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By TR HARLAN Chesterton coach John Snyder continually tells the media that his offense only runs “three or four plays” every game. It didn’t seem like such a good idea during the first half, but he looks like a simple genius now. The Trojans stunned a packed house at Valparaiso High School with a 12-10 victory over the No. 6 Vikings Friday night. “Obviously, I’m elated,” Snyder said. “They’re the sixth ranked team in the State and undefeated. I’m excited and so are the kids.” The Vikings dominated the first half thanks in part to three Trojan fumbles, including turnovers on the first two Chesterton possessions. The second resulted in a 9-play, 36-yard drive that was capped off by Tony Hite’s 35-yard field goal and a 3-0 Valpo lead. The teams traded punts and when Hite missed a 56-yard field goal with 4:54 to go in the second quarter, the Trojans finally were able to put a drive together. “What I thought coming into the game, they took away,” Snyder said. “I thought we could outnumber them and when they came out man-to-man in the secondary, it allowed them to put eight guys by the line of scrimmage and fill up gaps and take us out of some plays. “I had to get their free safety back in the middle of the field, so we did some things formation-wise to get some openings.” It must have worked, because Aaron Knight opened the drive with a 57-yard run down to the Valpo 23-yard line. “I think that was big for the kids,” Snyder said. “After a while, if something good doesn’t happen, you start to wonder what’s going on. I told them all along we were going to make a big play.” “It got us some momentum after we started off so slow,” Knight said. “We couldn’t get anything going and after that we got some confidence.” A 17-yard run by Taylor Brown put the ball at the Valpo 4-yard line, but two plays later the Vikings forced the Trojans’ third fumble of the half with 1:29 to play. “We turn the ball over on the one-yard line and they drive down and make it 10-0,” Snyder said. “Who knows what the game is like if we don’t fumble it three times in the first half.” Valpo quarterback Brian Bartholomew engineered a 10-play, 95-yard drive that was finished off on a 14-yard pass to Nick Thompson. “At halftime, we just knew we had to stop doing stupid stuff,” Knight said. “We had to hang onto the ball. I didn’t do a very good job of that tonight.” The Trojans came out on the first possession of the third quarter and put together an 11-play, 63-yard drive that took 5:25 off the clock. Sloane Malay started the drive with a 13-yard run and Knight capped it with a 4-yard touchdown run. The extra point try failed and Chesterton had cut the lead to 10-6. “We needed to show them we could score,” Knight said of the touchdown drive. “They really hadn’t give up very many points this year. They were the best team we’ve played and if we can do that against them, why can’t we do it against everybody.” Valpo answered with a drive of its own getting all the way to a fourth and one at the Chesterton 2-yard line. A handoff to Michael Perkins was met by Phil Frech and finished off by Brown short of the goal line. “Our defense may have been as good as I’ve ever seen it tonight,” Snyder said. “The neat thing about us it that we have some guys who can run. Joe Raffin and Taylor Dore’ on the edge at defensive end are doing great jobs. De’Andre Dukes and David Raffin did a great job of reading their keys. “Coach (Dan) McCoy had a great game plan coming in and our linebackers did a wonderful job of keeping their guys inside. And the secondary did everything we asked them to do.” The teams traded punts and the Trojans took over possession of the ball at their own 42-yard line with 5:56 to play. Knight opened the drive with back-to-back four- and eight-yard runs before Malay pounded up the middle for four yards. “We just lined up and played,” Snyder said. “I know it sounds stupid, but we only ran three plays. We just have to execute what we do.” They did just that and Knight scampered 42 yards for the go-ahead touchdown. The extra point kick failed and the Trojans had a 12-10 lead. Valparaiso got a big kickoff return back to their own 40-yard line and moved to the Chesterton 46 before a big hit on Bartholomew forced a fumble that was recovered by Dore’ with just 2:20 to play. The Trojans couldn’t run out the clock as Alex Paul recovered a Knight fumble that gave Valpo one last chance. “I was just closing my eyes and took a knee on the sideline,” Knight said. “I knew the defense could do it. They were huge all night. They’ve come up with plays all year when we had to have them.” A penalty by the Vikings to start the drive would eventually leave them facing a third and 10 at the CHS 40-yard line with 6.7 seconds left. Hite’s 57-yard field goal came up just short.
C V First downs 14 16 Net Yards Rushing 309 130 Net Yards Passing 4 132 Total Yards Gained 313 262 Passes att/comp/int 4/1/0 24/13/0 Punts/avg. 3/33.1 2/43.5 Penalties/yds 2/10 2/10 Fumbles/lost 5/4 1/1 SCORING BY QUARTERS Chesterton 0 0 6 6 -- 12 Valparaiso 3 7 0 0 -- 10 INDIVIDUAL SCORING V – Tony Hite 35 field goal V – Nick Thompson 14 pass from Brian Bartholomew (Hite kick) C – Aaron Knight 4 run (kick failed) C – Knight 42 run (kick failed)
Posted 9/22/2008
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