Big Plays Lift Northfield Over Tippy ValleyAKRON – The Tippecanoe Valley Vikings had a big fourth quarter Friday night, but not big enough to overcome the big plays they gave up to Three Rivers Conference rival Northfield.
In a 41-28 loss to the visiting Norsemen, Valley scored 21 points in the final stanza. By then, however, the damage had been done, as Northfield led 34-7 after three quarters of play.
The Norsemen, now 3-1 overall and 1-0 in the TRC standings, scored four touchdowns Friday that were 28 yards or more.
Northfield scored on its second offensive play, a 74-yard touchdown run by senior John Schuler.
On the first play of the Norsemen’s next possession, sophomore quarterback Levi Fulkerson connected with junior Jared Peas for a 50-yard scoring strike.
Three plays, two touchdowns, 124 yards.
“It’s kind of been the story for our team this year, giving up the big plays early on,” said first-year Valley coach Steve Moriarty, whose team fell to 0-4 and 0-1.
Valley cut Northfield’s lead to 12-7 in the second quarter with a 15-yard touchdown run by junior Alex Morrison, but the Norsemen responded immediately, as senior Kyle Reed returned the ensuing kickoff 70 yards to paydirt.
The visitors followed that up with touchdown passes of seven and 28 yards from Fulkerson to senior Matt Coe, extending the lead to 34-7 late in the third quarter.
“We went up against a good team tonight, and we knew coming in that they were very talented,” said Moriarty. “Being able to focus on certain plays, we shut down certain things, but then the option opened up. We just need to work on being disciplined and tackling.”
The Vikings started their fourth-quarter scoring surge when junior Noah Miller ran in from a yard out, cutting the deficit to 34-14 with Domingo Santiago’s extra-point kick.
Junior Wes Melanson scored from 10 yards out, and with another Santiago kick Valley was within 13 points with 3:01 remaining.
Northfield, however, put the game out of reach when backup quarterback Clayton Tomlinson fired a 47-yard touchdown pass to senior Michael Ford.
The Vikings rounded out the game’s scoring with a 30-yard touchdown pass from sophomore signal caller Tanner Trippiedi to Miller.
“Once again, the kids, they’re not giving up,” Moriarty said of his team. “I think that’s a difference from maybe two years ago. The kids don’t give up ... they’re still fighting and trying to have fun. They’re still excited when they score.
“The kids are fighting, we just need to not have those little turnovers, and those big plays. You know, we cut it to 12-7, and Northfield comes right back and runs the kickoff back.”
Because of big plays, the Norsemen had just nine first downs in the win, though they did tally 350 yards of offense ... 225 on the ground, 125 in the air.
Valley racked up 281 yards of offense, 154 through the air and 127 on the ground.
Trippiedi finished the game 9 of 14 for 154 yards, and also ran for 25 yards.
Miller caught four passes for 96 yards.
Morrison led the Vikings’ ground game with 10 carries for 50 yards.
Valley is in action again Friday when it travels to South Whitley to face the Whitko Wildcats, who fell to 0-4 with a 37-7 loss at Rochester.
“We’re both at that same level it seems like right now,” Moriarty said of his team and Whitko. “We’ve just got to make sure we do the little things and fight as hard as we can. If we do that, I think we can be a competitive team.”
NORTHFIELD 41,
TIPPECANOE VALLEY 28
NF 12 14 8 7 — 41
TV 0 7 0 21 — 28
NF TV
1st downs 9 14
Rushing yds 225 127
Passing yds 125 154
Comp-Att-Int 3-8-0 9-14-0
Total yds 350 281
Fumbles/lost 3/0 4/2
Penalties/yds 5/45 8/75
First Quarter
NF – John Schuler 74 run (kick blocked) 8:31, 6-0
NF – Levi Fulkerson 50 pass to Jared Peas (kick failed) 5:10, 12-0
Second Quarter
TV – Alex Morrison 15 run (Domingo Santiago kick) 7:07, 12-7
