BREMEN - Tippecanoe Valley football coach Jeff Shriver loved his team's play, he just didn't like the outcome Friday in Bremen.
Trailing 19-7 going into the fourth quarter, the Vikings (1-1) fought back to take a 22-19 lead, but fell 27-22 in the final minute to the Bremen Lions (1-1)."I told our guys, 'Tonight, we played with fire and enthusiasm that we haven't seen in a few years.' We hit and we played football," Shriver said. "We played with some aggressiveness, some enthusiasm and there were some plays that just didn't go our way."
Valley did committ seven penalties for 56 yards and also fumbled the ball five times, losing two of them in the second half.
The first turnover came after the Vikings had run eight plays to open the second half, getting the ball down to the Bremen 21-yard line. Looking to cut into the Lions' 13-7 lead, Valley instead put the ball on the turf, losing possession.
Following the turnover, Valley forced the Lions into a three-and-out, but fumbled the punt return, handing the ball right back to the Lions.
"That's probably the biggest play of the night," Shriver said about the muffed punt.
That may have been the biggest play because Bremen took advantage of the second opportunity by scoring a touchdown with 1:25 left in the third quarter.
Instead of getting down on themselves, the Vikings responded with a 12-play, 68-yard drive to come within 19-14 after junior Brody Andrews ran it into the end zone from 17 yards out.
"Football is a game of momentum," Shriver said. "There were times tonight where we had tremendous momentum."
That momentum continued when Bremen junior quarterback Nate Leeper threw a lateral pass that was recovered by Valley senior Isaac Yoder at the Lions' 20-yard line with 8:28 left in the game.
Valley's senior quarterback Gus Lukens turned the turnover into six points when he rushed for a nine-yard touchdown with only 5:03 remaining. After Andrews rushed the ball into the end zone for the two-point conversion, it looked like Valley was sitting comfortably with a 25-22 lead.
"I told them, 'Don't get caught up in one play. Play the next play,'" Bremen coach Robert Holmes said. "Tonight was a tribute to everyone fighting through and no one giving up."
The Lions' fight accumulated in a 77-yard drive that ended with a 2-yard touchdown run by senior Brock Molebash with just 32 seconds remaining on the clock.
'We fought through adversity tonight," Holmes said. "We made a lot of mistakes in the first half, but we battled through and came away with a 'W' against a very good Tippy Valley team."
Just as Holmes was happy with the game, Shriver also found postives.
"This defeat is not going to define who we are," he said. "Right over there, our fans are clapping as our guys leave the field. I'm proud of the effort we put in at the end.
"Right now, they're are hurting and it's supposed to hurt," he added. "I told them, 'If it doesn't hurt, then you didn't put anything into it.' I do feel like we left it on the field."
Andrews definitely left it on the field.
Racking up most of his 147 yards with runs right up the gut, Andrews was a handful for the Lions' defense.
"Brody Andrews up the middle was a load for us," Holmes said.
Valley opens its Three Rivers Conference schedule Friday at home against Manchester, while Bremen travels to New Prairie in its Northern State Conference opener.
