SOUTH WHITLEY – When the teams were on the field, it didn’t take long for the Whitko Wildcats to post a 12-0 win over Three Rivers Conference rival Tippecanoe Valley Friday night. There was, however, a delay of just under two hours due to lightning, and the teams played the second half in around 40 minutes. The game concluded just in the nick of time before a second storm would have forced a certain postponement. Whitko lost a fumble on the second play of the game, but two plays later Wildcat sophomore Robby Owsley picked off Viking quarterback Alec Craig inside the Whitko 5-yard line. Valley didn’t get that close to the end zone the rest of the way. “We’ve had issues with fumbles all year; it’s been our Achilles’ heel a little bit,” Whitko head coach Josh Mohr said. “If we don’t turn the ball over so much, some of these games have a different outcome. “But it is what it is; it’s a part of the game, so you keep encouraging and let them know you’re on their side. I tell them ‘hey, that play’s over, let’s go on to the next one. Let’s keep fighting and going forward.’” Forward is the direction Whitko moved on its next possession, going 70 yards in 11 plays, all on the ground, and converting three third-downs before junior quarterback Garrett Elder ran for a 16-yard touchdown. Neither team passed the ball much, and the first half was completed in just under an hour before lightning was sighted west of town. Both coaches said the long delay didn’t hurt their teams; but both coaching staffs worked to keep their squads focused. “Well, they’re teenagers,” Mohr said. “It wasn’t a battle for us, we just let them know ‘relax a little bit, we have a bit of a delay, but we still have 24 minutes of football to play.’ And it’s a close game at that point.” Valley took the second half kickoff and had some success, moving the ball into Whitko territory before turning it over on downs. Whitko ground out a 14-play, six-minute drive with a pair of fourth-down conversions before Conner Sherwin scored from a yard out. He finished with 73 yards rushing, while Elder had a game-high 103 yards on the ground. Whitko enjoyed a wide advantage statistically, especially in time of possession. Valley head coach Darin Holsopple said his team played hard, but didn’t complete what it set out to do. “We just didn’t play well enough to win the game,” he said. “I’ll have to go back and watch film, but I’ll bet they didn’t have more than four plays all night where we didn’t make contact within the yard of the line of scrimmage, and just didn’t take them down. We were in position all night and just did not finish tackles. On offense we were sloppy, we were careless and we didn’t make plays when we had them. We couldn’t get any rhythm. “The guys were ready to play when we came out in the second half. Offensively, that’s the best we’ve run the ball coming out at the stop of the third quarter. We gotta be able to finish drives. “They’re 15, 16, 17, 18-year-old kids, and mistakes are going to happen. I told them I was going to be proud of them as long as they gave effort, and they did that. They fought the whole game, they gave effort the whole game. We just did not execute. Last week I questioned our effort a little bit; I questioned our fight a little bit. I’m not frustrated this week; we just didn’t play well enough to win.” Whitko improved to 2-3 overall and 1-2 in the TRC. The Wildcats will travel to Wabash and take on Southwood on Friday. Valley fell to 1-4 overall and 1-2 in the TRC. The Vikings host Manchester in Friday’s Homecoming game.
WHITKO 12, TIPPECANOE VALLEY 0 TV 0 0 0 0 –– 0 W 6 0 6 0 — 12 TV W 1st downs 11 15 Rushing yds 92 246 Passing yds 20 19 Comp-Att-Int 3-21-2 1-6-0 Total yds 112 265 Fumbles/lost 1/0 5/1 Penalties/yds 4/30 5/45 Punts/avg 4/32.5 1/33.0 First Quarter W – Garrett Elder 16 run (run failed) 4:27, 6-0 Third Quarter W – Conner Sherwin 1 run (pass failed) 3:28, 12-0 INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS Rushing — Valley: Alec Craig 9-45, Garrett Bell 11-37, Brandon Webster 4-12, DeSean Heckman 1-(-2); Whitko: Elder 19-130, Sherwin 24-73, Landon Goff 1-7, Garett Smiley 5-18, Gavin Powell 2-6 Passing — Valley: Craig 3-20-20 yards, 0TD, 2 INT, Heckman 0-1-0 0 TD, 0 INT; Whitko: Elder 1-6-19 yards, 0 TD, 0 INT Receiving — Valley: Jarod Duzenbery 1-7, Webster 1-6, Heckman 1-7
