AKRON - Powered by a meat-and-potatos kind of group, Tippecanoe Valley's varsity football team used it's bread and butter to feast on the Wabash Apaches Friday night.
Behind the starting offensive line of Trent Rutherford, Matt Koldyke, Seth Howard, Aaron Peters and Cody Long, the Vikings used their running game to score early and often in a 68-3 thrashing of Three Rivers Conference opponent Wabash Friday night in Akron."The guys up front were able to sustain some blocks and open some holes," said second-year Valley coach Jeff Shriver when asked about how his Vikings dominted the contest with its rushing attack. "The offensive line blew open some holes and the running backs did a great job running hard. We had a lot of kids run the ball tonight and everyone that was healthy and in uniform got in the game."
The Vikings threw just three passes the entire game Friday - senior Chad Hoffer completed two of his three attempts for 35 yards and a touchdown - but wowed the enthusiastic crowd by racking up 573 yards rushing on just 35 carries.
Nine Valley players carried the ball at least once in the win, and six of them scored a touchdown.
Senior Kyle Ritchey scored four touchdowns on the ground for Valley, while Kyle Brady, Seth Kamp, Tony Reed, Blake Moore and Hoffer had one rushing score each.
Hoffer also tossed a 28-yard touchdown pass to Travis Hedington.
While Ritchey got the joy of crossing the goal line four times, scoring on runs of 2, 48, 10 and 4 yards, Brady played a major role in putting the Vikings in those situations.
The speedy 5-foot-11, 176-pound senior racked up 143 yards on just six carries in the first quarter alone, a performance that included a 58-yard scoring scamper that gave Valley a 21-3 lead in the second quarter.
"Kyle Brady has been dinged up," said Shriver, whose Class 3A No. 4 Vikings won their 13th straight conference game and improved to 6-0 overall and 4-0 in the TRC. "He rolled his ankle in open gym but he's really starting to get healthy. He did a nice job tonight. The offensive line opened up some big holes and he did a great job running the ball."
Brady finished the game with 243 yards on 11 carries, while Ritchey racked up 134 yards on 10 carries.
Even when Shriver opted to give other players a chance to run the ball, the Vikings were still able to dominate the game with their rushing attack.
Sophomore Tony Reed tallied 86 yards on two carries, including an 80-yard touchdown trot in the third quarter that stretched Valley's lead to 62-3.
Junior Blake Moore rushed the ball two times fo 53 yards, including a 40-yard scoring scamper in the fourth quarter that gave the Vikings their 68-3 advantage.
Take nothing away from Valley's talented stable of running backs, the Vikings have longed prided themselves on their running game, but the offensive line certainly did its job Friday night.
"Aaron Norris had been calling our offense," said Shriver. "But there wasn't a lot of individual attention being given to the offensive line, so he took over coaching the offensive line and has really made them feel important and made them feel like they're a big part of the game. The kids have really responded and it's really helped our running game."
On the flip side of the coin, Wabash's offensive line had its hands full with Valley's "wrecking crew" defense.
The Apaches mustered just 46 yards rushing on 25 carries.
Senior Greg Lane, the heart and soul of the Apaches both on the ground and through the air, led Wabash with 45 yards on 21 yards. He also completed 13 of 32 passes for 105 yards.
In a phone interview earlier in the week, Shriver talked about how Lane leads the TRC in passing and how he can hurt you with his legs too.
It didn't happen Friday night.
"Wabash has some great athletes, but our athletes did their thing tonight," Our offense rolled tonight, but our defense did some great things too in our 4-3 package."
The loss dropped the Apaches to 0-6 overall and 0-4 in the TRC.
Wabash has lost 24 straight games and is 0-11 in conference action since moving into the TRC last season.
The Vikings, who responded in a big way to last week's 14-13 win at Northfield, now turn their attention to Friday's contest at backyard rival Rochester.
"This is a big week for us, it's for the Bell (Trophy), it's the Channel 46 game of the week and whoever loses will have to root for someone else to help them stay in the conference race."
Rochester, ranked sixth in the lastest Class 2A poll, beat Rochester 35-7 Friday and will also enter Week 7 with a 6-0 record overall and 4-0 mark in the TRC.
VALLEY 68, WABASH 3
Wabash 3 0 0 0 - 3
Valley 21 21 20 6 - 68
W TV
First downs 7 14
Rushing yards 43 573
Passing yards 108 35
Comp.-Att.-Int. 13-32-1 2-3-0
Total offense 151 608
Fumbles/lost 2/2 1/0
Punts/avg. 6-39.2 1-43
Penalties/yards 2-10 5-65
First Quarter
TV - Kyle Ritchey 2 run (Matt Smith kick) 7-0, 10:32
W - Zac Denney 30 field goal 7-3, 7:5-
TV - Ritchey 48 run (Smith kick) 14-3, 6:55
TV - Kyle Brady 58 run (Smith kick) 21-3
Second Quarter
TV - Chad Hoffer 10 run (Smith kick) 28-3, 10:50
TV - Ritchey 10 run (Smith kick) 35-3, 6:37
TV - Seth Kamp 1 run (Smith kick) 42-3, 2:42
Third Quarter
TV - Chad Hoffer 28 pass to Travis Hedington (Smith kick) 49-3, 7:32
TV - Ritchey 4 run (kick blocked) 55-3, 5:25
TV - Tony Reed 80 run (Smith kick) 62-3, 2:45
Fourth Quarter
TV - Blake Moore 40 run (kick blocked) 68-3
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing - Wabash, Greg Lane 21-45, No. 48 (not on roster) 2-7, Luke Harness 2-(-)9; Valley, Brady 11-243, Ritchey 10-134, Reed 2-86, Moore 2-53, Kamp 3-9, Daric Serna 3-7, Hoffer 2-28, Jared Wray 1-11, Kyle Horn 1-2
Passing - Wabash, Lane 12-31-105, 1 INT, Matt Henderson 1-1-3; Valley, Hoffer 2-3-35, 1 TD, 0 INT
