For a high school football game that started a little more than an hour later than it's original kickoff time of 7:15 p.m., such delay did not bother the Tippecanoe Valley Vikings. In fact, they would not have minded staying a while longer. In the final game of the Three Rivers Conference Day at Ball State, Justin Gunter ran rampant at Schuemann Stadium in Muncie Saturday night, and the Vikings' offense dismantled the Southwood Knights 61-20 . Gunter, a converted fullback, scored on runs of 66, 25 and 21 yards, as well as a 62-yard run with 44 seconds remaining in the first half as the Vikings built up a 41-0 lead before the intermission. He finished the game with 208 yards on 13 carries. As a team, the Vikings racked up 439 yards on 45 carries. In all, Valley amassed 586 yards of offense. "We just sent a message to the rest of the conference, and this puts us back in the driver's seat," said Gunter. "It is a great feeling to be playing here on a Saturday night at the same time that all the big (colleges) are playing on national TV here in the United States of America." Valley head coach Jeff Shriver gave credit to everyone for having a great week of practice. "Our offensive line did a great job tonight," Shriver said. "We've dealt with injuries and other suspensions, so we have a lot of young guys – sophomores and juniors who are filling in, and they are doing a great job." Shriver praised all units, including efforts from Corey Eppelmann, Brennan Adams and James Gregory. He also noted a bit of a 'home' feel from those who made the trip to Muncie, saying that it seemed like Valley had the largest turnout among the eight conference schools. "It is a beautiful atmosphere and this is a beautiful field," Shriver said. "But we enjoy playing at our home field, too." To the Vikings, for one night, Schuemann Stadium was Death Valley. The Vikings' defense suffocated the Knights, who were held scoreless for the first half and were also forced to turn the ball over on downs twice. Southwood scored its first points of the game 41 seconds into the third quarter, as a 59 yard pass to Levi Winget from Connor Hobbs set up a 9-yard touchdown run from Nathan Hollars in an effective two-play, 68-yard drive. Valley quickly answered one minute and 18 seconds later with a 32 yard touchdown run from Nolan Sponseller. Jacob Ritchey added a 9-yard scoring run, Tanner Andrews hauled in a 65-yard touchdown pass from Ben Shriver and Chris Torpy notched a touchdown run and a touchdown reception on the night for the Vikings. Shriver finished the game 5 of 7 through the air for 147 yards. Coach Shriver said that the game will make for a great memory for everyone on the team – players, coaches, managers and parents alike. "This is something that a lot of the guys are going to be talking about at their 10 and 20 year reunions," Shriver said. Valley improved to 2-2 (2-0 TRC) while Southwood fell to 0-4 (0-2 TRC). The Vikings travel to Wabash Friday to face Northfield (2-2, 0-2 TRC) at 7 p.m.
