CULVER – The Tippecanoe Valley football team came up just short Friday night.

The Vikings dropped a heartbreaking 27-26 final at Culver Academies in a Class 3-A sectional opener.

Valley trailed 27-20 before Jarred Littlejohn caught a 20-yard touchdown toss from Alec Craig to make it 27-26 with just 29 seconds left to play in the game.

The Vikings opted to go for the two-point conversion, but their running play was stopped and the Eagles held on for the win.

The host Eagles, who beat Valley 36-13 at Valley in the season opener back on Aug. 22, advance to play Peru in a sectional semifinal game next Friday night.

Culver Academies moves on with a 4-6 mark, while the Vikings finish their season at 1-9.

The Vikings took a 6-0 lead Friday night in the first quarter on a one-yard touchdown run by Craig.

The Eagles then scored the next three touchdowns as Jesse Brownfield ran seven yards for the first score and then threw touchdown passes of 55 and 10 yards.

Valley answered right back with a pair of touchdowns to tie the game at 20-20 in the final period. Jonah Mikel caught a 12-yard scoring toss from Craig and Garrett Bell scored on a seven-yard run.

The Vikings rushed for 241 yards in the contest.  Bell had an outstanding game on the ground for coach Scott Bibler’s squad with 143 yards rushing on 27 carries.