Elder, 'Cats Run Wild At Tippy Valley
September 17, 2016 at 6:37 a.m.
Elder, 'Cats Run Wild At Tippy Valley
By Dale [email protected]
In another eye-popping performance, the 5-foot-11, 180-pound senior runningback tallied 360 yards and four touchdowns on just 10 carries Friday night.
His performance, aided by some strong offensive line play as well as blocking by fellow skilled-position players, led the Wildcats to a 44-20 win at Three Rivers Conference rival Tippecanoe Valley.
With the win, Whitko improved to 3-0 in the league standings and to 5-0 overall for the first time since 1990.
After scoring just 27 total points in the first four weeks of the season, the Vikings nearly equalled that total Friday, but fell to 0-5 and 0-3 with their ninth consecutive loss.
“That was one of the big things tonight ... we have a special player in Garrett Elder,” said first-year Whitko head coach Jeff Sprunger. “It’s hard to stop a player like that. But, part of the beauty of this offense is, as soon as you start to focus on Garrett, then Robby Owsley pops a big one, and Hunter Reed pops a big one.
“Those are reasons why we put this offense in place. It’s why we put Garrett Elder in the backfield where we have him (after he played quarterback last year). Hopefully we can continue to make plays from here on out.”
Reed rushed for 63 yards and a touchdown on 11 carries, while Owsley tallied 35 yards and a score on four rushes.
The story, though, was Elder, as Whitko racked up 455 of its 470 yards of total offense with the ground game.
Elder, who rushed for 1,783 yards and 23 touchdowns a year ago as Whitko’s quarterback, set the tone early, racing for 50 yards on the Wildcats’ first play.
He scored touchdowns on runs of 81, 72, 49 and 17 yards.
A 45-yard touchdown pass to Elder from fellow senior Colin Craig was called back because of a penalty.
On that play, Elder raced down the field, split two Valley defenders and caught Colin Craig’s pass in stride before sprinting to the endzone.
On a long second-half run, Elder juked his way through the Valley defense and spun around a would-be tackler as if he were in a video game and Whitko’s coaches in the pressbox had the controllers.
In the last two games, Elder has rushed for 558 yards and eight touchdowns on just 16 carries.
Through five games, he’s tallied 964 yards and 15 touchdowns on 52 attempts.
“It’s the dynamic of getting him out in open spaces, and he showcases it quite often, he makes kids miss,” Sprunger said when asked what makes Elder so special. “He makes people miss, and the other thing is he has one of the best leg drives I’ve ever seen from a kid. He breaks out of tackles. You think he’s down, and the next thing you know he’s breaking out of it. He’s just a special player, he really is.”
For Valley, senior quarterback Alec Craig threw three touchdown passes to classmate Jarod Duzenberry.
The duo connected on scoring strikes of 35, 15 and 4 yards.
Alec Craig completed 13 of 22 pass attempts for 178 yards, though he did throw two interceptions.
It was a loss on the scoreboard, and the Vikings have more improvement to make, but given their situation of head coach Darin Holsopple resigning after three games this season, there were bright spots for Valley Friday night.
“Whitko is a team that has played very, very well. They run an offense that is a potent offense. They’ve got great athletes, and they’re coming off a conference championship (last year),” said Valley co-head coach Jeff Shriver.
“Tonight, our kids played with fire, they played with enthusiasm, they played with more effort and they were a little bit more physical than we have been.
“We’ve got to get fundamentally sound. We are in better shape than we were, but we’ve got to take some steps to get in shape, and we’ve got to be fundamentally sound. I’ve said it before, fundamentals win games.”
Duzenbery led Valley in receiving with four catches for 61 yards, while junior Bryce Webster had four catches for 42 yards, senior Chris Secrist had two receptions for 37 yards and DJ Heckman made two catches for 29 yards.
Heckman led the Vikings in rushing with 40 yards on nine attempts, while senior Genoah Maliniemi tallied 31 yards on 11 carries.
Whitko hosts Southwood Friday, while Tippecanoe Valley travels to Manchester.
WHITKO 44, TIPPECANOE VALLEY 20
Whi 8 15 14 7 — 44
TV 0 6 7 7 — 20
Whi TV
1st downs 11 19
Rushing yds 455 105
Passing yds 15 178
Comp-Att-Int 1-2-0 13-22-3
Total yds 470 283
Fumbles/lost 4/3 3/2
Penalties/yds 8/76 5/60
First Quarter
W – Hunter Reed 6 run (Colin Craig conversion run) 10:07, 8-0
Second Quarter
W – Garrett Elder 72 run (Elder kick) 7:33, 15-0
W – Robby Owsley 39 run (Reed conversion run) :31, 23-0
TV – Alec Craig 35 pass to Jarod Duzenbery (Domingo Santiago kick) :00, 23-7
Third Quarter
W – Elder 17 run (Elder kick) 10:05, 30-7
W – Elder 81 run (Elder kick) 5:02, 37-7
TV – Craig 15 pass to Duzenbery (kick blocked) 1:31, 37-13
Fourth Quarter
W – Elder 49 run (Elder kick) 4:44, 44-13
TV – Craig 4 pass to Duzenbery 1:53, 44-20
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing — Whitko, Elder 10-360, Reed 11-63, Owsley 4-35; Valley, Craig 18-10, Genoah Maliniemi 11-31, DJ Heckman 9-40, Jonathon Fields 5-16
Passing — Whitko, Craig 1-2-15, 0 TD, 0 INT; Valley, Craig 13-22-178, 3 TDs, 2 INTs
Receiving — Whitko, Zach Hewitt 1-15; Valley, Duzenbery 4-61, Bryce Webster 4-42, Chris Secrist 2-37, Heckman 2-29
In another eye-popping performance, the 5-foot-11, 180-pound senior runningback tallied 360 yards and four touchdowns on just 10 carries Friday night.
His performance, aided by some strong offensive line play as well as blocking by fellow skilled-position players, led the Wildcats to a 44-20 win at Three Rivers Conference rival Tippecanoe Valley.
With the win, Whitko improved to 3-0 in the league standings and to 5-0 overall for the first time since 1990.
After scoring just 27 total points in the first four weeks of the season, the Vikings nearly equalled that total Friday, but fell to 0-5 and 0-3 with their ninth consecutive loss.
“That was one of the big things tonight ... we have a special player in Garrett Elder,” said first-year Whitko head coach Jeff Sprunger. “It’s hard to stop a player like that. But, part of the beauty of this offense is, as soon as you start to focus on Garrett, then Robby Owsley pops a big one, and Hunter Reed pops a big one.
“Those are reasons why we put this offense in place. It’s why we put Garrett Elder in the backfield where we have him (after he played quarterback last year). Hopefully we can continue to make plays from here on out.”
Reed rushed for 63 yards and a touchdown on 11 carries, while Owsley tallied 35 yards and a score on four rushes.
The story, though, was Elder, as Whitko racked up 455 of its 470 yards of total offense with the ground game.
Elder, who rushed for 1,783 yards and 23 touchdowns a year ago as Whitko’s quarterback, set the tone early, racing for 50 yards on the Wildcats’ first play.
He scored touchdowns on runs of 81, 72, 49 and 17 yards.
A 45-yard touchdown pass to Elder from fellow senior Colin Craig was called back because of a penalty.
On that play, Elder raced down the field, split two Valley defenders and caught Colin Craig’s pass in stride before sprinting to the endzone.
On a long second-half run, Elder juked his way through the Valley defense and spun around a would-be tackler as if he were in a video game and Whitko’s coaches in the pressbox had the controllers.
In the last two games, Elder has rushed for 558 yards and eight touchdowns on just 16 carries.
Through five games, he’s tallied 964 yards and 15 touchdowns on 52 attempts.
“It’s the dynamic of getting him out in open spaces, and he showcases it quite often, he makes kids miss,” Sprunger said when asked what makes Elder so special. “He makes people miss, and the other thing is he has one of the best leg drives I’ve ever seen from a kid. He breaks out of tackles. You think he’s down, and the next thing you know he’s breaking out of it. He’s just a special player, he really is.”
For Valley, senior quarterback Alec Craig threw three touchdown passes to classmate Jarod Duzenberry.
The duo connected on scoring strikes of 35, 15 and 4 yards.
Alec Craig completed 13 of 22 pass attempts for 178 yards, though he did throw two interceptions.
It was a loss on the scoreboard, and the Vikings have more improvement to make, but given their situation of head coach Darin Holsopple resigning after three games this season, there were bright spots for Valley Friday night.
“Whitko is a team that has played very, very well. They run an offense that is a potent offense. They’ve got great athletes, and they’re coming off a conference championship (last year),” said Valley co-head coach Jeff Shriver.
“Tonight, our kids played with fire, they played with enthusiasm, they played with more effort and they were a little bit more physical than we have been.
“We’ve got to get fundamentally sound. We are in better shape than we were, but we’ve got to take some steps to get in shape, and we’ve got to be fundamentally sound. I’ve said it before, fundamentals win games.”
Duzenbery led Valley in receiving with four catches for 61 yards, while junior Bryce Webster had four catches for 42 yards, senior Chris Secrist had two receptions for 37 yards and DJ Heckman made two catches for 29 yards.
Heckman led the Vikings in rushing with 40 yards on nine attempts, while senior Genoah Maliniemi tallied 31 yards on 11 carries.
Whitko hosts Southwood Friday, while Tippecanoe Valley travels to Manchester.
WHITKO 44, TIPPECANOE VALLEY 20
Whi 8 15 14 7 — 44
TV 0 6 7 7 — 20
Whi TV
1st downs 11 19
Rushing yds 455 105
Passing yds 15 178
Comp-Att-Int 1-2-0 13-22-3
Total yds 470 283
Fumbles/lost 4/3 3/2
Penalties/yds 8/76 5/60
First Quarter
W – Hunter Reed 6 run (Colin Craig conversion run) 10:07, 8-0
Second Quarter
W – Garrett Elder 72 run (Elder kick) 7:33, 15-0
W – Robby Owsley 39 run (Reed conversion run) :31, 23-0
TV – Alec Craig 35 pass to Jarod Duzenbery (Domingo Santiago kick) :00, 23-7
Third Quarter
W – Elder 17 run (Elder kick) 10:05, 30-7
W – Elder 81 run (Elder kick) 5:02, 37-7
TV – Craig 15 pass to Duzenbery (kick blocked) 1:31, 37-13
Fourth Quarter
W – Elder 49 run (Elder kick) 4:44, 44-13
TV – Craig 4 pass to Duzenbery 1:53, 44-20
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing — Whitko, Elder 10-360, Reed 11-63, Owsley 4-35; Valley, Craig 18-10, Genoah Maliniemi 11-31, DJ Heckman 9-40, Jonathon Fields 5-16
Passing — Whitko, Craig 1-2-15, 0 TD, 0 INT; Valley, Craig 13-22-178, 3 TDs, 2 INTs
Receiving — Whitko, Zach Hewitt 1-15; Valley, Duzenbery 4-61, Bryce Webster 4-42, Chris Secrist 2-37, Heckman 2-29
Have a news tip? Email [email protected] or Call/Text 360-922-3092