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Football: Crown Point continues playoff run
Updated: May 9, 2012 9:58AM
MERRILLVILLE — The moment was not lost on anyone from Crown Point. From Bulldogs coach Chip Pettit on down to the ball boys, Crown Point’s postseason run is understood to be exactly what it is — improbable.
Their first-string quarterback and running back both out for the season with injuries, the Bulldogs continued their playoff run and won their sixth straight game with a convincing 42-21 victory over Merrillville in the Class 5A Sectional 1 championship game at Demaree Stadium on Friday.
“That equipment room has been calling our names for the last three weeks,” Pettit said. “We’ve been putting it off. It’s unlikely that we’ve been able to make this run, especially without our quarterback out. But when you play good defense, anything is possible.”
Crown Point (9-3), which captured its first sectional title since 2006, plays at Penn (12-0) at 6:30 p.m. next Friday in a 5A regional.
The Bulldogs intercepted Merrillville quarterback Jake Raspopovich four times and got a monster game from sophomore running back Tristan Peterson, who carried the ball 36 times for 194 yards and four touchdowns.
“This is great,” Peterson said. “I never would have thought this could happen.”
Peterson sparked Crown Point after it had fallen behind 14-0 when he busted off a 47-yard run to give the Bulldogs a first-and-goal situation midway through the second quarter. Three plays later, he punched it in from a yard out.
Then, with a minute left in the first half, Tyler Smith stepped in front of a Raspopovich pass and took it 50 yards for a touchdown to knot the score at 14-14.
“The play before that, the kid ran the exact same route,” Smith said. “I saw him break down, and the quarterback looked at him. I jumped the route and the ball landed in my hands. Then I ran for clear daylight.”
It completed a stunning turn of events and breathed even more life into the Bulldogs.
“It was like, ‘Wow, here we are, 14-all,’ ” Pettit said. “Those were huge plays for us.”
Crown Point turned opportunistic in the second half. The Bulldogs scored a pair of touchdowns in the third quarter within a span of 1:06 after taking advantage of a Merrillville roughing-the-punter penalty and then another interception, this time by Brendyn McKinnon. Peterson ran it in both times for the Bulldogs score.
Suddenly, Crown Point had itself a 28-14 lead with 5:35 to play in the third quarter.
“When the game was still in question, we had some turnovers there that put us in bad situations,” Merrillville coach Zac Wells said. “And we had some penalties, too, that hurt us. We just really couldn’t string anything together, and Crown Point had a good game plan and executed well.”
The Bulldogs again took advantage of a Pirates turnover after Jordan Krajci picked off Raspopovich. This time Pete Parks lumbered in from 6 yards out for the score and a 35-14 Crown Point lead with just under eight minutes to play in the fourth quarter.
And, finally, after another Pirates turnover, the Bulldogs scored their 42nd straight point on a Peterson 1-yard run with 5:22 to play.
“I just think we’ve been getting better defensively as the season has gone on,” Pettit said. “From Week 6, I felt like we really started to get it.”
Dylon Collins was a bright spot offensively for the Pirates (8-4) scoring a pair of touchdowns and rushing for 121 yards on 14 carries.
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