Craig Captains The Ship [VIDEO]
AKRON – It was party time at Tippecanoe Valley High School Friday night. Homecoming week was coming to an end, the girls basketball team was formally honored with its state rings, and the football team put on a performance to build upon. A 36-27 win was captained by a tremendous performance from Alec Craig, who helped rally Valley to a pinnacle.
Craig rumbled for three second-half rushing touchdowns, including an electrifying 79-yarder that put Valley up nine in the fourth quarter. Craig’s touchdown was a response to Manchester cutting the lead to two after an incredible 67-yard touchdown score from Hayes Sturtsman that was tipped by two Viking defenders before Sturtsman had the ball fall into his lap in near stride.
Manchester had held a 21-9 lead in the third quarter after Bailey Ness scrambled nine yards on third and goal. Valley would then march down the field on its next possession, aided by a roughing the passer penalty, setting up a Nick Feldman four-yard touchdown plunge.
Craig would then add touchdown runs of one and six yards to rally for a 29-21 lead. The shifty Valley quarterback ran for 139 yards and threw for 97 more. Aric Shafer hauled in the touchdown pass, a brilliant catch in traffic for seven yards.
Feldman finished with 60 yards on 19 carries and Brandon Webster added 76 yards on 14 rushes.
Ness would help the Squires to a pair of clever scores in the first half. The senior quarterback found a wide open Keelan Norwood down the left side for 69 yards. Later, Ness hit Kane Gable on a brilliant play fake for a 20 yards. Ness passed for 228 yards for the Squires.
“When you hit certain receivers deep, defensive coaches tend to work their magic,” ushered Manchester head coach Greg Miller on some of the huge plays. “Defense gets to play, too. Sometimes it just comes down to the luck of the draw.”
The Tippecanoe defense was stout despite giving up 27 points. Feldman and Desean Heckman each had interceptions and Dalton Prater got Valley on the board with a safety in the first quarter. Wes Melanson led the Vikings with five solo tackles and blocked two passes.
Homecoming Fun:
After a disappointing loss last week at Whitko, Tippecanoe Valley head coach Darin Holsopple was ecstatic to see his club respond.
“We made some mistakes,” began Holsopple, who noted miscommunication in the first half led to two Manchester touchdown passes. “We got things rolling, and only gave up one more crazy touchdown.
“We gave up 27 points, but 21 of those came on big plays that just shouldn’t have happened. A mental lapse on two of them and a ball that gets batted twice before they go 70 yards for a touchdown. You just do those easy things right, and they score seven points.
Holsopple summed it up simply, “Our defense allowed less points than their defense.”
Valley rolled up 436 total yards, which added to the dejection of Manchester Greg Miller, whose team falls to 0-6 on the season despite keeping pace the entire game.
“There was some miscommunication on some plays, but I am proud of the effort of the kids, of what our kids put forward,” Miller said. “We came out and fought hard until the end of the game. That’s something we’ll take and we’ll build on.”
Valley moves to 2-4 overall and 2-2 in the TRC. Up next for the Vikings is the Battle For The Bell at Rochester, which lost to Northfield Friday night. Manchester will head to Whitko next week, the Wildcats a one-point loser to Southwood.
Among the celebration Friday night was the culmination of Homecoming with the announcement of the King and Queen, which were given to Harrison Sponseller and Shalya Hoffman.
The Tippecanoe Valley Lady Viking girls basketball team was also honored before the game, where the team showed off its IHSAA Class 3-A state runner-up rings. Valley made the state finals in March for the first time in school history and had formally received the rings in June, but were honored by the community Friday night.