Valley Clinches Home Playoff Game

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Derrick Parker

PDT Sports Contributor

Minford- The Valley Indians defeated the Minford Falcons Friday night by a score of 41-14. The victory clinched the Indians a first round home game in the playoffs, with their opponent yet to be determined.

Valley came out and put up a quick 21 points in the first quarter, with 130-yards and two touchdowns coming from Brian Rolfe. The first drive, Rolfe accounted for 54-yards through the air and capped it off with a 17-yard pass to Dylan Howard. Minford would go three and out on their first possession, punting the ball to Blake Howard who took it all the way to the house for a 70-yard punt return. On Valley’s third possession it took just one play for Rolfe to connect with B. Howard on a 76-yard catch and run to put them up 21-0.

Rolfe would again connect with D. Howard in the second quarter for a long 58-yard pass that put them in the driver’s seat going into halftime, by a score of 28-0. Minford had trouble putting pressure on Rolfe throughout the night and he capitalized by constantly finding receivers at the correct times.

Howard broke open the first big run of the night for Valley to kick off the second half for the Indians, stiff arming his way to a one play 60-yard touchdown rush. Later in the quarter Rolfe connected with Derek Burk while backed up in their own territory for an 82-yard touchdown pass. The score going into the fourth was 41-0.

The Falcons managed to put together a couple scoring drives in their last quarter of the season, with both Kody Kennedy and Casey Gaines finding pay dirt. Quarterback Noah Gray had a hard time against the Valley coverage, as he completed only one pass for eight yards. Minford did have some success with the run but couldn’t string together enough first downs to threaten the end zone.

“Valley is just a good football team,” Coach Brent Daniels of Minford admitted. “We are beaten, bruised, but I thought we played the best they could today. I am very proud of the effort of our seniors. We’ve had bad breaks, and it’s not the kids’ fault. They’ve stayed with it and fought with all they could.”

Coach Darren Crabtree and the Valley Indians will go on to host a playoff game, “We knew coming into this we wanted to play better than last week. I think we came out focused and the Rolfe had time to throw the ball. Our receivers made really good catches, too. We’ve been a big play offense all night and tonight, again, it worked. We shut them out for three and a half quarters so I’m very pleased with how they played tonight.”

“We know we have a home game now,” said Crabtree. “The biggest thing is preparation, which we’ve done well all year. We fell short of our goal with the league championship, but we have another championship to defend now, our regional championship. We won it last year, and the kids will be ready to go to work. This is the fifth year in a row of being in the playoffs and I think that gives them confidence and we will be ready to play.”

Valley finishes the season 9-1, going 3-1 in conference play with the only blemish being a loss against the Wheelersburg Pirates. They will be in the Ohio Division 6, Region 21 bracket of the playoffs.

Reach Derrick Parker at [email protected] or on twitter @dc__parker

Scoring Summary:

1st

Valley- Rolfe 17 yard TD pass to Howard. PAT good.

Valley- Howard 70 yard punt return. PAT good.

Valley- Rolfe 76 yard pass to Howard. PAT good.

2nd

Valley- Rolfe 58 yard pass to Howard. PAT good.

3rd

Valley- Howard 60 yard rush. PAT blocked.

Valley- Rolfe 82 yard pass to Burk. PAT good.

4th

Minford- Kennedy 1 yard rush. PAT good.

Minford- Gaines 15 yard rush. PAT good.

Individual Statistics

Rushing

Valley: Howard 4 rushes 77 yards 1 TD, Basham 4 rushes 13 yards, Rolfe 2 rushes 13 yards, Romenello 1 rush 9 yards; Minford: Gray 6 carries 17 yards, Compton 14 rushes 84 yards, Kennedy 12 rushes 33 yards 1 TD, Stiltner 2 rushes 10 yards, Gaines 5 rushes 45 yards 1 TD, Caudill 5 rushes 16 yards, Devore 1 rush 4 yards

Passing

Valley: 7/9 286 yards 4 TD’s; Minford: 1/8 8 yards 1 INT

Recieving:

Valley: Howard 2 rec 70 yards 1 TD, Romenello 1 rec 37 yards, Burk 2 rec 104 yards 1 TD, Howard 2 rec 76 yards 2 TDs; Minford: Devore 1 rec 8 yards

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Photo courtesy of Patrick Phillips Valley clinches home-playoff game with 41-14 victory over Minford.
http://portsmouth-dailytimes.aimmedianetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/28/2015/10/web1_3L5A0087.jpgPhoto courtesy of Patrick Phillips Valley clinches home-playoff game with 41-14 victory over Minford.

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