AKRON – Northfield’s Jarred Short accounted for four touchdowns Friday night as the Norsemen improved to 4-0 with a 59-7 drubbing of the host Tippecanoe Valley Vikings. The win marked Northfield’s first back-to-back wins in the series with Valley. Before Friday’s Three Rivers Conference clash, the Norse had only three wins over the Vikings. Last year’s Norse victory in Speicherville came after a 17-year drought. At Death Valley, the Norse made their fourth overall victory in the series look easy. “This was not the night I’ve been used to seeing. I was not expecting this,” said Tippecanoe Valley head coach Darin Holsopple. “No one was happy. I don’t think any of us feel good about the performance, from the coaches down to the players.” In four games this season, Northfield has outscored their opponents 175-51. One week after earning a 32-23 victory over North Miami, the Vikings are now trying to figure out what happened. In a display of power offense, the Norse outgained Valley in total offensive yardage 407-176. Northfield also gained 25 first downs to Valley’s seven. It simply was not pretty from the get-go for Valley. The Vikings fumbled away the game’s first possession deep in Northfield territory just two minutes in. Three minutes later, the Norse capped off a 69-yard drive with a 12-yard scamper from running back Jensen Frieden. On the ensuing possession, penalties and a blocked punt stunted Valley’s second attempt at getting on the board. After the special teams play, Short ran it on the very next play from 21 yards out. For Valley, when it rained, it poured, and Short brought it with him. Short scored two more times on the ground, and also hauled in a 39-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Drake Richter. Despite the margin, there were great individual efforts defensively for the Vikings. Garrett Bell made eight solo stops and assisted on another eight; as well as notching a forced fumble. DeSean Heckman recorded an interception, a fumble recovery and also made a 34-yard reception on offense in the loss. Nick Feldman also had a fumble recovery and Bryce Webster had a forced fumble for the Vikings. Until the final minute, Valley refused to give in. Junior quarterback Alec Craig juked his way to a 61-yard touchdown run to keep themselves from being shut out. The Vikings fell to 1-3 overall and will look to bounce back next weekend when they visit South Whitley to take on the Whitko Wildcats. “We are going to have to find some stuff to focus on,” said Holsopple in lieu of next week’s date with the ‘Cats.
NORTHFIELD 59, TIPP. VALLEY 7 NF 14 21 17 7 — 59 TV 0 0 0 7 — 7
NF TV 1st downs 25 7 Rushing yds 343 118 Passing yds 64 58 Comp-Att-Int 6-13-2 Total yds 407 176
First Quarter N – Jensen Frieden 12 run (Noah Shear kick) 6:56 7-0 N – Jarred Short 21 run (Noah Shear kick) 5:31 14-0 Second Quarter N – Jarred Short 54 run (Noah Shear kick) 11:51 21-0 N – Jarred Short 39 pass from Drake Richter (Noah Shear kick) 8:02 28-0 N – Jensen Frieden 1 run (Noah Shear kick) 0:21 35-0 Third Quarter N – John Schuler 13 run (Noah Shear kick) 9:49 42-0 N – Jarred Short 28 run (Noah Shear kick) 4:50 49-0 N – Layne Evans 5 run (Noah Shear kick) 2:38 56-0 Fourth Quarter N – Noah Shear 30 field goal 4:51 59-0 TV – Alec Craig 61 run (Luca Jeckstadt kick) 4:28 59-7
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS Rushing — Northfield: Individual stats not available Tipp. Valley: Alec Craig 7-57 1 TD, Garrett Bell 18-53, Brandon Webster 3-(-3) Passing — Northfield: Individual stats not available Tipp. Valley: Alec Craig 6-13-58 yards 0 TD, 2 INT Receiving — Northfield: Individual stats not available Tipp. Valley: Jarod Duzenberry 3-32, Desean Heckman 1-34, Garrett Bell 1-(-4), Brandon Webster 1-(-5)
