Tri-Valley delivers clutch plays to topple Wilmington in Class 2A second round

WILMINGTON – Saturday night’s Class 2A playoff matchup between Tri-Valley and Wilmington featured 39 consecutive running plays before either squad even thought about attempting a pass.

But those extremely isolated pass plays proved pivotal and were executed far more often by Tri-Valley as it earned a hard-fought 28-21 win.

Tri-Valley (9-2) now plays Knoxville (9-2) in next weekend’s quarterfinal round. Knoxville defeated Bismarck-Henning 48-29 in its second-round game. Wilmington, which was defending its Class 2A state championship, finished with a 9-2 record.

Tri-Valley trailed 14-12 in the second quarter. It looked as if it would stay that way heading into the halftime break, but Vikings quarterback Andy Knox, who to that point only did damage with his feet, started to do some work with his throwing arm, completing a 27-yard strike to Grant Fatima.

That got the Vikings across midfield but three running plays netted very little more and on fourth down Tri-Valley had few options other than to try to attack through the air. Knox delivered again, fluttering a pass to running Blake Regenold, who made it the 1-yard line before being tackled. Regenold then crashed in on the next play to send the Vikings into the locker room with a surprising lead and a truckload of confidence.

“Our kids believed in each other and they believed in us as coaches,” Tri-Valley coach Josh Roop. “I just felt like it was a total team effort.”

Tri-Valley was handled rather easily by Wilmington in last year’s semifinals. The Wildcats dispatched the Vikings 42-14 on their way to the 2A title. It looked like history might be on the verge of repeating itself early on Saturday.

Tri-Valley took a huge risk early and attempted to go for it on fourth down. The Vikings were stuffed and Wilmington had to cover just 29 yards to get itself on the scoreboard courtesy of a 2-yard keeper from quarterback Ryder Meents.

But unlike the previous meeting with the Wildcats, Tri-Valley showed no signs of folding. Knox burst through the line on a keeper and scored from 61 yards out to pull the Vikings to within 7-6. And, after a long drive netted Wilmington another score courtesy of Colin James, Knox did it again, running for an 80-yard touchdown, which pulled the Vikings to within 14-12.

“They knew it was going to be a nasty game and they were going to have to play a style of game that they don’t like to play,” Roop said. “The thing that I’m proudest of is that they were willing to do it and they did.”

Wilmington looked as if it was just going to get right back in its groove but several things uncharacteristic of the Wildcats started to creep in. The Wildcats’ inaugural possession in the second half had promise but a holding penalty inside the 20-yard line pushed them into a long field goal try, which was missed.

The Wildcats’ next possession ended in a turnover, one of three second-half turnovers they would suffer from.

Meanwhile, Tri-Valley once again used its new-found aerial attack with more success, eventually scoring on a 5-yard pass from Knox to Cade Danko to push its lead to 28-14 with 9:39 left.

Wilmington cut its deficit back to one score on Meent’s 2-yard keeper with 2:20 remainings, but Tri-Valley was able to salt away the remaining time.

“They [Tri-Valley] came up here for the second year in a row and they were ready to go,” Wilmington coach Jeff Reents said. “And we just couldn’t get over that hump. When they got the wind and went over the top on us. We had some good coverages, but they made the plays.”