Springs Valley Community High School

The Springs Valley football team’s trip to Tecumseh was always going to be a difficult one. The Blackhawks had an hour-long trip to a different time zone with a start time later than normal because of it and when it came to the actual football, they’d be playing an undefeated team, one of the top 10 teams in Class 1A, on its senior night. Despite that they loaded up their buses having determined to give the matchup their best effort. They played well for stretches of the game, keeping the Braves within reach through the first half, but ultimately their mistakes piled up and prevented them from reeling in their hosts in a 42-14 loss. It was a reminder of how slim the margins can become when playing against top-tier competition. “I think so,” Springs Valley coach Jason Lowe said. “Tecumseh is a very complete team and yes you have to play a full game to compete at that level and beat them. They’ll be a tough out for anyone in sectional 48.” One of the big differences in the game was the discrepancy in explosive plays between the two teams. Tecumseh hit home runs with regularity including a 45-yard touchdown pass and a 57-yard touchdown run. In total the Braves had seven plays of 20 yards or more while the Blackhawks had just two. “Yeah, explosive plays are game changers. That's why offenses strive to make them and defenses preach to keep them from happening,” Lowe said. “With Tecumseh's scheme and athletes it's very hard to keep those explosive plays to a minimum and when/if they do happen they can change a game.” One of the bright spots for Springs Valley defensively was the play of Keaton Pritchett. The junior has settled into his role at cornerback for the Blackhawks well, playing with an increased physicality and more confidence, and is getting the results to prove it. Against Tecumseh, Pritchett finished with 5.5 tackles including a tackle for a loss. He also made one of the biggest plays of the game for the Blackhawks, picking off a pass in the endzone to give them some momentum going into the halftime break. “I thought Keaton played well defensively and — like I shared with him — he has played better each week for the past three weeks. You can really see him improving on the things that we have tried to emphasize with him,” Lowe said. “Keaton’s a very hard worker and will do anything you ask him to, that's why you've seen the improvement on defense — how hard he’s worked each day.” Springs Valley (4-3, 2-2 PLAC) will try to get back on track when it takes on Perry Central this week, but that will be no easy task. The Commodores are 6-1 with their only loss coming against Tecumseh and with a win on Friday they can clinch a Patoka Lake Athletic Conference championship, so they’re going to be motivated. In recent years though this matchup has been a competitive one with Springs Valley having won three of the last seven including three of the last six regular-season games. “Things don't get easier, they just get different. Perry Central is still Perry Central,” Lowe said. “They’re going to run power off tackle and try to catch you loading up the box and beat you on play action passes. One thing we have to learn from the Tecumseh game is playing with consistent physicality. Perry Central is a program, not a team, and you can see their kids play that way at almost every level. We are striving to be a program as well and Friday night games like this are huge steps to becoming a program that others know takes four quarters of good football to beat. We feel like we have a lot of playmakers and our offensive and defensive lines have improved all year. This will be a solid test to see where we stack up.” BRAVES 42, BLACKHAWKS 14 Springs Valley (4-3);0;7;0;7—14 Tecumseh (7-0);14;7;14;7—42 FIRST QUARTER TEC: Chase Jones 45 reception from Drew DuPont (Davis Hight kick), 5:57. TEC, 7-0. TEC: DuPont 14 run (Hight kick), 2:29. TEC, 14-0. SECOND QUARTER SV: Ezra Mills 7 run (Griffin McGee kick), 7:40. TEC, 14-7. TEC: Jones 57 run (Hight kick), 3:23. TEC, 21-7. THIRD QUARTER TEC: DuPont 16 run (Hight kick), 4:25. TEC, 28-7. TEC: Jones 2 run (Hight kick), 0:30. TEC, 35-7. FOURTH QUARTER SV: Mills 4 run (McGee kick), 9:17. TEC, 35-14. TEC: Christian Weisgerber 5 run (Hight kick), 6:32. TEC, 42-14. TEAM STATISTICS ;;Springs Valley;Tecumseh First downs;8;15 Rushes-yards;40-118;42-372 Passing yards;58;119 Total yards;176;491 Passes;3-15-1;5-9-1 Fumbles-lost;1-1;2-1 Penalty yards;1-10;8-95 RUSHING Springs Valley: Ezra Mills 31-118, Konner Chase 6-13, Jack Dalton 1-1, Mavrick Land 2-(-14). Tecumseh: Chase Jones 26-219, Drew DuPont 7-72, Christian Weisgerber 5-67, Kie Silke 4-14. PASSING Springs Valley: Land 3-15-1-58. Tecumseh: DuPont 5-9-1-119. RECEIVING Springs Valley: Chase 2-22, Walls 1-36. Tecumseh: Ayden Arnold 2-35, Jones 1-45, Gabe Nelson 1-42, Weisgerber 1-(-3).