Valley Vikings’ Loaded With Youth AKRON - For the Tippecanoe Valley Vikings, the future is now.
Following a season in which they were 15-10 and won their first sectional title since 2013, the Vikings lost five players to graduation, as well as a number of others who chose not to play this season.
As a result, Valley is going forward with a youth movement.
Of the 11 players listed on third-year head coach Chad Patrick’s varsity roster, eight are freshmen or sophomores.
Senior Tanner Trippiedi is the most-experienced player on the roster, returning for his fourth season on the varsity team after averaging 10 points per game last year.
Fellow senior Bryce Fisher played in nine games last season, while junior Chase Miller was on the JV team.
Sophomore Rex Kirchenstien played in 14 games as a freshman and scored 1.4 points per game.
The rest of Valley’s varsity roster includes sophomores Landon Walters, Braden Shepherd, Dawson Perkins and DJ Estep; and freshmen Nolan Cumberland, Paul Leasure and Tayde Kiser.
“I have no idea what the year is going to bring. They’re all really talented players. They all are in the gym a lot, and they’re dedicated in the weight room, but they’re freshmen and sophomores,” said Patrick.
“It’ll be an interesting first half of the year, to say the least, but I think by the end of the year we’ll be a tough out, and I’m not sure anybody will want to play us come tourney time.”
A lot of buzz surrounding Valley’s youngsters is about the 5-foot-10 Leasure and the 6-2 Cumberland.
Leasure is described as an exceptional shooter and ball handler.
He is expected to be in the starting lineup with Trippiedi, Fisher, Kirchenstien and the 6-6 Perkins.
“Paul is one of the better shooters I’ve ever seen,” said Patrick. “But when you’re in the gym as much as those two kids are, you should be good. They’ll be in the gym four to five to six hours a day. And when they leave our practice, they go and play.
“That’s all they do. They don’t play another sport, they just play basketball, and they do it every day of the week, 12 months out of the year. When you do that you’re gonna be pretty good.
“Now, they’re not huge, they’re freshmen that are going to be going up against seniors so it’ll be interesting, but I think they’ll hold their own, and I think by the end of the year they’re gonna be really good.”
The Vikings open the season Wednesday when they host county rival Warsaw.
The season opener will also include the official dedication of Rita Price Simpson Court.
Valley will then travel to Marshall County on Dec. 3 to face an experienced Argos team that was 22-5 and played in the regional final a year ago.
Valley’s young players will be thrown into the fire right away.
“Argos could be in the state finals in 1A this year. They’re loaded,” said Patrick. “We played them in the summer and played them tough without a lot of those same kids. We didn’t have most of the older kids all summer, but Argos is good, they beat us.
“They can play, but we didn’t have Perkins there, so that’ll make a little difference against them. He’s not the same player he was. The first time he ever touched the basketball was his eighth grade year and he broke his ankle three weeks into the season, so this is only his second year playing.”
Patrick also listed Columbia City, NorthWood, Wabash, Manchester and Glenn as notable opponents.
Wabash won the Three Rivers Conference championship last season with an 8-1 record, while Valley was 7-2 in league play.
“We have a pretty tough schedule,” said Patrick. “I got rid of Clinton Christian and some of the lesser teams we had, which will hurt us in terms of winning games during the regular season, but it will help us in the tournament.”
