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Zebras force 4 first-quarter turnovers in 22-12 loss
BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS
Sports Editor, RTC
Tippecanoe Valley senior football players and members of the student section pose with the Bell following a 22-12 win over Rochester Friday. The Class 3A, No. 8 Vikings won their sixth straight Bell game and improved to 2-0. Valley now has a 19-18 advantage in the Bell rivalry, which has been contested annually since 1987 with the exception of 2021.
AKRON — “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players,” William Shakespeare wrote in “As You Like It.”
Well, one might pass along this addendum after the Battle for the Bell between Rochester and Tippecanoe Valley at Smith-Bibler Memorial Stadium: Home of Death Valley Football Friday.
Hunter Stage is a player, and winning the Bell means the world. And he performed his role well. And sometimes the best productions have an intermission that lasts one hour and 38 minutes.
Stage, Valley’s sophomore backup quarterback, replaced the injured Jamison Phillips in the second quarter and guided Valley to three touchdown drives, including a 98-yarder after a goal line stand in the second quarter, as the Vikings won their sixth consecutive Bell with a 22-12 win.
Brandon Stiles ran for two touchdowns, and Wes Parker also had a touchdown run as Valley overcame a 12-0 first-quarter deficit.
No Valley player had more than 67 yards rushing, but five different players had at least 40. Meanwhile, Rochester was held to 65 yards of offense in the second half.
Class 3A, No. 8 Valley improved to 2-0. Class 2A, No. 13 Rochester dropped to 1-1.
It capped off a week for Valley in which they practiced at 6 a.m. to avoid the mid-90s heat.
“It’s amazing, man,” Stage said. “It was a long week. We got it over with. We had some issues. We had some heat. We couldn’t practice, different things like that. We had some different things going on, but we got the job done at the end of the day.”
Said Valley coach Stephen Moriarty: “This was a great, classic Bell game. It is. There will be stories told about this game.”
Trenton Meadows and Brant Beck each had touchdown runs for Rochester, who fell to 1-1. The Zebras forced four first-quarter turnovers and converted two of those turnovers into their 12 points.
But they did not score after the first quarter.
Rochester has not won the Bell since 2017 and has not won the Bell at Valley since 2014. Valley has won 19 consecutive regular season home games dating back to 2020.
Rochester led the 2018 Bell game 7-0, the 2019 Bell game 14-0, the 2023 Bell game 8-0 and the 2024 Bell game 12-0. They lost all four.
Already leading 12-0, the turning point might have been on the ninth play of the drive after an Ethan Bailey interception of Phillips.
Facing fourth-and-goal from the 1, Gage Overbey and Brock Derf combined to stop Beck for a 1-yard loss as he tried to run off the left side.
Coach Moriarty called it “the play of the game in my mind.” He said team historian Micah Lukens had told the team earlier in the week that the momentum can turn in a Bell game in a play or two. His words proved prophetic.
“I think we did a good job of reading right off the bat,” coach Moriarty said. “We kind of had an idea … what kind of play they were going to run at us, and Brock Derf did a great job of coming up and hitting high and not letting him fall into the end zone. … That was the swing that the tide turned.”
Shaffer said the Zebras did not block the play correctly.
“They were in a gap defense and kind of gapped us out,” Shaffer said. “And we didn’t block it correctly, and we let a guy go a little bit free, which is going to be trouble. You know, it was a growing pains play because our rules tell us how to block that, and we went to the next rule too soon and let a guy in unblocked.”
Valley then responded with a 16-play, 98-yard drive that took 8:27 off the clock. There appeared to be confusion with 7:07 left in the half as Valley faced third-and-3 from their own 9. One official called Valley for a false start while another granted Valley a timeout.
After some deliberation, the penalty was enforced and Valley kept their timeout. On third-and-8 from the 4, Stage ran up the middle for 12 yards on a quarterback draw for a first down.
“It was huge,” Shaffer said of Stage’s run. “We talk to our guys, ‘Look, you can’t be bigger than the moment. You have to keep reading your keys. And we missed our read. Ran upfield, got kicked out, and a really nice play call by Valley.”
With help from a 9-yard run from Grady Moriarty, a 15-yard pass from Stage to Parker and a 24-yard run from Stiles, Valley would drive to the 1. On second-and-goal, Rochester’s Xavier Vance penetrated from defensive tackle and tossed Grady Moriarty down for a 2-yard loss.
Valley called their final timeout with 29 seconds left. At that point, two plays were called in the huddle. If the first play did not result in a touchdown, line up and run the second play.
Zakk Parks stopped Stiles for no gain on the first play. Valley quickly realigned, and Stage again handed off to Stiles who found a crevice and scored off right guard. Gage Overbey added the extra point, and Valley was within 12-7 with 4.9 seconds left in the half.
“It was power-I, power-right,” Stiles said. “There really wasn’t a hole. I jumped. I had to go over everyone. The hole was big, but there was a big… pile. So I had to go over.”
Coach Moriarty spoke of the unusual plan after using the last timeout. He said he did not want to risk running the field goal unit onto the field, especially with a 12-0 deficit. They needed a touchdown.
“We had in our back pocket when we called timeout, we had two plays set up back-to-back in case he didn’t get in,” coach Moriarty said. “I thought the first one would have worked. We just had the wrong turn. We were fortunate enough that Stiles found the end zone on that second try.”
Valley athletic director Sam Sturtevant then told spectators at 8:02 p.m. over the public address microphone to evacuate the stadium due to a lightning delay.
After the storm, the game resumed at 9:40 p.m., and Rochester went three-and-out on their first drive, and Valley took over at the Rochester 41 after a 27-yard Carson Paulik punt.
Facing third-and-11 from the Rochester 42, Valley appeared confused on their offensive alignment. Coach Moriarty called timeout.
Newly organized, Stage hit Parker for a quick 11-yard screen pass to the left. After a measurement, Valley had a first down.
Grady Moriarty ran four times for 30 yards on the next four plays, and Stiles squeezed in from the 1 to give Valley their first lead. Stiles added a two-point conversion run to make it 15-12.
After another Rochester punt, Valley was facing third-and-4 from their own 49 with 1:40 left, Moriarty headed left. Beck hit him and forced a fumble.
Both Beck and Grant Clark dove for the loose ball, but it squirted out of both of their grasps, and Valley’s Konnar Fountain recovered at the line of scrimmage.
On fourth-and-4, Rochester jumped offsides to give Valley a first down.
Stage would later convert another fourth-and-1 on a quarterback sneak. The not-to-be-denied Derf ran for 23 yards up the middle.
Three plays later, Parker ran 9 yards for a touchdown on a counter to the right. It was his fourth touchdown in two games.
Stage said his job as a backup quarterback is to prepare for a game as if he were starting.
“You’ve got to,” Stage said. “You’ve got to. You’ve got to be prepared. We got our little jitters out, and then we came out and did our jobs.”
The game began with Drew Bowers intercepting Grady Moriarty on the third play from scrimmage, but Phillips responded by intercepting Paulik.
But on the next play, Callen Ferverda both penetrated into the backfield to strip Grady Moriarty and also fell on the loose ball at the Valley 34.
Rochester then drove 34 yards in four plays. Paulik hit Trenton Meadows for an 18-yard pass, and Meadows scored from the 5 on the next play.
And on the second play of the next drive, Valley turned it over again as Parks picked off Phillips and returned it 25 yards to the Valley 11 before Owen Omondi dragged him down.
Beck’s 2-yard touchdown run followed Kye Murphy’s 13-yard run on a sweep to the right.
Valley got their first two first downs on their next drive, but Mason Hisey harassed Phillips into throwing his third interception of the quarter on fourth-and-15 as Bailey picked him off at the 36 and returned it seven yards.
Paulik hit Bowers down the right sideline for 37 yards on the final play of the first quarter to get Rochester down to the Valley 20. An 8-yard run from Beck gave Rochester first-and-goal from the 9. Three plays later, Parks ran four yards to the 1.
But it was fourth down.
Shaffer was asked about the team’s potential afterwards.
“We got a lot of heart,” Shaffer said. “I think the kids played really hard. I talked to them about that. We challenge them during the game. We get after them in the game. We’re family at the end of it. We’re proud of their efforts. Just would really like to be able to bring home the Bell.”
Coach Moriarty, in his eighth season, is now 6-1 in Bell games. And Valley is 30-4 since the start of the 2021 season. He reflected on how this game is symbolic of the growth of the program.
“Four turnovers is such a big hill to climb,” he said. “I think seven or eight years ago, maybe that would be a hill we couldn’t climb. I think we’re getting to the point where those things (happen), and we just keep fighting and fighting and fighting, and I’m just so proud of their grit tonight.”
Tippecanoe Valley 22, Rochester 12
Rochester 12 0 0 0 – 12
Valley 0 7 8 7 – 22
First quarter
RHS – Trenton Meadows 5 run (run failed)
RHS – Brant Beck 2 run (run failed)
Second quarter
TV – Brandon Stiles 3 run (Gage Overbey kick)
Third quarter
TV – Stiles 1 run (Stiles run)
Fourth quarter
TV – Wes Parker 9 run (Overbey kick)
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