After blowing a 21-7 fourth-quarter lead at the RCA Dome last Saturday against Oak Hill and losing 28-27 in overtime, Tippecanoe Valley's football team went from looking like a favorite to claim a coveted Three Rivers Conference title to finding itself in a four-way tie for first with Oak Hill, Rochester and Southwood.

Friday night's game against Rochester was even bigger than Saturday's game for Tippecanoe Valley. A win, and the Vikings would position themselves for a shot at the conference title; a loss, and they would need some help from other conference foes.

With a packed house at Death Valley, the Rochester Zebras took advantage of seven Valley turnovers en route to a big 33-2 TRC win over the host Vikings. The win puts the Zebras (6-1) in a first-place tie with Oak Hill for the lead at 4-1 in the conference.

"Our defense really played great tonight,' Rochester coach Mark Miller said. "I really think we approached this game with a businesslike attitude. It is a big win for our team, especially after last week's loss in the (RCA) Dome.'

The Vikings (5-2, 3-2 TRC) also were a team that had a lot to prove after losing to Oak Hill in the RCA Dome.

"This was a very emotional game. Rochester just had more intensity than we did,' Valley coach Scott Bibler said. "We had a lot of breakdowns offensively.'

The first quarter pretty much told the story of how the Vikings would play this game.

Rochester scored its first touchdown on a 1-yard run by Damic Beck with 5:27 left in the quarter. The extra point failed, leaving the Zebras with a 6-0 lead. On Valley's first possession of its second drive, Josh Carter fumbled, giving the ball back to the Zebras with 5:18 left.

Two plays later, Kyle Surface found B.J. Swank open for a 32-yard touchdown pass that upped the lead to 12-0. The Zebras failed in their attempt at a two-point conversion.

"That fumble was a key to the game,' Bibler said. "We didn't want to start out the way we did, but we had a lot of mistakes early.'

The second quarter didn't get much better for the Vikings.

On Rochester's first possession of the second half, Surface again found Swank for another score, this time from nine yards out, to give the visitors a 18-0 lead. Gary Rom added the extra point to extend the lead to 19-0 with 10:03 left.

On Valley's next possession, the Vikings turned it over on another interception, this time picked off by Nathan Sawyer. Five plays later it was another score by the Zebras. Adam Frounfelter scampered 14 yards to give Rochester a 25-0 lead. Rom added the kick to make it 26-0 with 4:55 to play in the half.

"We watched a lot of film on Valley, and we looked at some things that we felt like we could break Valley down somewhat,' Miller said. "We wanted to open the field up on them, and we did a good job of doing that."

The Zebras got the ball back with 2:00 left in the half when they ran a play that came from nowhere. On fourth and 22 from the Rochester 7-yard line, Surface took a safety to give the Vikings their only score of the night, making it 26-2 at the half.

The Zebras dominated the first half as Surface lit up the Valley defense by passing for 173 yards. Tippecanoe Valley totaled only 27 yards of offense.

"Surface is a smart football player,' Miller said. "He found the holes that were open and made them pay.'

The third quarter was a quiet one as neither team could muster much offense. At the end of the third, Rochester still led 26-2.

"I tell you, our kids really talked a good game before this thing started,' Bibler said. "I am disappointed with our attitudes and how we approached this game.'

On Valley's first possession of the fourth quarter, Valley freshman quarterback David Beyers was picked off again, and this time it went for a touchdown. Sawyer picked off his third pass of the game, but none bigger than this one that he returned 39 yards for six points. Rom's field goal made it 33-2, which ended up as the final.

"I really can't say enough about our defense stepping up,' Miller said. "It left the offense in pretty good position to succeed tonight.'

The Zebras and Surface ended up torching a good Viking defense through the air. Rochester ended the game with 230 passing yards, while the Vikings totaled 95 total yards against the Zebras.

"We have a big game next week at North Miami. The last two games have taken a lot out of us,' Bibler said. "We need to get back on track of playing better football next week. We need to finish the season strong.'

ROCHESTER 33

T. VALLEY 2

Rochester 12 14 0 7 - 33

T. Valley 0 2 0 0 - 2

R V

First downs 11 7

Rushes-yards 38-84 28-23

Passing yards 230 72

Comp.-Att.-Int. 13-20-0 5-15-6

Total offense 314 95

Fumbles/lost 0-0 1-1

Punts-avg. 5-30.8 4-38

Penalties-yards 11-105 1-5

First Quarter

R - Damic Beck, 1 run (kick failed) 5:27, 6-0 R.

R -ÊB.J. Swank, 32 pass from Kyle Surface (kick failed) 4:35, 12-0 R.

Second Quarter

R - Swank 9 pass from Surface (Gary Rom kick) 10:03, 19-0 R.

R -ÊAdam Frounfelter, 14 run (Rom kick) 4:55, 26-0 R.

TV - Rochester safety, 1:32, 26-2 R.

Fourth Quarter

R - Nathan Sawyer, 39 yard interception return (kick good) 33-2 R.

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

Rushing -ÊRochester: Surface 8-19, Beck 11-21, Frounfelter 14-31, J.D. Showley 2-7, Swank 1-7, Jeff Byers 1-(-3), Chip Tate 1-2. Valley: Wes Backus 5-7, B.J. Cunningham 5-16, Anthony Domenico 6-24, Josh Carter 5-16, David Beyers 6-31, Greg Prater 1-(-9).

Passing -ÊRochester: Kyle Surface 12-19 211, J.D. Showley 1-1 19. Valley: David Beyers 4-11-4 51, Shawn Severns 1-4-2 21.

Receiving - R: Gary Rom 5-82, Adam Frounfelter 5-74, B.J. Swank 5-74. Valley: Chris Mitterling 1-14, Adam Heckaman 1-12, Anthony Domenico 1-15, Michael Schwenk 1-10, B.J. Cunningham 1-21. [[In-content Ad]]