... Johnny Gonsalez, Wes Melanson. We tried all of our fullbacks tonight with that down play. We had some success up and down the field, and Noah Miller did a great job coming in and filling in for Trippiedi. He had quite a few excellent passes, and we had a few drops, too.”
Peru, which led 6-0 after one quarter of play, 20-0 at halftime and 26-0 heading into the final frame, finished the game with 17 first downs and 379 yards of total offense.
The Tigers rushed for 260 yards and passed for 119.
“They seemed to have that ability to get away from blocks and break tackles,” Moriarty said of Peru’s ball carriers. “That’s the big thing, wrapping up, and it just feels like they’re slippery out there when it comes down to it. They had a couple good moves, and we just had a hard time bringing them down.”
Valley tallied 225 total yards of offense – 148 on the ground and 77 through the air.
Moving from receiver to quarterback after Trippiedi’s injury, Miller completed 7 of 13 passes and threw two scoring strikes to Alex Morrison.
Their first hookup went for five yards and cut Peru’s advantage to 26-7 with 8:10 remaining in the game.
Their second connection was a seven-yard strike and accounted for the final score.
In all, Rader rushed for three touchdowns, while Gavin Gysin added a 56-yard touchdown run and Robert Cunningham tossed a 35-yard scoring strike to Lucas McConahay.
Valley finished the season with a 2-8 record, while Peru improved to 5-5 and will play Jimtown in the sectional semifinals.
