ROCHESTER — The Rochester Zebras gave everything they had down to the final minute Friday at home against the Tippecanoe Valley Vikings. Trailing 20-9, a John O’Dell 5-yard touchdown pass was hauled in by the Zebras’ Collyn Bennett to narrow the lead to 20-15 with under one minute remaining in regulation. “I think maybe we relaxed a little bit towards the end when we played with a three front defense,” said Tippecanoe Valley head coach Jeff Shriver. “They were able to complete some balls and made it a little closer than what we wished it would have been.” However, it was Nolan Sponseller’s onside recovery at midfield with 13 seconds remaining that secured the Vikings’ victory, and kept Valley perfect in the Three Rivers Conference as it held off the Zebras 20-15 at Barnhart Field. With a minute remaining in the game, O’Dell completed an eight-play, 79-yard drive, completing 6 of 8 pass attempts. The two-point conversion attempt had failed before attempting the ensuing onside kick. Shriver called it a challenging game, but also praised his players for showing poise and leadership in some positions when things did not go well. “Rochester did a nice job adjusting to take away some of the things we wanted to do,” Shriver said. “We were just able to get enough done.” On their second possession of the game, the Vikings used some trickeration to get on the board with a 69-yard pitch-and-catch toss from Ben Shriver to Tanner Andrews. The ball was nearly batted down by Rochester’s Zac Shultz on the play, instead, the ball was tipped up to Andrews’ hands. “He touched it first, I tried to knock it out of his hands but it popped up in the air so I grabbed it and took off running,” Andrews said. “Good things happen when you go hard.” “Andrews is a big-time player, and he made our pass look pretty good,” Shriver said. Defensively, the Vikings stifled the Zebras’ running game, holding running back Cory Shultz, a 1,000-yard rusher last year, to just 50 yards on the ground. “Our young men were excited about the opportunity and see somebody at the caliber running back that Shultz is, and that’s a challenge,” Shriver said. “We played well getting off blocks and we didn’t miss many tackles.” Prior to the end of the first half, a late Rochester drive was halted when Sponseller picked off O’Dell with 1:06 remaining in the second quarter to keep the eight-point Viking lead going into halftime. “We overcame some adversity, but I hope we’re not done growing. We have to get better, but this is a great victory and our kids are excited,” Shriver said. The temperatures dipped down in to the lower 40’s on the final night of September, and a handful of Vikings players were dealing with cramps over the course of the game. “It was just a tough game for us with the weather conditions, but we overcame that as well,” Shriver said. There was some controversy late in the game on Valley’s final drive with the game clock. Twelve seconds had elapsed on the game clock before the play clock had moved. The officiating crew did not gather to discuss the probable clock issue. The victory sets up a matchup between the last two undefeated teams remaining in the Three Rivers Conference Friday night, as the North Miami Warriors escaped with a 14-13 victory over the Whitko Wildcats. “We have a lot of confidence going in to the North Miami game,” Andrews said. “They’re a good football team. That game means a lot for the conference. It means a lot for us and for them, so we have to come play at 100 percent and play our best game to win.” TIPPECANOE VALLEY 20, ROCHESTER 14
TV 7 7 0 6 – 20 Roc 6 0 3 6 – 15
TV R First downs 14 12 Rushing yards 198 69 Passing yards 145 204 Comp.-Att.-Int. 4-6-0 15-26-1 Total offense 343 273 Fumbles/lost 2/1 0/0
First Quarter TV — Ben Shriver 68 pass to Tanner Andrew (Ritchey kick) 7:23, 7-0 R — O’Dell 4 run (O’Dell kick failed) 2:50, 7-6 Second Quarter TV — Gregory 7 run (Ritchey kick) 0:15, 14-6 Third Quarter R — O’Dell 32 field goal 3:22, 14-9 Fourth Quarter TV — Gregory 9 run (Ritchey kick failed) 1:10, 20-9 R — O’Dell 5 pass to Bennett (2 pt. conversion failed) 0:13, 20-15
