AKRON – For the fourth time this year, Tippecanoe Valley is celebrating a football player taking the next step in their path. And for the third time, Manchester is gaining one of Valley’s finest.

Friday afternoon, Jon Humes signed his National Letter of Intent to continue his football career at Manchester University. Humes joins teammates Cam Parker, Jose Rivera and Wes Melanson from the Valley class of 2019 to sign on with a college to play football. Specifically, Humes will continue to be teammates with Parker and Rivera, which signed on with Manchester earlier this year.

Humes was a quiet leader for the Vikings this past season. The defensive back and wide receiver made his impact more on the defensive side of the ball and in special teams. As a senior, Humes made 18 solo and 21 total tackles, one of those tackles was for loss. On special teams, Humes returned seven kickoffs for 103 yards and also returned two punts for 22 yards. Humes added 30 yards of offense in limited touches.

Humes also had a fine career in wrestling, where as a 152-pound senior was a Three Rivers Conference and Plymouth Sectional runner-up, and a Penn Regional qualifier in his weight class. Humes finished his senior season 26-10 overall.

Humes is currently finishing up his senior year with the Valley track program.

“Humes is a very hard nose player,” said Tippecanoe Valley football head coach Steve Moriarty. “On defense he is always around the ball and is a very good tackler. He just is an athlete that makes things happen. He works hard in the offseason pushing himself in track and in wrestling, which he also has had great success.

“This last season Jon also was awarded the “Most Valuable Specialist”,” continued Moriarty. “He really stepped up and long snapped for us this year and was on every special team we had. One thing Jon was one of the best at is blocking. Any time we would run to his side you knew that you were going to get a good block from Humes. I think he will be very successful in college, his hard work and dedication will push him to the top.”

The Spartans, coached by Nate Jensen, went 4-6 overall with a 4-4 Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference record over the 2018 season.