Crown Point overwhelms Merrillville in Duneland opener

Crown Point overwhelms Merrillville in Duneland opener
Crown Point 39, Merrillville 6

By Paul Honeycutt

CROWN POINT — Ever been hit by a truck?

Let’s hope not, but the Merrillville offense may feel like that on Saturday morning.

That’s because the Crown Point defense was absolutely suffocating on Friday night in the Duneland opener for the Indiana Preps NWI No. 2 and Class 6A No. 11 Bulldogs in their 39-6 win over NWI No. 1 and Class 5A No. 2 Merrillville.

Whenever a Pirates running back or receiver would get the ball, it took about one second for at least one Bulldogs defender to get to them.

The Bulldogs (3-0, 1-0 Duneland Athletic) allowed just 70 rushing yards and coach Craig Buzea uttered one flabbergasting stat when talking to reporters.

“The first team defense hasn’t allowed a touchdown through three games,” he said. “We did what we thought we could do.”

Crown Point and Merrillville have now played 93 times and the 33-point win is the second-largest margin of victory for the Bulldogs, with the largest coming in a 38-0 win in 1960.

“We came out and pounded the ball like we wanted to,” said Buzea. “Everyone says this year we’re a passing team first, but we’re gonna run it first.”

Run it they did, to the tune of 291 yards, with the bulk of those coming from junior running back Larry Ellison, who ran for 185 yards and four scores.

Merrillville (2-1, 0-1) played on its side of the field for a majority of the first half, as Ellison recorded three short touchdown runs of two, 12 and three yards, respectively.

On the first Bulldogs possession of the second half, Ellison capped the scoring on his career night with a 47-yard rushing touchdown to put his team up 26-0.

This is Ellison’s first time ever playing running back, as he played quarterback, cornerback and actually started at safety last year.

He’s already got the running back postgame lingo down.

“I was happy to transfer back to offense,” he said. “Our defense proved a point and I was running through good holes thanks to the O-Line.”

The Bulldogs added an 11-yard TD pass from quarterback Noah Ehrlich to Jacob Jones and another on a 15-yarder from Logan Hadt to Trevor Gibbs.

The Pirates’ lone score came on a 23-yard TD pass from Darnell Bowles to Xamere Martin at the end of regulation.

Pirates RB JQ Johnson rushed for 71 yards on 16 carries while WR John Peters caught five balls for 69 yards.

Crown Point senior wide receiver Landen Delich finished with four receptions for 67 yards.



Crown Point 39, Merrillville 6

Merrillville; 0 0 0 6 – 6

Crown Point; 6 14 12 7 –39



CP – Larry Ellison 2 run (pass failed), 6:46 1st

CP – Ellison 12 run (pass failed), 6:23 2nd

CP – Ellison 3 run (Ellison run), 1:09 2nd

CP – Ellison 47 run (kick failed), 10:58 3rd

CP – Jacob Jones 11 pass from Noah Ehrlich (kick failed), 4:09 3rd

CP – Trevor Gibbs 15 pass from Logan Hadt (Oliver Brewer kick), 5:25 4th

M – Xamere Martin 23 pass from Darnell Bowles, 0:00 4th



Merrillville;Crown Point

First Downs;6;16

Total Net Yards;192;416

Rushes-Yards;25-70;40-291

Passing;122;125

Comp.-Att.-Int.;12-21-0;12-19-1

Penalties-Yards;1-5;2-25

Fumbles-Lost;1-1;1-1



INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING – MERRILLVILLE, JQ Johnson 16-71, Javeoin Gills 2-5, Dontae Pope 6-0, Darnell Bowles 1-(-6). CROWN POINT, Larry Ellison 24-185, Tommy Guadagno 10-42, Jacob Jones 1-28, Nick Soley 3-26, Noah Ehrlich 2-10.

PASSING – MERRILLVILLE, Pope 10-19-84-0-0, Bowles 2-2-38-1-0. CROWN POINT, Ehrlich 9-14-89-1-0, Logan Hadt 3-5-36-1-1.

RECEIVING – MERRILLVILLE, John Peters 5-69, Xamere Martin 4-43, Rynell Lewis 1-15, Dermont Bogard 1-0, Jordan Sanders 1-(-6). CROWN POINT, Landen Delich 4-67, Trevor Gibbs 1-15, Camden Sorci 1-15, Jacob Jones 4-14, Nick Soley 1-7, Alex Rodriguez 1-7.