Trojans' Miller 'unbelievable' in first start

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CROWN POINT -- Chesterton lost its Knight, but still managed to find another quarterback in shining armor.

Even though starting quarterback Aaron Knight was sidelined with a broken hand, Andy Miller took over behind center and didn't miss a beat.

Miller performed flawlessly in his first career start, leading the No. 4 Trojans (7-1, 6-0) to a 20-7 Duneland Conference victory over Crown Point (3-5, 3-3) Friday night.

"I found out I was starting at lunch time Monday and immediately became really nauseous,'' Miller said. "I was really nervous tonight until after the long run.''

Miller sprinted 52 yards on his first carry and finished with 64 yards rushing on six carries. He also connected on 5-of-9 passes for 77 yards.

"For a kid to come in his first varsity start in a game that really decided the conference championship, I couldn't be any more proud of a young man,'' Chesterton coach John Snyder said. "He's, he's … unbelievable.''

Snyder became so emotional over Miller's performance that he briefly stopped talking about him while choking back tears.

"He did what we needed him to do to win,'' Snyder said. "I'm just taken away with emotion right now.''

The players were so fired up that they gathered around Snyder and chanted: "Moonwalk, moonwalk.''

After begging off having to do it -- claiming he couldn't do it on Crown Point's artificial turf very well -- Snyder gave in.

"I have to have my dancing shoes on to do it,'' he laughed as he began to demonstrate and take a few steps.

While Miller stepped behind center and was basically flawless as a leader -- the Trojans had no turnovers -- Chesterton's defense was solid again.

Led by linebackers John Thanos, Frank Raudry and Greg Nowak, the Trojans limited the Bulldogs to only six first downs -- all coming in the final 17 minutes -- and only 126 total yards.

Crown Point had 24 total yards in the first half.

"To Chesterton's credit, they came out with a kid that hadn't taken any snaps at quarterback, executed the offense and put us in a hole,'' Crown Point coach Chip Pettit said. "I just thought they dominated the first half in every phase of the game.

"I'm just disappointed. I thought we'd play a lot better.''

Chesterton used two touchdowns from Ryan Knarian -- the first a 17-yard scamper and the second a 1-yard plunge with 17.9 seconds left in the first half -- to build a 20-0 lead at the break.

Knarian's second TD followed a blocked punt by Thanos that De'Andre Dukes recovered at the C.P. 13.

"Anytime you get a blocked punt and it turns into points, it's big,'' Pettit said.