Hosting the undefeated Garrett Railroaders in the semifinal round of 3A sectional 26 Friday night, the Tippecanoe Valley football team had the tough task of hanging around with the No. 4 team in the state. The visitors established their offense early and were able to score often, cruising to a 42-13 win to end the Vikings’ season.
“They were a little faster than we had anticipated,” Valley head coach Steve Moriarty said after the game. “We were kind of shell shocked to begin that game and it’s disappointing that we lost like that. This is a good team we played. Undefeated for a reason.”
Beginning the game with the ball and going up against the stout Garrett defense, Valley was unable to move the ball much. The home side was forced to punt after just three plays, giving the ball to the Railroaders just a minute and a half into the game.
The visitors had much more success on their opening drive, methodically going down the field with more than a few chunk plays on the ground. Going just over 70 yards in about five minutes, Garrett scored the game’s opening touchdown on a QB sneak by Calder Hefty from the one-yard line. The senior wasn’t done there, getting the ball on a fake PAT and then diving to the end zone to make it 8-0.
The following drive didn’t go much better for the Vikings. Valley was able to pick up a first down for the first time in the game on a powerful run by Brock Derf, but just a play later, Grady Moriarty was unable to handle a pitch, fumbling the ball. The Railroaders picked it up and were able to get a decent return down the Valley three.
It didn’t take long for the visitors to turn the turnovers into points, as a handoff to Cam Ruble found the end zone on the first play from scrimmage. The point after attempt was no good, leaving things at 14-0 with four minutes to go in the opening quarter.
Needing something to go their way in a hurry, Valley got the big play it was craving immediately. Handing the ball to Wes Parker, the junior used a nifty spin move to break a tackle and get the outside, and using the speed Viking fans have grown accustomed to this season, left every other defender in the dust. Parker ended up going all 59 yards to the house to make it a one-score game just 20 seconds later.
The big plays continued, as Hefty connected with his leading receiver Parker Skelly with a 42-yard completion on the first play for Garrett. The Railroaders continued their excellent offense from there, with Ruble getting into the end zone for the second time in 10 minutes, this time from 20 yards out. Another successful two-point later, and it was now 22-7 after a lightning-quick 80-yard drive.
“They’re a well coached, very disciplined team,” Moriarty said. “They were extremely efficient tonight and they had guys that were hurting us from all over.”
Getting the ball back, the Vikings were unable to do much offensively this time around, having to punt early into the second quarter after just one first down. While the punt by Gage Overbey was a solid one that buried the visitors inside their own 10. The offense kept on rolling for Garrett though, as a long run by Hefty flipped the field, and combined with a horse collar tackle, put the Railroaders just outside of the red zone.
A big penalty against the offense backed them up 15 yards, but it didn’t matter much. A well-designed play saw Hefty connect with Levi Chaney on a bootleg pass from about 25 yards out to extend the lead even further. With eight minutes until the half, the Vikings were now down 30-7.
A nice return on the ensuing kickoff by Parker put Valley in plus territory on the following drive. The home side was able to move the ball well here, getting just outside of the red zone and burning up a ton of clock in the meantime. However, the drive stalled out as quarterback Hunter Stage was blown up on a keeper to force a fourth down. On the final play of the drive, Stage unloaded a deep ball, but some miscommunication led to an interception with time running out in the half.
Content with the first half they had put together so far, the Railroaders let the clock wind away to send things to the half with the visitors up 23 and getting the ball to begin the third quarter.
Or so they thought.
Overbey and the Vikings caught the visitors off guard with an onside kick to begin the second half and it worked to perfection, as Owen Omondi was able to recover it to give the home side the ball at midfield.

    Senior Brock Derf of Valley finds some running room during Friday night's sectional game against Garrett...Nieter

A big screen pass to Derf gave Valley some momentum, as the team was able to put together a long drive that once again made it just outside of the red zone. For the second straight drive though, the offense stalled out and was forced to go for it on fourth down. All of the momentum the Vikings had gained vanished on a fourth-down interception.
“It just wasn’t our night,” Moriarty said. ‘We had a few chances to steal some momentum back but either a penalty or a turnover took that away. We had our chances but didn’t execute.”
Already holding onto a sizable lead, Garrett took the air out of the football on its first drive of the second half. Using a run game that had gashed the Valley defense all night long, the visitors were able to melt the clock while picking up first down after first down. After taking the final seven minutes of the third quarter off of the clock, Ruble made it a hat trick with a two-yard score. Another failed PAT left the score at 36-7 with a quarter left in the game.
“We couldn’t get off the field. Lots of missed tackles and blown coverages,” Moriarty said.
After yet another punt by the Vikings, Garrett put the finishing touches on the victory with a long run by Alex Guzman. Even with another missed point after, the visitors were now up 42-7 and the running clock was activated for the final six and a half minutes.
Despite things not going their way up to this point, the Vikings didn’t roll over. Omondi fielded the following kick off and found enough of an opening to break through. He was gone from there, beating the kicker at the opposing 30 and taking it all the way for Valley’s second touchdown of the night on an 88-yard return.
That ended up being the final score of the game, as Garrett burned out the rest of the clock on its final drive of the night to punch a ticket to the sectional championship game.
Tippecanoe Valley (7-4) will return next season.
“This senior class has meant so much to this program and they’ve dedicated so much to the program. They’ve had nothing but success and have done nothing but great things here at Valley,” Coach Mo said. “This is a sad night but the sun will rise again tomorrow, and we will be back.”