AKRON – Justin Gunter rushed for three touchdowns and Ben Shriver tossed three additional scores as the Tippecanoe Valley Vikings beat the Whitko Wildcats 55-14 Friday night in Three Rives Conference action. With the convincing victory, Valley improved to 7-2 overall, 6-1 in the TRC, and won a share of the conference title for the second-straight year. Whitko fell to 3-6 overall and 3-4 in league play. The Vikings, who share crown with Rochester, earned their first back-to-back titles since the 1993 and 1994 seasons. “It’s a great accomplishment, we had a great night tonight. Everything clicked for us,” said Valley coach Jeff Shriver. “We capitalized on [Whitko]’s mistakes and we hardly made any.” It was a rough start for the Wildcats as senior quarterback Alex Stoddard threw an interception on the first play of the opening drive. “Too many mistakes on our part. We’ve got to keep our head up and we’ve got to keep focused,” said Whitko coach Wayne Swender. “You’ve just got to battle on the next play, and that’s what we’re going to keep preaching to them.” Whitko battled and managed to keep the margin narrow in the early portion of the game, as sophomore halfback Tanner Hughes scored from two yards out and senior halfback Connor Stouder scored from nine yards in the first half to keep the deficit to seven points. The game was penalty-ridden as Tippecanoe Valley and Whitko committed 11 penalties each, with the Vikings totaling 87 yards and the Wildcats 93 yards. Ben Shriver was nearly perfect, completing 10 of 11 pass attempts for 261 yards. Mason Teel, who was awared the Hammer Award as the team’s MVP, caught two of Shriver’s passes en route to touchdown scores of 47 and 45 yards. The Wildcats were held to 201 yards of total offense. Gunter led the rushing attack for the Vikings, gaining 113 yards on 13 carries, while Chris Torpy added 47 yards on seven carries and Dan Miller made noise with his six carries for 45 yards and a score. Next week marks the first week of the IHSAA state tournament. Valley travels to Ligonier to play the West Noble Chargers in Class 3A Sectional 18 action, while the Wildcats host the Garrett Railroaders. “We’ve got the Bell [after beating Rochester] and the conference patch, accomplishing two of our goals. We can put that behind us and look forward to West Noble,” said Jeff Shriver. Swender and his team are excited about a clean slate. “It’s a new season for us and that’s the way we’ve got to look at it,” said Swender. “We get a chance to play at home, regroup, come back and have a good week of practice and get back at it.”
TIPPY VALLEY 55, WHITKO 14 WHS 7 7 0 0 — 14 TV 21 14 20 0 — 55
First Quarter TV – Justin Gunter 15 run (Jacob Ritchie kick) 10:34, 7-0 TV – Ben Shriver 47 pass to Mason Teel (Ritchie kick) 7:31, 14-0 WHS - Hughes 2 run [Nissley kick] 3:17, 14-7 TV - Shriver 45 pass to Teel [Ritchie kick] 0:28, 21-7 Second Quarter WHS – Connor Stouder 9 run (Nissley kick) 6:27, 21-14 TV - Shriver 35 pass to Sponseller [Ritchie kick] 2:00, 28-14 TV - Dan Miller 8 run [Ritchie kick] 0:39, 35-14 Third Quarter TV – Gunter 10 run (kick failed) 9:08, 41-14 TV - Littlejohn 10 run [Ritchie kick] 3:47, 48-14 TV - Gunter 48 run [Ritchie kick] 0:24, 55-14
