RUSSIAVILLE - Tippecanoe Valley and Western owned identical 5-4 records entering Friday's Class 3A sectional football game, but the Vikings took control early with a 28-0 lead before halftime and went on to win 35-21.

Valley, 6-4, hosts No. 4 Norwell Friday. Norwell, 9-1, beat No. 6 Rochester (8-2) 17-14.

Valley scored on its first four possessions of the game.

The Vikings opened the game with a 14-play, 66-yard drive that ended on a 5-yard touchdown run by Nathan Patterson. The Vikings established control at the line of scrimmage early, converting two fourth-down, short-yardage situations on running plays on the opening drive. Valley ran the ball six straight times for an average of six yards during the drive.

"We gambled a little bit there," Valley coach Scott Bibler said of the fourth-down plays.

Valley's Dax Snyder intercepted Western quarterback Greg Jay on the next series, setting up the Vikings' second score, a 28-yard run by quarterback Brandon Eaton. Valley led 14-0 with 2:14 left in the first quarter.

The Vikings tacked on two more touchdowns before halftime to take a commanding 28-0 lead. The third score came on a 12-yard Eric Carlin run on a reverse play, and the fourth score came on a 5-yard pass from Eaton to Josh Wagoner.

"Western definitely started with the philosophy of running the football, but when they got behind, they threw more," Bibler said. "For us to get off to a good start, I think that took them out of their gameplan. If they would have come back and tied it 7-7, they would have used Walter Vaughn more."

Vaughn, one of Western's running backs, finished with 21 rushes for 126 yards.

Western scored its first touchdown on a 29-yard run by Vaughn at the 4:56 mark of the second quarter.

Valley took the 28-7 lead into halftime then scored first in the second half to stretch the lead to 35-7.

Patterson finished the game with 76 rushing yards on 15 carries. Ryan Pritchett caught four passes for 46 yards. Eaton completed 8 of 13 passes for 87 yards and rushed four times for 35 yards.

"The last two weeks, we really made strides, and now we're getting kids healthy who were banged up earlier in the season," Bibler said. "This was only the second game of the season where we did not lose someone to an injury."

T. VALLEY 35, WESTERN 21

Valley 14 14 7 0 - 35

Western 0 7 0 14 - 21

V W

First downs 12 7

Rushing yards 197 122

Passing yards 92 130

Comp.-Att.-Int. 9-15-0 8-19-3

Total offense 289 252

Fumbles-lost 2-2 3-2

Punts-ave. 3-26.0 3-22

Penalty yards 4-40 2-20

First Quarter

Nathan Patterson 5 run (Derek Eby kick), 7-0 V

Brandon Eaton 13 run (Eby kick), 14-0 V

Second Quarter

Josh Wagoner 28 pass from Eaton (Eby kick), 21-0 V

Eric Carlin 12 run (Eby kick), 28-0 V

Walter Vaughn 29 run (Billy Calhoun kick), 28-7 V

Third Quarter

Ryan Pritchett 2 run (Eby kick), 35-7 V

Fourth Quarter

Schroeder 30 fumble recovery (Calhoun kick), 35-14 V

Nick Courts 22 pass from Chris White (Calhoun kick), 35-21 V

INDIVIDUAL LEADERS

Rushing - Valley: Patterson 15-76, Eaton 4-35; Western: Vaughn 24-126.

Passing - Valley: Eaton 9-15-0 92, Western: Jay 8-19-3 130.

Receiving -ÊValley: Pritchett 4-46. Western: N/A. [[In-content Ad]]