INDIANAPOLIS — Junior quarterback Justin Clark and Valparaiso wobbled but didn’t topple in the Class 5A state championship game on Saturday.
Clark connected with senior wide receiver Rocco Micciche for the winning touchdown pass with 19 seconds left as the Vikings downed Whiteland 35-31 at Lucas Oil Stadium.
“My mom told me I was going to do something great,” Clark said. “At first I didn’t believe her. I proved her right, I guess. I proved her right.”
He sure did. Clark played a part in all five of Valparaiso’s TDs, running for three and throwing two more, completing 10 of 14 passes for 163 yards.
Micciche also will be etched in Valparaiso lore, turning his lone reception into the program’s second title. He caught the ball in the left flat, made a nifty move and willed his way to complete the 11-yard score, capping an epic drive that began at the 20-yard line with 5:32 left and backed up as deep as the 9.
“Once I caught the pass, I knew I could get in,” Micciche said. “Once I dove for it, I was kind of in shock that I scored the winning touchdown. I’m still kind of in shock. I can’t believe it.
“Two guys were coming at me. I tried going outside at first. I didn’t know if I was going to make it. So I tried cutting it back up, and that guy was still there. I was stuttering a little bit, and I’m glad I didn’t fall. I dove for it and got it, obviously. … I was definitely close (to slipping). I’m lucky I got that hand down.”
By denying Whiteland (12-2) its first state title in any sport, Valparaiso (11-3) added to the title it won in 1975. The Vikings sprung another upset after edging Merrillville 15-14 in a regional and Fort Wayne Snider 22-21 in overtime in a semistate.
“There’s a community waiting 47 years to have another one of these,” Valparaiso coach Bill Marshall said. “To be able to go ahead and have this and take it back home to them with a group of underdogs is remarkable. That’s been their mantra — against all odds.
“Many people thought we were in a rebuilding year, that we’d have an opportunity maybe in a couple of years to make it back here. But this program the last five years has just made a giant turn.”
The Vikings put together a giant drive to culminate the run.
With 3:31 left, Clark hit Ian Wilson for 22 yards on third-and-18 from the 12. On third-and-6 from Whiteland’s 49, junior running back Travis Davis — who rushed for 193 yards on 36 carries — gained 7 yards. On third-and-10 from Whiteland’s 42 with 1:18 left, Clark found Wilson again for 14 yards. And on third-and-2 from Whiteland’s 20 with 31 seconds left, Clark ran for 4 yards.
Micciche later made the decisive catch.
“We needed miracles at times,” he said. “We’re used to being underdogs. We were used to it in the huddle.”
Clark described the winning score from his perspective.
“We ran the same play three plays in a row,” he said. “I threw it twice to the right, so I knew they’d be keying on that guy and I had to go left. The outside linebacker sat, and the corner sat. I knew if I threw it out to Rocco, he’d have a play to win us the championship, and I knew he could do it.
“I knew if I don’t do this and we don’t do this, the season’s over. We knew each play had to matter. It’s do or die.”
The beginning of the game looked bleak for Valparaiso, which trailed 10-0 in the first quarter. Whiteland returned the opening kickoff 98 yards for a TD, the longest kickoff return in the history of the state finals. The Warriors then recovered a pooched kickoff, although the Vikings held firm. Still, Whiteland added a field goal after an interception.
“The whole season we’ve been used to having our backs against the wall,” Clark said. “I was ready for it. I was excited because you don’t put an animal against the wall because you know they’ll fight back. The killer instinct kicks in.”
Valparaiso steadied and trailed 24-21 at halftime after a dizzying sequence that saw four touchdowns scored — two by each team — in the final five minutes of the half.
Senior defensive end Connor McCall, who was named the Mental Attitude Award winner, helped the Vikings gain a 28-24 lead. Clark scored on fourth-and-goal from the 1-yard line with 6:15 left in the third quarter. McCall set up that go-ahead score with an interception — his first since Pop Warner, he said — reading a screen pass, tipping the ball and snagging it.
“The first half was definitely jitters,” McCall said. “The second half we knew we had to get the job done. We made some adjustments, and we just executed.”
Whiteland reclaimed the lead, 31-28, with 5:32 left. But Valparaiso, seemingly a team of destiny, would not be denied.
“We had some bumps in the road in the beginning and the middle of the season,” Marshall said. “It was when we turned that calendar to playoff time that you saw a laser focus, a change in the attitude, really, which was remarkable.”
