Valley A Different Team Heading Into This Year's Tournament
Posted
Dale Hubler-dhubler@timesuniononline.com
AKRON – What a difference a year makes.
While second-year Tippecanoe Valley head coach Chad Patrick is taking basically the same group of players into this week’s sectional as he did a year ago, he’s got a much different team now.
The Vikings were 5-17 heading into postseason play last year.
After Friday night’s 48-45 win over Wawasee, Valley has won six of its last seven games and takes a 13-9 mark into Class 3A Sectional 21.
The Vikings were 7-2 in Three Rivers Conference play this season, the exact opposite of their mark a year go.
With just five wins last year, Valley had the fewest victories among the six teams in the sectional.
This year, the Vikings have the second-most wins in the field of teams at Wawasee High School, trailing only Fairfield’s 15 victories.
“We only had five wins last year ... and we have virtually the same team back, so I didn’t know what to expect,” said Patrick.
“Before the year started I was thinking we would be fairly young again and would keep working to get better for the future. Now, I’m trying to figure out how we are going to replace these seniors. The growth and improvements they have made have been incredible. They play hard, they are leaders, they love to compete in practice, and they take pride in defense and rebounding. They are just a great group of young men.”
Valley drew a bye and will play in Friday’s first semifinal game against the winner of Tuesday’s game between NorthWood and Fairfield.
Lakeland and West Noble will square off in Tuesday’s second game, with the winner playing Wawasee in the other semifinal game Friday.
The championship game is scheduled for Saturday, and the winner will advance to the Marion Regional and play the winner from the New Castle Sectional.
“It could have been better ... but it could have been much worse,” Patrick said when asked about his team’s draw. “I like that we got the bye because it fits into the schedule we like.
“On single-game weeks we do a lot of shooting and get to work on a lot of things that keep us improving. When we have multiple games in a week there just isn’t time to do a lot of extra things that we like and need to do to keep getting better as a team.”
The Vikings are looking for their first postseason win since 2016, and their first sectional title since 2013.
Patrick sees the six-team sectional being up for grabs.
“I really think any of the six teams could win it,” he said. “The sectional this year is more open than it has been in a while, and we are playing well lately, so we feel we have as good of an opportunity to win it as anyone.”
Fairfield is 4-0 this season against teams in Sectional 21, having posted wins over Wawasee, Lakeland, West Noble and NorthWood.
West Noble is 4-1 against the field, with wins over Wawasee and NorthWood, two wins over Lakeland and an eight-point loss to Fairfield.
Valley split a pair of games against the sectional field, falling 51-45 at NorthWood on Feb. 13 and beating Wawasee by three points Friday in Akron.
What has to happen for the Vikings to cut down the nets Saturday?
“We have to show up ready to play from the beginning. When we play hard-nosed defense and rebound we are a very good team,” said Patrick.
“We just have to play our style of game and not lose our focus. We are playing with house money ... most people thought we would finish in the bottom of the TRC, and we ended up second. Not many people thought we could have a winning season, and we did that as well. No one expects us to win the sectional.
“But we are playing well right now and there is no pressure on us, so we can just show up and play hard and have fun, and I think we have a good shot at bringing home a sectional title.”
