Continuously serving Kosciusko County since 1854
AKRON - What Scott Bibler said was the program's bread and butter, Tippecanoe Valley's running game left a bad taste in the veteran Viking coach's mouth Friday night.
Hosting Mississinewa for the 2005 home opener, the Vikings struggled to find anything on the ground as the Indians held Valley to 39 yards on 29 carries and left Akron with a 20-6 win.
"We're further behind in the running game than we've ever been in my 16 years here," said Bibler, whose team fell to 0-2 to start the season for the second consecutive year. "It's never been this bad. We can't run the ball. That's our heart and soul, our bread and butter. Running the football is what we hang our hat on around here. We've got to get better."
While Valley's running game was virtually non-existent, Mississinewa used its power running game for a critical fourth-quarter touchdown and then capitalized on a Viking fumble, which senior Brian Smithson scooped up and returned 63 yards for the final score of the evening.
Clinging to a 7-6 lead, the Indians started a drive at their own 16-yard line with 8:57 remaining in the game.
Using a smash-mouth style attack, Mississinewa moved the ball down the field on the Vikings' defense, sandwiching 11 rushing attempts around a 15-yard pass from senior quarterback Miles Burdette to Ryan Shell.
Burdette capped off the drive with a one-yard plunge with 2:42 remaining in the game. Travis Heil's extra-point kick attempt failed and the Indians led 13-6.
After a teammate fielded the ensuing kickoff and threw it to him, Viking sophomore Chad Hoffer took the ball to the 47-yard line, giving Valley good field position and a chance at some late-game heroics.
It was all for naught, though, as sophomore Travis Hedington fumbled the ball on a fourth-and-one situation. Smithson scooped up the loose ball and took it to paydirt, sealing the deal for the visiting Indians, who beat Valley 6-0 last year in Gas City.
"We had opportunities, we just didn't capitalize," said Bibler. "We had too many mistakes, penalties and dropped balls."
An old saying in football is that games are won in the trenches, meaning lineman are more important than the credit they get. Their names don't often appear in box scores, but what they do is just as important.
Friday night against Mississinewa, line play - both offensively and defensively - hurt Valley.
"It was pretty obvious," Bibler said when asked about the play of his lineman. "We've got to get better at that. We've got to be able to run the ball. We had opportunities and just didn't capitalize."
Senior Aaron Reed led the Viking rushing attack with eight carries for 57 yards.
While Reed averaged seven yards per carry, the team's stats were brought down by the fact that Bryce Kelley, Jerrod Parker, O'Brian Thompson, Nick Young and Hedington carried the ball 21 times for 18 negative yards.
Mississinewa, on the other hand, rushed the ball 23 times for 78 yards and had some success with its passing game as well, improving to 2-0 on the season. Both wins came against Three Rivers Conference schools, as the Indians beat Manchester 13-6 in overtime last week.
Burdette, who had 25 rushing yards from his quarterback position, finished the game 9 of 17 through the air for 122 yards. He threw one touchdown and no interceptions.
"He's a good athlete," Bibler said of the 5-foot-8, 160-pound Burdette. "He's very elusive. He was the guy we had to stop."
Kelley completed 12 of 22 passes for Valley, totaling 163 yards. He threw one touchdown and one interception.
Valley's lone score of the evening came on a 28-yard pass from Kelley to Hoffer with 4:34 remaining in the first half.
After Valley recovered a Mississinewa fumble, Hoffer had a 25-yard reception that gave the Vikings a first-and-goal situation at the nine, but Reed fumbled the ball away.
In all, Missinewa intercepted one Kelley pass and recovered two fumbles.
The Vikings recoverd two Indian fumbles.
Hoffer led the Valley receiving corps with four catches for 80 yards, while Reed had five catches for 45 yards.
The Vikings are in action again Friday at 7 p.m. as they open the Three Rivers Conference schedule at rival Manchester.
MISSISSINEWA 20, VALLEY 6
Mississinewa 7 0 0 13 - 20
Valley 0 6 0 0 - 6
M TV
First downs 13 11
Rushing yards 78 29
Passing yards 122 163
Comp.-Att.-Int. 9-17-0 12-22-1
Total offense 200 202
Fumbles/lost 3/2 4/2
Punts/avg. 4-30.8 2-31.0
Penalties/yards 6-45 5-35
First Quarter
M -ÊMiles Burdette 15 pass to Calvin Parker (Travis Heil kick) 7-0, 5:55
Second Quarter
TV - Bryce Kelley 28 pass to Chad Hoffer (kick failed) 7-6, 4:34
Fourth Quarter
W -ÊBurdette 1 run (kick faield) 13-6, 2:42
M - Brian Smithson 63 fumble return (Heil kick) 20-6
INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
Rushing - Mississinewa, Burdette 13-25, Heil 6-51, Parker 2-2, Smithson 2-0; Valley, Kelley 9-(-20), Aaron Reed 8-57, Jerrod Parker 6-1, O'Brian Thompson 4-1
Passing - Mississinewa, Burdette 9-17-122, 1 TD, 0 INT; Valley, Kelley 12-22-163, 1 TD, 1 INT
Receiving - Mississinewa, Ryan Shell 4-68, Matt McCullar 3-23, Smithson 1-16, Parker 1-15; Valley, Hoffer 4-80, Reed 5-45, Parker 1-15, Kyle Vogel 1-13, Brandon Newcomer 1-10
