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MENTONE - When it rains, it pours. And as North Judson's football team found out Friday, sometimes it sprinkles, too.
Tippecanoe Valley handed the Bluejays a 44-14 loss. As if the 30-point blowout weren't enough, North Judson found out just how cruel the night was with 3:26 left in the game.
Only seven seconds after Valley scored to go up 44-14, the sprinkler system at the north end of Valley's football field kicked on, right behind the North Judson offense.
As miserable as the evening was for North Judson, it was that good for Valley.
The Vikings, whose performance in a scrimmage against Plymouth left coach Scott Bibler muttering about time to "crank it up," most indeed cranked it up against North Judson.
Valley senior halfback Eric Prater may have been wound the tightest, scoring four touchdowns and rushing for 151 yards on eight carries.
Quite simply, Prater did it all.
He caught a 23-yard screen pass for a touchdown to put Valley ahead 7-6 with 3:43 left in the first quarter.
He converted a pitch from Valley quarterback Brandon Eaton on an option play into a 26-yard touchdown run and a 21-6 lead with 10:51 left in the second quarter.
He ran 26 yards on a reverse to extend Valley's lead to 27-6 with six minutes to go before halftime.
Finally, he broke loose on a 47-yard run late in the third quarter to up the Valley lead to 34-6.
While Prater took care of the offense, the Valley defense did the rest.
For North Judson, the game was all downhill after the opening drive. The Bluejays opened the game with a 12-play, 70-yard drive to take a 6-0 lead. After that, the Bluejays tallied only 20 more yards in the first half.
The Bluejays lived and died by the option play, and on this night, they died more often than not. Down 13-6, down 21-6, down 27-6, down 34-6, no matter what the score, the stubborn Blue Jays kept trying to run the ball, to no avail.
Trying to come from behind with no passing attack turned the Blue Jays into a one-dimensional football team. The Vikings knew the option play was coming, and they were ready for it.
Never mind that North Judson's offensive line outweighed Valley's defensive line by an average of 33 pounds.
"This hot, humid night was to our advantage," Bibler said. "We wore those guys down."
One week ago, Valley was discouraged.
Now the Vikings are encouraged.
"Last week we got our heads handed to us by Plymouth," Bibler said. "We left thinking, 'Wow.' This was such a big game, because if we didn't win this, then we have to go 0-1 into Warsaw, and that's always a tough game."
Valley, 1-0, is at Warsaw at 7:30 p.m. Friday.
