AKRON - Its offense wasn't as crisp as it has been, and its defense gave up a touchdown for the first time in 11 quarters, but Tippecanoe Valley High School's varsity football team still did more than enough to beat Northfield 29-7 Friday night in Three Rivers Conference action in Akron.
While the host Vikings may have been a little upset about allowing the Norsemen on the score, the big picture has Valley boasting a 4-1 record overall and 3-0 mark in the TRC."We haven't had three consecutive shutouts since 1981," said Valley coach Jeff Shriver, whose team beat conference foes Manchester and Southwood by a combined score of 75-0 the past two weeks. "We felt like we had an excellent chance to get another shutout tonight. We gave up a touchdown, and the guys were a little upset about it. At that point, it becomes a situation of how do we respond. When things don't go your way, what are you going to do about it? That's why football is such a great parallel for life. You have to respond to situations and overcome things."
Northfield quarterback Austin Gottschalk raced in from six yards out, and his extra-point kick cut Valley's advantage to 14-7 with 7:07 remaining in the game.
How did the Vikings respond?
Valley quarterback Gus Lukens scored on an 18-yard run a minute and a half later and Brody Andrews powered his way in for a two-point conversion run, giving the hosts a 22-7 lead with 5:36 to play.
Lukens came up with another big play for the Vikings, this time on the defensive side of the ball, as he picked off an errant Gottschalk pass.
Valley turned the turnover into seven more points, as Wade Cave muscled his way in from two yards out and then added the extra-point kick to put the Vikings up 29-7 with 2:15 to play in the game.
"That was huge," Shriver said of Lukens' touchdown and interception. "Gus Lukens is a great athlete, but even more than that, he's a competitor. He's been around Tippecanoe Valley High School football since he was a little kid. He plays quarterback for us, he plays defense. He came up with some big plays."
Lukens, who finished the game 7 of 9 through the air for 74 yards, threw a 26-yard touchdown pass to James Gregory to give Valley a 14-0 lead in the second quarter.
The Vikings' other touchdown, the first score of the game, came on a six-yard run from Andrews with 6:08 remaining in the first quarter.
Andrews led all rushers with 118 yards on 20 carries.
"Andrews ran the ball hard," said Shriver.
Gregory led the Vikings in receptions with four for 59 yards.
For Northfield, which fell to 2-3 overall and 0-3 in the TRC, Matt Shafer had 39 yards on nine carries, while Hunter Wells racked up 26 yards on six rushes.
Gottschalk completed 16 of 31 passes for 172 yards. He was picked off twice.
Justin Parker had five receptions for 91 yards for Northfield.
With the win, Valley is still among four teams with 3-0 records in TRC action, joining Rochester, North Miami and Whitko.
Manchester, Northfield, Southwood and Wabash are all 0-3 in conference play.
"The conference is probably going to be decided in the next four weeks," said Shriver, whose team travels to Wabash Friday before hosting backyard rival Rochester in Week 7. "We're not rooting for anybody else. We're rooting for ourselves. We want to take care of business, and next week we're playing a Wabash team that has struggled, but we're not going to take them lightly."
At 4-1, the Vikings are off to their best start since finishing 8-1 in the regular season in 2007.
