Valley Earns Rare Road Win
SOUTH BEND – It was an environment Tippecanoe Valley hadn’t been in before. But one that has to be explored if it wants to win a state championship.
Valley visited School Field in South Bend for the first time ever and came away with a 19-14 win against South Bend Washington.
The Vikings held Washington on fourth down and three with 53 seconds remaining in the game to seal the win. The Viking defense held the Panthers on fourth down three times on the night.
“What an atmosphere coming up here,” said Valley head coach Steve Moriarty. “When we walked in the door, it was like the kids in Hickory just saw Butler’s fieldhouse. It was nice, the field was quiet, walked around and prayed like we normally do. The kids were in awe. This is a memory for them they will never forget.”
The winning score for Valley came in the third quarter on a Tanner Trippiedi one-yard run. A failed two-point conversion left the score 19-14. Dakota Gaff had Valley’s first two scores on runs of two and eight yards.
Washington stole all of the momentum in the first half on the final play. After Valley was called for a pass interference penalty as the clock hit zero, Washington scored on the untimed down as Kenyon Grant hit his only pass of the night, a 12-yarder to Syair Agnew, and the two-point conversion was good for a 14-13 Washington lead.
Deonte Williams had the Panthers’ first score on a 27-yard touchdown run.
Valley rushed 40 times for 201 yards in the win, its seventh of the season, tying for the most for the program since 2012. Washington, which bows out of the season at 6-4, ran 53 times for 274 yards.
“Our kids overcame and just hung tight,” said Moriarty. “That’s just the will to win. Those guys were hard to beat. But I’ve said it before, we are going to be a hard team to beat.”
Tippecanoe Valley (7-3) will host Jimtown (6-4) next Friday, a 7:30 p.m. kickoff at Death Valley. The Jims clobbered Garrett 30-7. Opposite in the Class 3-A Sectional 26 bracket is Mishawaka Marian (9-1), a 60-0 winner over Lakeland, and West Noble (10-0), a 26-0 shutout of John Glenn, the Chargers getting to host the Knights next week.