AKRON – Tippecanoe Valley made a game of it in the second half, but in the end, the Vikings' hope of any postseason success was derailed. Hosting the Garrett Railroaders in the opening round of the Class 3A Sectional 18 football playoffs, Valley trailed 27-0 at halftime and eventually lost 27-14. "It was a tale of two halves," said Valley coach Jeff Shriver. "We came out and made a game of it in the second half, but the game is 48 minutes, and we dug ourselves a hole in the first half." Garrett scored on a 3-yard run by junior tailback Brandon Porter in the first quarter, and then got three touchdowns from senior quarterback Brayden Moreau in the second stanza – one on the ground and two through the air. The Vikings, who were looking for their first postseason victory since 2006, scored in the third quarter when senior running back James Gregory powered his way in from a yard out with 4:48 remaining, and in the fourth quarter when sophomore quarterback Ben Shriver tossed a 54-yard touchdown pass to Gregory with 11:52 to play. "We beat them 14-0 in the second half," said Shriver. "Garrett won the first half, and we won the second half. Unfortunately, their first half was a little bigger. Still, I'm proud of the kids' effort. It would have been easy to just fold when we were down 27-0 at halftime. They came out and fought in the second half, and I'm proud of them." The Vikings had a chance to take a bigger bite out of Garrett's lead in the fourth quarter, but Shriver's pass attempt on a 4th-and-2 play from the Railroaders' 4-yard line went incomplete. There were six minutes remaining in the game at that point, and a touchdown and extra-point kick would have trimmed Garrett's advantage to 27-21. The Vikings, however, were denied, and Garrett was able to chew up nearly five minutes of clock on its next possession. While the Railroaders' drive ended with them fumbling the ball away to Valley, the drive was a success in that the Vikings only had 1:17 to try and score two touchdowns. That didn't happen, and Valley ended its season with a 6-4 record, while Garrett improved to 8-2 and will host Whitko Friday at 7:30 p.m. in the sectional semifinals. Whitko improved to 6-4 and advanced by winning 18-15 at Fort Wayne Concordia. Though Friday's loss stings now, the Vikings were able to accomplish a number of things this season. The 6-4 mark was the program's first winning record since 2007, and with a 6-1 mark in the Three Rivers Conference, the Vikings won a share of the TRC for the first time since 2006. Valley also brought the bell trophy back to Akron with a win at backyard rival Rochester. "I'm very proud of this team's accomplishments," said Shriver. "We won a share of the conference, we're putting a patch on our jacket, we won the bell, we had a winning regular season. These kids went through a lot of adversity, and we played a lot of young kids. They grew up as the season went on, and I couldn't be prouder of them." While much of the pre-game buzz surrounding Garrett was centered around senior Todd Frickey's 1,400 rushing yards and 25 touchdowns, Porter played much bigger than his 5-foot-9, 180-pound frame. Porter finished the game with 11 carries for 76 yards and caught a 70-yard touchdown pass. Frickey, who came in averaging nearly 160 rushing yards per game, carried the ball 12 times for 63 yards, while Moreau added 50 yards on 11 carries. "They have a lot of weapons," Shriver said of Garrett. "Frickey is a great athlete, but they have a lot of other weapons." Moreau completed all four of his pass attempts, finishing the game with 150 yards and two touchdowns through the air. Frickey caught two passes for 62 yards, Porter had a 70-yard touchdown catch and junior Connor Meehan caught an 18-yard touchdown pass. For Valley, junior Justin Gunter had 51 yards on 16 carries, while Gregory added 11 carries for 32 yards and Shriver had 17 yards on seven carries. Gregory led Valley's receiving corps with three catches for 99 yards and a touchdown, while sophomore Tanner Andrews caught four passes for 46 yards. Andrews came into the game with 28 catches for 777 yards.
