AKRON – Both coaches agreed it wasn’t the prettiest game, but Tippecanoe Valley overcame a 12-point deficit to beat visiting Manchester 36-27 in a Three Rivers Conference game Friday night. After allowing Manchester a first down on the game’s first possession, the Vikings drove 70 yards in 11 plays, but didn’t finish with the desired score. Finishing has been a point of emphasis in recent Valley practices. Manchester made its goal-line stand, but on the first snap from its own 1-yard line, Kane Gable was tackled in the end zone for a safety with 4:37 left in the first quarter. Valley returned the free kick to the Squire 37, but went backwards thanks to a penalty, a sack and a flanker reverse that was thrown for a loss. Valley punted from its 29-yard line on 4th-and-44. Three plays later Squire senior quarterback Bailey Ness hit classmate Keelan Norwood for a 69-yard touchdown. Manchester expanded its lead in the second stanza with a touchdown pass from Ness to Gable. Valley’s Aric Shafer caught a TD pass from Alec Craig to cut the margin to 7-2 at halftime. The Squires expanded the lead again with a 12-play, 68-yard drive capped by a Ness 9-yard run. After Viking Nick Feldman’s 5-yard TD run cut the lead back to five, Ness was picked off by DeSean Heckman. Six plays later, Craig opened the final frame with a 1-yard TD plunge. On the ensuing Squire possession, the Squires went 3-and-out and were in punt formation at their own 21 when Remington Trick, the up-man in the formation, took the snap and tried to hit Norwood in the right seam. The pass sailed high, and Valley took over. Seven plays later Craig scored again, this time from six yards out. On the second play of the next drive Ness tried to hit Norwood over the middle. The pass bounced off Norwood, was tipped downfield by Heckman and caught by Josh Shepherd, who outran one last defender to complete the 68-yard touchdown. After the two-point conversation failed, Manchester was down 29-27. “We made some mistakes,” Valley head coach Darin Holsopple said. “After that second big touchdown we gave up, I talked to our cornerback, and it was a miscommunication of our game plan. I told him something that I intended one way and he took it to mean another. After we straightened that out we got things rolling and only gave up the one crazy touchdown. “The defense, I thought, played well tonight. We struggled again offensively in the first half to finish drives. Penalties really bogged us down, but we came back in the second half and played lights-out. Other than the one touchdown we were really solid in all three aspects of the game.” A holding penalty on the kickoff gave Valley the ball at its own six, but Craig capped the 94-yard, three play drive by running to his right, past blitzing Squire linebackers and make the lead nine with just under seven minutes to go. “We let (Craig) slip away on that long run and it really hurt,” Manchester head coach Greg Miller said. “He went right through a blitz we had on that side, too. We sent two guys right at him, and we got caught up inside. He’s a heck of an athlete; we knew that from last year, and for the most part we did a decent job. We’ll watch film and break it down, but the whole Tippy Valley offense put the points on the board. You just can’t rely on one guy.” Manchester drove into Valley territory twice more, but wasn’t able to score again. “I’m proud of the effort our kids put forth. We came out, and we fought hard until the end of the game. We have something that we’ll take and we’ll build on,” Miller said. “Each and every week, you play the game, you own it and you get better for it. Sometimes it’s prettier to watch than others, and there were some things we did well tonight that we’re going to build on, and there were some mistakes that we made. We’re going to make this a building experience and try for a win next week.” Holsopple said he knew his squad had the comeback in them. “I didn’t even remember being down two scores, because honestly, I had never seen these kids fold,” he said. “Every other game we’ve been in (other than Northfield) we had a chance to win every single game in the fourth quarter. If we finish one or two plays in those games, we’re sitting with one loss now. “But no matter what, we’re not going to pack it in. We are fighters, and we’re going to go four quarters toe-to-toe with anybody. No matter what, we’re going to keep swinging.” Ness finished with 316 passing yards, three touchdowns and three interceptions. Craig led the Vikings’ ground game with 113 of Valley’s 307 yards. Manchester fell to 0-6 on the year, 0-4 in the TRC, and travels to Whitko Friday. Valley moved to 2-4 overall, 2-2 in conference play, and travels to Rochester Friday. TIPPECANOE VALLEY 36 MANCHESTER 27 M 7 7 7 6 –– 27 TV 2 7 7 20 –– 36
M TV 1st downs 20 21 Rushing yds 127 307 Passing yds 316 96 Comp-Att-Int 15-39-3 8-14-0 Total yds 443 403 Fumbles/lost 0/0 1/1 Penalties/yds 10/60 9/81 Punts/avg 1/35.0 3/38.3 First Quarter TV – Safety: Kane Gable tackled in end zone 4:37 2-0 M – Keelan Norwood 69 pass from Bailey Ness (Ness kick) 1:22 7-2 Second Quarter M – Kane Gable 20 pass from Ness (Ness kick) 9:58 14-2 TV – Aric Shafer 32 pass from Alec Craig (Luca Jeckstadt kick) 4:34 14-9 Third Quarter M – Ness 9 run (Ness kick) 4:22 21-9 TV – Nick Feldman 5 run (Jeckstadt kick) 1:43 21-16 Fourth Quarter TV – Craig 1 run (run failed) 11:56 22-21 TV – Craig 6 run (Jeckstadt kick) 9:30 29-21 M – Josh Shepherd 68 pass from Ness (pass failed) 8:43 29-27 TV – Craig 80 run (Jeckstadt kick) 6:57 36-27 INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS Rushing — Manchester: Ness 8-21, Gable 4-13, Shepherd 10-60, Clay Sellers 5-33; Valley: Craig 13-113, Brandon Webster 10-74. DeSean Heckman 3-(-13), Shafer 11-44, Feldman 14-67. Passing — Manchester: Ness 15-38-316 yds. 3 TD, 3 INT; Remington Trick 0-1-0 yds, 0 TD, 0 INT Valley: Craig 8-14-96 yds., 1 TD, 0 INT. Receiving — Manchester: Andrew McAtee 1-21, Shepherd 1-68, Gable 5-78, Hayes Sturtsman 1-15, Trick 2-17; Valley: Shafer 1-32, Jarod Duzenbery 3-31, Webster 1-8, Rigo Butler 3-25
