What A Long, Strange Tripp It’s Been
AKRON – Watching Tanner Trippiedi play basketball Saturday night during the sectional championship at Wawasee, some parallels came to mind. Standing out of the crowd, on the other hand, has been an attribute Tanner Trippiedi has embraced among a team hoping to create a brand new identity this weekend.
Trippiedi is the lone junior in the starting five of the senior-laden Vikings lineup. He’s also the youngest with two older sisters, Taylor and Olivia, both of which were basketball stars at Valley and Taylor an integral part of the state runner-up team that captivated the Valley community in 2015. Being observant has been an attribute Tanner learned at a young age, and has continued even through this basketball season despite being one of the more relied upon players on the floor.
“Seeing all the community members come out to those girls games when Taylor was a senior was amazing, wow,” Trippiedi said Saturday night after the sectional championship at Wawasee. “That game at Warsaw (semi-state), it was packed. When we started this year, we didn’t have the fans anywhere near that, but we won five games last year and I don’t blame them. Now it’s picking up again, we’ve won 15 games. It was just a dream of mine, winning a basketball sectional, and now it’s come true. Being a kid up in the stands watching the boys in 2013 win at NorthWood, I knew that’s something I wanted to do. So this is really cool. It’s great. I’m still soaking it all in.”
Trippiedi isn’t a Cindy Brady by any stretch, no bitterness for the proverbial Marsha getting all the credit. His fall was far from a complimentary role, as he captained the inaugural Valley Unified Flag Football team to a state championship appearance. Even in that role, Trippiedi often caught heat from opposing teams and fanbases for running faster and throwing farther than others. Being the little brother to older sisters likely helped build a thick skin to shed off the sour grapes. Playing in the sectional environment last weekend, having to beat the defending champions and the hosts on consecutive nights was very much a power play, even if Trippiedi wasn’t a huge factor.
Trippiedi was just 2-15 from the floor and 1-6 from range in the two games, finishing with 11 total points. He came into the tournament second on the team in scoring over 10 points per night, but did the little things like collecting three rebounds in the NorthWood game and finishing off a break that put the Panthers away. Against Wawasee, Trippiedi missed all four of his three-point attempts, but had three assists and two steals, and showcased some of that fire late in the fourth that has made him one of the fiercest competitors in the school.
“My teammates have been huge, we haven’t let anyone down on this run,” Trippiedi said. “I didn’t have a great shooting night against NorthWood, but guys like Wes (Melanson) and Cam (Parker) stepped up, and Parkur was big (Dalrymple, against Wawasee). We feed off each other and have really played well as a team.”
Trippiedi is just one of the pillars to this year’s Valley squad that is currently exceeding expectations. Even head coach Chad Patrick wasn’t sure what this year’s outfit would be able to do, but saw the senior class blossom into a squad that battled to a runner-up finish at 7-2 in the Three Rivers Conference. Valley as a whole won total five games in Patrick’s first season two years ago.
Waves of momentum seem to ride the Valley roster, which one night will have Melanson go 5-5 from three-point range against NorthWood, or Dalrymple drop 27 points against Clinton Christian in a game Patrick pointed out was very important to the health of his program. Or the defense Parker played against Bennett Hoffert of Wawasee in the sectional final, holding the Warrior sharpshooter to a 2-14 performance from the floor. Or Jalen Shepherd muscling his way to offensive rebounds in some of the most improbable moments.
“We have relied on different guys all year. We have had five different guys lead us in scoring and six different guys lead us in rebounding this year,” Patrick said. “We are not a team where you can key on one guy, we are a team for sure. But defense is still going to be the key for us. We have to slow them down and keep them off the boards if we want any chance of winning.”
Patrick and the Vikes, on paper, have the toughest assignment in Class 3-A this Saturday, having to take on Delta in game two of the Marion Regional. Delta comes in 26-0 and ranked No. 1 in the poll, and No. 15 overall in the Sagarin in all classes, only trailing defending 3-A champion Culver Academy in the class. Academy is still alive, playing in the South Bend Washington Regional, which the Marion champion will be paired against next Saturday at either Elkhart or Lafayette.
Patrick, as expected, has the Eagles scouted well. When Delta goes, it’s usually because senior Josh Bryan is shooting the lights out. Averaging 23 points per night, the lefty is shooting an impressive 51 percent from the floor and 41 percent from three. Patrick notes Bryan will shoot from 25 feet in, and will take advantage of soft coverage.
Brady Hunt, a 6-5 sophomore, is pushing out 12 points and eight boards a night, and Tyler Wilburn, another senior shooter for the Eagles, is giving 11 points per and hits 54 percent of his shots.
“We have six tapes on them and they’re obviously a good team,” Patrick said of Delta. “I don’t care what kind of schedule you play, 26-0 is hard to do and very impressive. Bryan and Hunt are their go-to guys, Bryan is going to Ball State and Hunt is their starting quarterback and a great athlete. They play solid defense and they are a very smart team and can shoot the three well. It will be a tough challenge but one we are embracing and we will definitely show up to play Saturday.”
Delta, however, is playing in its first regional since 2011 and hasn’t played a lights out schedule, ranking just 174th in the state with most of its games played within 50 miles of campus. The Eagles also only played one team, New Castle, which was ranked within the top 25 of its class per the Sagarin Ratings, Delta winning those two games by six and four points, the second meeting in the New Castle Sectional championship, 59-55, to which Delta trailed by double digits during portions of the game. Only three teams on Delta’s schedule is left in the state tournament, 4-A New Palestine and 2-A Bluffton and Alexandria.
On the other half of the semi-final bracket, host Marion (17-7) and Angola (20-5) will wage war in the 10 a.m. game. Marion comes in with its extensive history and huge fan base in two, the Giants winners of its 69th sectional championship in downing Nowell and Heritage in blowout fashion while Angola played tight games against Fort Wayne Concordia and New Haven, with a cruiser against Garrett in between.
Marion is driven by the pair of Jalen Blackmon and Jakylen Thomas, Blackmon continuing the family tradition of filling the bucket at 28.3 points per game to go with four assists per while Thomas is adding 15.2 points per game. The Giants, making its third regional appearance in four years, is the offensive leader of the four regional teams at 68.8 points per game, while Angola is holding teams to just 38.6 points per contest – third best in the state – in the ‘something’s gotta give’ theme. The Hornets are led by the trio of Dyer Ball (12.3 ppg, 6.8 rpg), Blake Peacock (9.2 ppg) and Joel Knox (8.8 ppg).
Marion and Angola are set to tip at 10 a.m. with Valley and Delta to tip 20 minutes after the first game ends, approximately 12 p.m. The championship will tip at 8 p.m., Valley seeking only its second regional title in program history, the other in 2000.