Pierce, Pirates race past Munster

Merrillville's Keith Dockery picks up fumble for a touchdown run against Munster.
(Jeffrey D. Nicholls/Post-Tribune)

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MUNSTER -- Leroy Marsh was more than a little concerned after watching Denzel Pierce run on film.

The Munster head coach's concerns were warranted.

Merrillville's sophomore running back turned Friday night's Class 5A, Sectional 1 semifinal game against the Mustangs into his own personal highlight film.

Pierce rushed 13 times for a career-high 265 yards and scored four touchdowns -- on runs of 55, 65, 59 and 49 yards -- to lead the Pirates to a 37-7 victory.

Merrillville (8-3) plays at Chesterton (9-2) for the sectional title on Friday.

"It feels great, I was real surprised," said Pierce, who scored six TDs once as a Pierce Middle School player.

"My offensive line got me to the spot where I needed to be. It all starts with the O-line."

Pierce was intent on making an impact before the opening kickoff.

"When I came out here tonight, I thought to myself I had to run hard and we needed to play great," Pierce said.

Pierce made some nice cuts on his own, but his linemen opened up the holes and let him find the opening. Once he broke free, the Mustangs could only watch him sprint for the end zone.

"He"s awesome," Marsh said of Pierce. "We were worried about him, but the thing that really hurt us the most was, we lost (senior linebacker) Kevin Nossem early in the second quarter with a hip pointer."

The Mustangs (7-4) tried to plug the middle with a couple of underclassmen, including freshman, Lukas Nossem, Kevin's brother, but it wasn't enough to contain Pierce or the his speedy teammates.

"Kevin tried to come back and play a few plays early in the second half, but couldn't go, and they (Pirates) started attacking our two young guys in the middle," Marsh said.

Marsh refused to comment on a play that turned the verdict directly in Merrillville's favor just prior to halftime.

With the Pirates holding a 14-0 lead, Munster quarterback Joe Gill threw a pass from the Merrillville 48-yard line to Aaron Estrada.

Estrada was hit and dropped the ball before possessing it, which should have been an incompletion. Instead, Merrillville's Keith Dockery scooped it up and raced 48 yards for a TD.

The score gave Merrillville a commanding 21-0 lead with 2:06 left in the first half.

Munster scored its only TD -- on an 11-yard pass from Gill to Estrada to make it 21-7 with 21.2 seconds left in the half, but the Pirates marched to the Munster 5-yard line and added a field goal by Ryan Stokes to take a 24-7 lead at the break.

"We thought we could do some things on them offensively, and our defense has been playing pretty well," Merrillville coach Zac Wells said.

"Denzel played well. He played hard and is a nice back to have. He's very exciting. We did a pretty good job of getting linemen on their defensive bodies tonight. He'll be the first to admit that it really helped him."