Penn pulls away to oust Slicers

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MISHAWAKA -- A game of “anything you can do, I can do better” broke out in Friday night’s Class 5A Sectional 2 championship at Freed Field as LaPorte fell to Penn, 33-18.

The Slicers went on the offensive early, controlling the clock while the defense came up big, forcing a fumble in Penn territory, recovered by Matt Heinen.

“The defense played well in the first half. They really kept us in the game,” LaPorte coach Bob Schellinger said. “The game plan was to use as many formations as possible and to run clock and it worked.”

Carlton Austin cashed in on the rare Kingsmen mistake with a 22-yard run to put LaPorte up 6-0 after the extra-point attempt was blocked. The Kingsmen caught lightning in a bottle, scoring on a 62-yard Kamden Betzer catch to take a 7-6 lead.

Another Penn strike increased the lead three minutes into the second quarter, but the point after was missed making it a 13-6 Kingsmen lead.

An impressive 85-yard touchdown drive, aided by a personal foul penalty, pulled the Slicers within one at 13-12, but again Penn broke the big play. This time it was a 99-yard kickoff return by Mike Carroll. The Alan Sinclair point after increased the lead to 20-12.

“The special teams caved in on us tonight. We missed kicks and didn’t cover the field well,” Schellinger said. “We just didn’t execute.”

But again it was LaPorte’s turn after Carroll's runback. With five seconds on the clock, the Slicers wrapped up an 11-play, 90-yard scoring drive when quarterback Dustin DeMuth hit Emmerson Cooper over the middle for a touchdown on fourth down to pull within two. The two-point conversion failed, preserving a slim 20-18 halftime lead.

“Penn was leaving the middle of the field open so we adjusted to take advantage of that,” said Schellinger.

Carlton Austin and Bryce Holland did most of the damage. Austin ran for 128 first-half yards and a touchdown while Holland notched 61. Cooper made three catches for 46 yards and a touchdown before the half.

“Both backs are something special. We knew if we didn’t stop them we’d be in big trouble tonight,” Penn coach Cory Yeoman said. “They’re both very big and power runners.”

A great start in the second half by Penn changed the complexion of the game and put the Slicers on their heels. The Kingsmen opened the second half with an 80-yard drive while coming up with stops on defense.

“We talked about coming out and starting the second half right,” said Yeoman. “We knew if we got off to a good start we could gain control.”

The Slicers offense was stuck in neutral in the second half as Penn’s defense held them to just 2-of-5 third-down conversions after converting on 7-of-10 in the first half.

“They got up a couple scores on us and forced us out of our game plan. We had to throw the football which isn't our forte," said Schellinger. "This team has been through a lot and they never gave up despite Penn forcing us to throw the ball."

With the lead Penn was able to chew up yards and game clock en route to another score. Jason Keough and Tony Bodle carried the load for the Kingsmen in the second half. Keough finished with 106 yards and three touchdowns on the night while Bodle racked up 113 yards.