Peru running back Jordan Rader eludes Whitko’s Brady Weeks Friday night in the TRC championship game. Rader had two touchdowns to help the Tigers to a 19-7 win over the Wildcats. (Photos by Mike Deak)

SOUTH WHITLEY – When it mattered most, Peru made the plays it had to Friday night. As a result, the Tigers can call themselves Three Rivers Conference champions after beating Whitko, 19-7, at Ryan Huff Field in the conference championship game.

All 26 points in the game were scored in the fourth quarter of a chess match of defenses that were bending but not breaking through 40-plus minutes of football. But when the chips were down, Peru made a series of plays that separated the two teams.

Whitko quarterback Garrett Elder gets into space during his 56-yard touchdown run.

Peru was faced with a 98-yard field in front of it as the fourth quarter began after Whitko downed the punt at the 2. Facing third and 17, Peru quarterback Robert Cunningham found Kordell Prescott for his only completion of the game, which went for 48 yards. Later in the drive, Peru was looking at fourth and two on Whitko’s 32, and Cunningham made up the ground himself, running nearly untouched to the endzone.

Peru’s Jordan Hiles then blocked Whitko’s next punt, setting up the Tigers at Whitko’s 19. Again facing fourth down at the Whitko 10, Jordan Rader took the handoff from Cunningham and raced to the endzone for a 10-yard score. A missed extra point made it 13-0, but the message was being sent.

In the game, Peru converted three of its four fourth down tries and 6-16 on third down. Whitko, on the other hand, was 1-11 on third and fourth down.

“We just grinded, and our kids found a way to make some big, big plays,” said Peru head coach Bob Prescott. “These kids have really stuck it out. Five years ago when I got here, we didn’t win a game. Now, we’re TRC champions. The kids are competitive, and they believed in each other and their ability.”

Whitko’s lone touchdown came immediately after Rader’s score. After a Robby Owlsey kick-off return got Whitko to its 44, Garrett Elder took the next snap and raced to his left and past Peru for 56 yards and a touchdown.

Whitko running back Gavin Powell

The Wildcats, however, couldn’t stop Peru as the clock became the second opponent. The Tigers converted a pair of key third downs and Rader capped another drive with a 16-yard run, sealing up the inaugural TRC title to the Tigers, which deservedly accepted the porcelain football.

“We matched their effort for three-and-a-half quarters,” said Whitko head coach Josh Mohr. “I cannot fault the effort we gave. There were a couple assignment mistakes on a couple plays, but that is going to happen in any game.

“Congratulations to coach Prescott and his team, a very physical team. They came in in the second half and wanted it.”

Whitko missed out on a golden opportunity to open the scoring in the second quarter. After Garrett Smiley got Whitko to the one, the Wildcats were facing fourth and goal. Hunter Reed looked to have room inside on the next run, but Chase Ogle made the biggest of his team-high nine tackles, stopping Reed short of the goal line.

Peru had a touchdown called back on a holding penalty in the first quarter on a drive that stalled, and also had a field goal blocked on the drive following Ogle’s tackle of Reed.

The two teams combined for 585 yards of offense, and predictably, 525 of it was on the ground. Brady Miller, who came into the night leading the TRC in rushing, helped his personal crusade with 20 carries for 120 yards for the Tigers, pushing his season total to 1,252 yards. Whitko did a number on Peyton Sturgill, the second head on the Peru rushing monster. Sturgill, who had 1,046 yards on the ground coming into the night, managed just 31 yards on 13 carries.

Rader had 84 yards on the ground and Cunningham added 61 rushing yards.

Elder led Whitko with 122 yards rushing, buoyed by the big touchdown run. Gavin Powell added 44 yards on six carries and Reed wound up with 57 yards rushing. Elder completed just one of four passes while Cunningham was one of five.

“We’ll be fine, we just need to come in with a little more urgency than we did tonight,” Mohr said.

Whitko (4-5, 3-4 TRC) will host Prairie Heights (0-9) in the Class 2-A sectional No. 35 tournament next Friday while Peru (8-1, 6-1 TRC) will meet Yorktown (3-6) in the Class 3-A sectional No. 27 tournament.

Peru rallies the troops before the start of the TRC championship game Friday night at Whitko.