Valley Vikings Hold Off Wabash Apaches

October 8, 2016 at 6:37 a.m.


AKRON – Tippecanoe Valley opened the game with a goal-line stand, used big plays to take a 21-0 third-quarter lead, then denied Wabash a complete comeback to take its third straight win, 21-13, in Three Rivers Conference play Friday night at Death Valley.
The Apaches took the opening kickoff,  and on the third play from scrimmage quarterback Sammy Hipskind, playing for the first time in a month, found Logan Vander Velden down the east sideline for a 42-yard gain. Wabash, however, couldn’t convert.
The first Viking offensive big play came midway through the second quarter. On fourth and goal from the Wabash 19, Valley senior quarterback Alec Craig scrambled in the backfield between the hashmarks long enough to find classmate Jarod Duzenbery in the end zone for a 7-0 lead Valley took into halftime.
On the second play of the third quarter, senior Desean Heckman broke through the left side of the Wabash defense for a 63-yard touchdown run. On the ensuing Apache possession, junior Devin Bandow picked off Hipskind for the second time in the game. Six plays later, Heckman scored his second touchdown, this time from 13 yards out for a 21-0 lead.
From that point Wabash abandoned any kind of gameplan it had and just started pounding the football, with Luke Proctor getting almost all the carries. The adjustment worked long enough for Proctor to score a pair of touchdowns; one late in the third and the other in the first two minutes of the fourth quarter.
After that, the Valley defense stiffened enough to secure the win.
Valley co-head coach Jeff Shriver was proud of the way his players handled themselves after making several illness-related changes throughout the week.
“Our kids played very, very hard, and I can’t say enough about how they overcame adversity this week. You know, people who aren’t with us every night at practice don’t realize the guys that were ill and missed practice; the fact that we had to move guys around because of a little bit of mono, and that hurts us tremendously,” he said.
“So we had guys playing out of position tonight. We had some really tough things happen in the game; and I can’t say enough about how we came out, really answered the bell and played.”
It wasn’t a perfect game by any means. The Vikings needed Craig to scramble like Johnny Manziel in college to make a couple of key plays, and Valley was penalized 10 times for 84 yards, including three personal fouls.
But once the action picked up in the second half, Shriver said Valley was ready.
“We made adjustments, they made adjustments, we kind of chess gamed back and forth there, but we were able to stop them and come out with a win,” he said. “To play a team that beat us twice last year and had most of their team back, and they came in here really confident, and our kids answered the bell.”
Valley (3-5 overall, 3-3 TRC) will travel to Southwood (5-3, 3-3 TRC) in the second-ever TRC Playoffs to close out the regular season Friday. Each team finished third in its division.

TIPPECANOE VALLEY 21, WABASH 13
W    0    0    7    6    –    13
TV    0    7    14    0    –    21

    W    TV
1st downs    13    15    
Rushing yds    142    278
Passing yds    123    53
Comp-Att-Int    6-23-2    4-9-0
Total yds    265    331
Fumbles/lost    1/1    1/0
Penalties/yds    10/68    10/84
Punts/avg.    2/36.5    5/30.0

Second Quarter
TV – Jarod Duzenbery 19 pass from Alec Craig (Domingo Santiago kick) 5:52, 7-0
Third Quarter
TV – Desean Heckman 63 run (Santiago kick) 11:07, 14-0
TV – Heckman 13 run (santiago kick) 6:54 21-0
W – Luke Proctor 5 run (Austin Wieland kick) 1:44, 21-7
Fourth Quarter
W – Proctor 4 run (run failed) 10:24, 21-13

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing – Wabash, Sammy Hipskind 2-17, Proctor 21-105, Wieland 2-19, Justin Beauchamp 1-1, Eryk Weber 1-0; Valley, Craig 8-30, Heckman 20-168, Genoah Maliniemi 9-42, Cameron Parker 9-38.
Passing – Wabash,  Hipskind 24-23-123 yds. 0 TD, 2 Int.,  Valley, Craig 4-9-53 yds. 1 TD, 0 Int.
Receiving – Wabash,  Beauchamp 1-9, Logan Vander Velden 2-65, Kory fuller 1-10, Valley, Duzenbery 1-19, Heckman 1-(minus 1), Wes Melanson 2-33.

AKRON – Tippecanoe Valley opened the game with a goal-line stand, used big plays to take a 21-0 third-quarter lead, then denied Wabash a complete comeback to take its third straight win, 21-13, in Three Rivers Conference play Friday night at Death Valley.
The Apaches took the opening kickoff,  and on the third play from scrimmage quarterback Sammy Hipskind, playing for the first time in a month, found Logan Vander Velden down the east sideline for a 42-yard gain. Wabash, however, couldn’t convert.
The first Viking offensive big play came midway through the second quarter. On fourth and goal from the Wabash 19, Valley senior quarterback Alec Craig scrambled in the backfield between the hashmarks long enough to find classmate Jarod Duzenbery in the end zone for a 7-0 lead Valley took into halftime.
On the second play of the third quarter, senior Desean Heckman broke through the left side of the Wabash defense for a 63-yard touchdown run. On the ensuing Apache possession, junior Devin Bandow picked off Hipskind for the second time in the game. Six plays later, Heckman scored his second touchdown, this time from 13 yards out for a 21-0 lead.
From that point Wabash abandoned any kind of gameplan it had and just started pounding the football, with Luke Proctor getting almost all the carries. The adjustment worked long enough for Proctor to score a pair of touchdowns; one late in the third and the other in the first two minutes of the fourth quarter.
After that, the Valley defense stiffened enough to secure the win.
Valley co-head coach Jeff Shriver was proud of the way his players handled themselves after making several illness-related changes throughout the week.
“Our kids played very, very hard, and I can’t say enough about how they overcame adversity this week. You know, people who aren’t with us every night at practice don’t realize the guys that were ill and missed practice; the fact that we had to move guys around because of a little bit of mono, and that hurts us tremendously,” he said.
“So we had guys playing out of position tonight. We had some really tough things happen in the game; and I can’t say enough about how we came out, really answered the bell and played.”
It wasn’t a perfect game by any means. The Vikings needed Craig to scramble like Johnny Manziel in college to make a couple of key plays, and Valley was penalized 10 times for 84 yards, including three personal fouls.
But once the action picked up in the second half, Shriver said Valley was ready.
“We made adjustments, they made adjustments, we kind of chess gamed back and forth there, but we were able to stop them and come out with a win,” he said. “To play a team that beat us twice last year and had most of their team back, and they came in here really confident, and our kids answered the bell.”
Valley (3-5 overall, 3-3 TRC) will travel to Southwood (5-3, 3-3 TRC) in the second-ever TRC Playoffs to close out the regular season Friday. Each team finished third in its division.

TIPPECANOE VALLEY 21, WABASH 13
W    0    0    7    6    –    13
TV    0    7    14    0    –    21

    W    TV
1st downs    13    15    
Rushing yds    142    278
Passing yds    123    53
Comp-Att-Int    6-23-2    4-9-0
Total yds    265    331
Fumbles/lost    1/1    1/0
Penalties/yds    10/68    10/84
Punts/avg.    2/36.5    5/30.0

Second Quarter
TV – Jarod Duzenbery 19 pass from Alec Craig (Domingo Santiago kick) 5:52, 7-0
Third Quarter
TV – Desean Heckman 63 run (Santiago kick) 11:07, 14-0
TV – Heckman 13 run (santiago kick) 6:54 21-0
W – Luke Proctor 5 run (Austin Wieland kick) 1:44, 21-7
Fourth Quarter
W – Proctor 4 run (run failed) 10:24, 21-13

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing – Wabash, Sammy Hipskind 2-17, Proctor 21-105, Wieland 2-19, Justin Beauchamp 1-1, Eryk Weber 1-0; Valley, Craig 8-30, Heckman 20-168, Genoah Maliniemi 9-42, Cameron Parker 9-38.
Passing – Wabash,  Hipskind 24-23-123 yds. 0 TD, 2 Int.,  Valley, Craig 4-9-53 yds. 1 TD, 0 Int.
Receiving – Wabash,  Beauchamp 1-9, Logan Vander Velden 2-65, Kory fuller 1-10, Valley, Duzenbery 1-19, Heckman 1-(minus 1), Wes Melanson 2-33.
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