.png)
Caston falls at home to sectional rival West Central; Toloza, Rans key Pioneer win over Lewis Cass; Culver, Winamac suffer shutout losses
BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS
Sports Editor, RTC
Football
Tippecanoe Valley 23, Wawasee 12 (Friday): Gage Overbey kicked three field goals, including a 46-yarder, and Asher McGriff returned an interception 62 yards for a touchdown for the visiting Vikings as they beat Wawasee for the third consecutive year Friday.
Brock Derf added a 27-yard touchdown run as part of a 48-yard night. Nate Parker had a team-high 78 yards, and Grady Moriarty added 72 yards on two carries.
Valley led 13-0 at half and 23-0 at one point in the fourth quarter.
The Valley defense recorded four interceptions, including two for Wade Jones and one for Wes Parker.
Meanwhile, Valley had no turnovers.
This was the 500th game in Valley football history, according to Valley historian Micah Lukens. Valley is 319-181 all time, a .638 winning percentage.
Valley will travel to Rochester at 7 p.m. this Friday. Valley has won the last four Bell games.
West Central 24, Caston 12 (Friday): Jabez Yarber ran for 61 yards and a touchdown and added two receptions for 38 yards, and Gavin Mollenkopf threw for 104 yards and a touchdown, but the host Comets lost to sectional rival West Central Friday in their season opener.
Kyle Roudebush ran 10 times for 49 yards and three receptions for 25 yards. Caston had 133 yards rushing as a team.
Grant Yadon had a team-high four receptions for 53 yards and a score.
Levi Martin completed a pass for 12 yards on offense, and he also led the defense with seven tackles. Roudebush and Pete DuVall had six tackles each, Yadon had four tackles and forced fumble, Yarber had three tackles and fumble recovery, and freshman Ashton Bowyer had three tackles.
West Central led 6-0 at halftime and 18-12 after three quarters.
West Central has won the last three meetings with the teams. Caston has lost 15 straight games overall.
Pioneer 29, Lewis Cass 22 (Friday): Rylahn Toloza ran for 168 yards and two touchdowns on 27 carries, and Micah Rans ran 11 times for 90 yards and two touchdowns for the host Panthers in a win over Lewis Cass at the Panther Pit Friday.
Tyler Zellers also ran five times for 22 yards.
Rans also completed two passes, one to Eli Guffey for 15 yards and one to Zellers for a yard. Rans also kicked three extra points. Cayden Hill scored on a two-point conversion.
Hill and Guffey each had six solo tackles to lead the defense. Hill also had five assists.
Brady Price and Hill each recovered a fumble.
Pioneer scored 21 unanswered points in the fourth quarter to turn a 14-8 deficit into a 29-14 lead.
Pioneer led 8-6 at halftime.
Pioneer snapped a six-game losing streak dating back to last year.
North Judson 47, Culver 0 (Friday): The Cavaliers lost their season opener to conference and sectional rival North Judson Friday at home.
North Judson has won the last 10 meetings between the teams. Culver has not beaten North Judson since 2017.
North Judson led 27-0 at halftime.
Knox 42, Winamac 0 (Friday): Maddox Bucinski ran for 39 yards on 11 carries, but the visiting Warriors lost their season opener to Knox Friday.
Max Gearhart completed a 21-yard pass to Jadon Jones.
Knox had a 354-37 advantage in rushing yards.
Knox led 29-0 at halftime.
Winamac is 1-6 in their last seven meetings with Knox.
