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Down 12-0, Winamac rallies past Caston; Culver beats Pioneer for first time
BY VAL TSOUTSOURIS
Sports Editor, RTC
Football
Tippecanoe Valley 65, Wabash 19 (Friday): Nate Parker spearheaded a 383-yard rushing attack with 170 yards and three touchdowns, and Cody Eastgate and Marcus Jansma combined to complete all 12 of their passing attempts for the Class 3A, No. 13 Vikings in a home win over Wabash Friday.
Meanwhile, the Valley defense held Wabash quarterback Izaak Wright to 80 yards passing. Wright came in averaging 199 yards passing per game.
Twelve different Valley players had a carry, and six scored a touchdown. Brandon Stiles had 51 yards rushing, and Dalton Alber, Karl Parker, Markus Bernicky, Wyatt Hart and Grady Moriarty also had scoring runs.
Eastgate also threw a 19-yard touchdown pass to Kyler Johnson with 10.7 seconds left in the first half.
Valley scored 21 touchdowns in a 5:59 span of the second quarter to build a 44-13 halftime lead.
Keaton Fields had a 61-yard run that set up his own 1-yard touchdown run on the first possession of the second half for Wabash, but Bernicky followed with a 29-yard run in which he was part of a pile that moved the final 15 yards for a score that made it 51-19.
Hart’s 14-yard touchdown run invoked the IHSAA mercy rule for the rest of the game.
Valley improved to 8-0, 7-0 Three Rivers Conference and clinched a share of the conference title. Rochester, Maconaquah and Southwood are one game back.
Valley won their 17th consecutive regular season game and also beat Wabash for the third straight time.
Valley 65, Wabash 19
Wabash 6 7 6 0 – 19
Valley 23 21 14 7 – 65
First quarter
TV – Nate Parker 13 run (Parker run)
TV – Dalton Alber 2 run (Parker run)
WAB – Trevor Daughtry 88 kickoff return (kick blocked)
TV – Parker 26 run (Gage Overbey kick)
Second quarter
WAB – Justin Booth 9 pass from Izaak Wright (Solomon France kick)
TV – Parker 1 run (Overbey kick)
TV – Karl Parker 2 run (Overbey kick)
TV – Kyler Johnson 19 pass from Cody Eastgate (Overbey kick)
Third quarter
WAB – Keaton Fields 1 run (run failed)
TV – Markus Bernicky 29 run (Overbey kick)
TV – Wyatt Hart 14 run (Overbey kick)
Fourth quarter
TV – Grady Moriarty 5 run (Overbey kick)
Winamac 33, Caston 12 (Friday): Cash Roth threw two touchdown passes and also ran for a score, and Max Gearhart had an interception and returned a fumble 76 yards for a touchdown in the fourth quarter to lead the Warriors to a Hoosier North road win over Caston at the Comet Crater Friday.
Freshman Jabez Yarber ran for a career-high 116 yards and a touchdown for Caston, but the Comets committed three turnovers, including two fourth-quarter fumbles that led to 13 Winamac points.
Caston led 12-0 in the second quarter after touchdown runs from Quinlan Kelly and Yarber.
Roth threw a 29-yard touchdown pass to Jadon Jones in the final 10 seconds of the first half to cut the deficit to 12-7 at halftime.
Roth’s 13-yard touchdown pass to Jayse Bentle in the third quarter gave Winamac a 14-12 lead.
Roth’s 1-yard touchdown run on a quarterback sneak, which was set up by Wyatt Wheeler’s fumble recovery on the Caston 18, made it 20-12.
Brody Wall had a 6-yard touchdown run, and Gearhart completed the scoring when he picked up a shotgun snap over quarterback Landon Shafer’s head and raced in for a touchdown.
Oliver Trigg had a team-high three receptions for 27 yards for Caston. Josh Sullivan had one catch for 36 yards. Kyle Roudebush had 13 tackles, and Gavin Mollenkopf had seven. Kelly had six stops.
Talen Garner had 10 tackles and six assists for Winamac. Zayne Bell had two tackles for loss.
Winamac improved to 2-6 overall and 1-5 in the Hoosier North. Caston fell to 0-8, 0-6. Caston has not beaten Winamac since 2012.
Winamac 33, Caston 12
Winamac 0 7 7 19 – 33
Caston 0 12 0 0 – 12
First quarter
(no scoring)
Second quarter
CAS – Quinlan Kelly 3 run (run failed)
CAS – Jabez Yarber 8 run (kick failed)
WIN – Jadon Jones 29 pass from Cash Roth (Conner Burton kick)
Third quarter
WIN – Jayse Bentle 13 pass from Roth (Burton kick)
Fourth quarter
WIN – Roth 1 run (kick failed)
WIN – Brody Wall 6 run (kick blocked)
WIN – Max Gearhart 76 fumble return (Burton kick)
Culver 28, Pioneer 8 (Friday): Shane Shuman ran for 121 yards and three touchdowns, and Jason Cadle had a 41-yard touchdown run and a 44-yard run that set up another score for Culver as they beat host Pioneer at The Pit Friday.
Cadle also completed 12 of 13 passes for 117 yards. Culver also had a 225-111 advantage in rushing yards.
The win was Culver’s first ever over Pioneer. They had previously been 0-8 against Pioneer.
Rylahn Toloza had 85 yards rushing, including a 2-yard touchdown run for Pioneer. Toloza also had an 18-yard reception. Pioneer (2-6, 2-4 Hoosier North) lost their fourth straight game. The four-game skid is Pioneer’s longest since 1995.
Freshman Eli Guffey had 10 tackles and an interception. Peyton Schnurpel also was in on 10 tackles. Toloza and Cayden Hill had nine tackles each. Caleb Sweet had eight tackles on defense and two receptions for 10 yards on offense.
Oliver Morgan led the Culver (5-3, 3-3) defense with eight tackles. Shuman and Ben Lee had five tackles each. Ethan Binion had an interception.
Culver coach Mike Zehner subsequently earned the Indiana Football Coaches Association Region 2 Colts/NFL Coach of the Week award for Week 8.
Culver 28, Pioneer 8
Culver 8 14 6 0 – 28
Pioneer 0 8 0 0 – 8
First quarter
CUL – Shane Shuman 1 run (Emiliano Ortiz pass from Jason Cadle)
Second quarter
CUL – Cadle 41 run (pass failed)
PIO – Rylahn Toloza 2 run (Owen Miller pass from Micah Rans)
CUL – Shuman 8 run (Shuman run)
Third quarter
CUL – Shuman 1 run (run failed)
Fourth quarter
(no scoring)
