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The Vikings couldn't be any happier. 0-2. That's what the Vikings faced two weeks into 1997.
Eager to turn 0-2 into 1-2, the Vikings opened their Three Rivers Conference season last night against Manchester. Before this year, Valley owned Manchester; they were 20-3 against the Squires.
Make it 21-3 now. Valley scored a touchdown with 1:03 left to beat the Squires 27-21.
Five words sum up this game for Valley: Eric Prater and draw play. Prater gained 175 rushing yards on 13 carries, thanks to two draw plays.
Prater scored three of Valley's four touchdowns, including the one with 1:03 left that gave the Vikings the win. It was the only one he didn't score on a draw play. He just followed his line around the left side and scored from five yards out.
"He could smell it," Valley coach Scott Bibler said. "He knew where the touchdown was, and he went for it."
Prater, with the help of Valley reserve players standing on the sideline, burned Manchester twice on draw plays in the first half.
He scored on a 50-yard run on a draw play with 9:04 to go in the second quarter to put Valley up 13-7.
With a minute left in the first quarter, Bibler told his players standing on the sideline to yell "Pass" when the Vikings ran a play.
They did.
But it wasn't a pass play. It was another draw play. Bibler's trick worked, because enough Manchester players listened. Prater scored on a 78-yard run this time to give Valley a 19-14 halftime lead.
What bugged Manchester coach Al Bailey was how easy Prater scored on the draw both times.
"We knew it was coming," he said. "Still, we weren't even close to making tackles."
Bailey was disappointed after this game, and rightfully so. He watched halfback David Barrett score his third touchdown of the evening to move Manchester in front 21-19 with 7:47 left in the game.
Four plays after Manchester's touchdown, Valley's Anthony Simpson fumbled. The Squires hopped on it.
They had everything a coach could ask for. They had the ball on their home field with a lead with six minutes left in the last quarter.
Manchester quarterback Ben Vineyard, who has been filling in for suspended starting quarterback Rex Reimer, handed off to fullback Todd Sites. He rambled for six yards. It looked easy. Four more yards, get a first down. Just run the ball and run the clock out.
Then the referee threw the flag.
He hit the Squires for a 5-yard penalty, giving them a second down with nine yards to go.
They never recovered.
"Sites had us to second (down) and four (yards to go)," Bailey said. "We get a couple first downs, we're outta here. Instead, the right side of the line jumped. Now it's second and nine, and we didn't get it done."
No, the Squires didn't. Yes, the Vikings did. The Squires (0-2) failed to get the first down and punted. Prater scored on Valley's next offensive series.
And the Vikings finally found the win column.
"We needed a win," Bibler said. "That's the one thing we needed with this team. We needed a win to get our confidence going."
Manchester's Annon Gaerte (19) breaks up a pass intended for Tippecanoe Valley's Orville Haney Friday in a big Three Rivers Conference matchup.
