Vikings Hold Off TRC Rival Squires
September 23, 2017 at 6:37 a.m.
Vikings Hold Off TRC Rival Squires
By Mark [email protected]
It was Steve Moriarty’s first home win as Viking head coach, and it came after the ceremony renaming the football facility after former head coaches Charlies Smith and Scott Bibler, both of whom died in a 2015 plane crash.
“It means a lot, especially on a special night like tonight with the unveiling of the sign and homecoming,” said Moriarty.
Other than the first play from scrimmage, when the Vikings lost a fumble, Valley was dominant over the first 24 minutes of the game, scoring the last three times it had the ball.
Valley ground out a 13-play, 67-yard touchdown drive that took 7:30 off the clock to take the lead. The drive was capped by a Cameron Parker 3-yard run.
A second 13-play drive was finished off with Noah Miller’s 27-yard catch and run for the Vikings’ second touchdown, and Tanner Trippiedi scored what proved to be the game-winning touchdown on a 5-yard run 42 seconds before halftime.
Manchester was equally dominant after intermission. The Squires assembled a 13-play drive of their own, capped with a 17-yard pass from backup quarterback Devin Marcum to Devon Rooney.
The Squire defense forced a three-and-out, then finished off the third quarter and scored on the second play of the final period. Workhorse junior running back Delton Moore scored from five yards out to cut the lead to six.
When the Vikings got the ball back, they went three-and-out again. On third down, Squire linebacker Gavin Ream dropped a potential pick-six that would have handed the visitors the lead.
The Squires couldn’t move the ball against a regrouped Viking defense the rest of the game.
“The first half we came out and played very well. Offensively we seemed to keep them off balance by running and passing and trying to overshift to one side,” Moriarty said.
“Coming out of halftime I think the heat got to us a little bit, and we came out flat. They got the ball to open the half and they drove the ball all the way down on us and scored. That took the wind out of our sails, you could say.
“At the end, we stepped up and made the defensive plays we needed to seal the victory.”
Moore ran the ball 28 times, out of 64 Squire plays, for 156 yards and the touchdown. Moriarty admitted the heat played a factor in the game for his team, but Manchester coach Greg Miller said his team was able to overcome the heat, but not the Viking lead.
“We put ourselves in too big a bind early, but I thought our kids, especially for the conditions, came out in the second half and played pretty well. We hadn’t done that in the last couple of games,” he said.
“So we made our halftime adjustments and the kids took them and made some big stops. Offensively the kids came alive and Delton had a heck of a game. I’m proud of our team for battling back from a deficit.”
Not that the heat didn’t take a bit of a toll on the Squires as well.
“Moore normally plays on both sides of the ball, so we had to give him some (breaks) in the second half,” said Miller. “But anytime we can get him the ball and still maintain our offensive balance, we will. “
Trippiedi completed seven passes, to six receivers, for 117 yards and the touchdown. He, Parker and Alex Morrison had the lion’s share of carries, combining for 88 yards on 26 attempts.
Marcum, starting in place of suspended Squire quarterback Hayes Sturtsman, completed 11 of 24 passes for 129 yards with one touchdown and an interception. Andrew McAtee had seven catches for 73 yards.
Tippecanoe Valley moved into second place in the Three Rivers Conference North Division with a 2-1 record and improved to 2-4 overall. The Vikings play at Rochester Friday night in the annual rivalry game for the bell trophy.
Manchester fell to 1-5 overall and 0-2 in the conference. The Squires will play at winless Whitko Friday night.
TIPPECANOE VALLEY 20
MANCHESTER 14
M 0 0 7 7 – 14
TV 7 13 0 0 – 20
M TV
1st downs 17 16
Rushing yds 158 116
Passing yds 129 117
Comp-Att-Int 11-24-1 7-11-0
Total yds 287 233
Fumbles/lost 4-1 2-1
Penalties/yds 8-57 3-35
Punts/avg. 2-28 3-34
First Quarter
TV – Cameron Parker 3 run (Domingo Santiago kick), 2:42, 7-0
Second Quarter
TV – Noah Miller 27 pass from Tanner Trippiedi (Santiago kick), 6:58, 14-0
TV – Trippiedi 5 run (kick failed), 0:42, 20-0
Third Quarter
M – Devon Rooney 17 pass from Devin Marcum (Klayton Hendrix kick) 5:10, 20-7
Fourth Quarter
M – Delton Moore 5 run (Hendrix kick) 11:20, 20-14.
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing: Manchester – Rooney 3-9, Marcum 3-(minus 7), Moore 28-156, Trey McNall 1-0; Valley – Trippiedi 9-7, Parker 9-47, Alex Morrison 8-34, Wes Melanson 6-12, Jaydin Conley 4-6, Dakota Gaff 2-10/
Passing: Manchester – Marcum 11-24-129 yards, 1 TD, 1 Int.; Valley – Trippiedi 7-11-117 yards. 1 TD, 0 Int.
Receiving: Manchester – Andrew McAtee 7-73, Rooney 2-23, Moore 1-20, Trey Clark 1-9; Valley – Isaac Randall 1-24, Morrison 1-11, Jalen Shepherd 2-16, Conley 1-17, Miller 1-27, Gaff 1-22.
Records: Manchester 1-5 (0-2 TRC); Valley 2-4 (2-1 TRC)
It was Steve Moriarty’s first home win as Viking head coach, and it came after the ceremony renaming the football facility after former head coaches Charlies Smith and Scott Bibler, both of whom died in a 2015 plane crash.
“It means a lot, especially on a special night like tonight with the unveiling of the sign and homecoming,” said Moriarty.
Other than the first play from scrimmage, when the Vikings lost a fumble, Valley was dominant over the first 24 minutes of the game, scoring the last three times it had the ball.
Valley ground out a 13-play, 67-yard touchdown drive that took 7:30 off the clock to take the lead. The drive was capped by a Cameron Parker 3-yard run.
A second 13-play drive was finished off with Noah Miller’s 27-yard catch and run for the Vikings’ second touchdown, and Tanner Trippiedi scored what proved to be the game-winning touchdown on a 5-yard run 42 seconds before halftime.
Manchester was equally dominant after intermission. The Squires assembled a 13-play drive of their own, capped with a 17-yard pass from backup quarterback Devin Marcum to Devon Rooney.
The Squire defense forced a three-and-out, then finished off the third quarter and scored on the second play of the final period. Workhorse junior running back Delton Moore scored from five yards out to cut the lead to six.
When the Vikings got the ball back, they went three-and-out again. On third down, Squire linebacker Gavin Ream dropped a potential pick-six that would have handed the visitors the lead.
The Squires couldn’t move the ball against a regrouped Viking defense the rest of the game.
“The first half we came out and played very well. Offensively we seemed to keep them off balance by running and passing and trying to overshift to one side,” Moriarty said.
“Coming out of halftime I think the heat got to us a little bit, and we came out flat. They got the ball to open the half and they drove the ball all the way down on us and scored. That took the wind out of our sails, you could say.
“At the end, we stepped up and made the defensive plays we needed to seal the victory.”
Moore ran the ball 28 times, out of 64 Squire plays, for 156 yards and the touchdown. Moriarty admitted the heat played a factor in the game for his team, but Manchester coach Greg Miller said his team was able to overcome the heat, but not the Viking lead.
“We put ourselves in too big a bind early, but I thought our kids, especially for the conditions, came out in the second half and played pretty well. We hadn’t done that in the last couple of games,” he said.
“So we made our halftime adjustments and the kids took them and made some big stops. Offensively the kids came alive and Delton had a heck of a game. I’m proud of our team for battling back from a deficit.”
Not that the heat didn’t take a bit of a toll on the Squires as well.
“Moore normally plays on both sides of the ball, so we had to give him some (breaks) in the second half,” said Miller. “But anytime we can get him the ball and still maintain our offensive balance, we will. “
Trippiedi completed seven passes, to six receivers, for 117 yards and the touchdown. He, Parker and Alex Morrison had the lion’s share of carries, combining for 88 yards on 26 attempts.
Marcum, starting in place of suspended Squire quarterback Hayes Sturtsman, completed 11 of 24 passes for 129 yards with one touchdown and an interception. Andrew McAtee had seven catches for 73 yards.
Tippecanoe Valley moved into second place in the Three Rivers Conference North Division with a 2-1 record and improved to 2-4 overall. The Vikings play at Rochester Friday night in the annual rivalry game for the bell trophy.
Manchester fell to 1-5 overall and 0-2 in the conference. The Squires will play at winless Whitko Friday night.
TIPPECANOE VALLEY 20
MANCHESTER 14
M 0 0 7 7 – 14
TV 7 13 0 0 – 20
M TV
1st downs 17 16
Rushing yds 158 116
Passing yds 129 117
Comp-Att-Int 11-24-1 7-11-0
Total yds 287 233
Fumbles/lost 4-1 2-1
Penalties/yds 8-57 3-35
Punts/avg. 2-28 3-34
First Quarter
TV – Cameron Parker 3 run (Domingo Santiago kick), 2:42, 7-0
Second Quarter
TV – Noah Miller 27 pass from Tanner Trippiedi (Santiago kick), 6:58, 14-0
TV – Trippiedi 5 run (kick failed), 0:42, 20-0
Third Quarter
M – Devon Rooney 17 pass from Devin Marcum (Klayton Hendrix kick) 5:10, 20-7
Fourth Quarter
M – Delton Moore 5 run (Hendrix kick) 11:20, 20-14.
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing: Manchester – Rooney 3-9, Marcum 3-(minus 7), Moore 28-156, Trey McNall 1-0; Valley – Trippiedi 9-7, Parker 9-47, Alex Morrison 8-34, Wes Melanson 6-12, Jaydin Conley 4-6, Dakota Gaff 2-10/
Passing: Manchester – Marcum 11-24-129 yards, 1 TD, 1 Int.; Valley – Trippiedi 7-11-117 yards. 1 TD, 0 Int.
Receiving: Manchester – Andrew McAtee 7-73, Rooney 2-23, Moore 1-20, Trey Clark 1-9; Valley – Isaac Randall 1-24, Morrison 1-11, Jalen Shepherd 2-16, Conley 1-17, Miller 1-27, Gaff 1-22.
Records: Manchester 1-5 (0-2 TRC); Valley 2-4 (2-1 TRC)
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