Coming into their Oct. 11 showdown, Culver Academies and Heritage Christian each donned a one-loss record throughout their freelanced schedules.
Making the two-hour trip down from Culver, Indiana, the visiting Eagles came in to attempt and play spoiler on Heritage Christian’s senior night.
Less than a minute into the game, senior running back Tay Rodriguez sprinted 58 yards to the endzone to go up 6-0 early against Heritage Christian.
Following an exchange of turnovers, Rodriguez found the endzone for the second time in the opening quarter, this time from 20 yards out to make it a 13-0 early lead for Culver.
Despite several trips near the goal line, Heritage began to stiffen up defensively to give themselves a fighting chance after going down early.
After throwing his first interception of the night to Tyler Rakan, junior quarterback Eli Nix would end up taking the counter into the endzone to make it a 16-6 deficit for Heritage late in the first half. However, one interception was not good enough for Rakan, as the ball fell into his hands once again following the late score.
Despite the dominant play, Heritage Christian was able to go into the locker room down just 16-6.
Midway through the third quarter, Rodriguez would join in on the interception party as he began to have his presence felt on defense.
“We have been prepping [for Heritage Christian] all week,” Rodriguez said. “I just wanted to contribute every way I can, everyone contributed on both sides of the ball and I think that’s why we came out with the win.”
Following the interception, junior quarterback Michael McColgan would call his own number to put Culver up 23-6 in the third quarter.
With Nix sidelined with injury, senior quarterback Kade Zientra would check into the game and immediately give some spark to a dormant Heritage offense.
At first, it was a screen pass to Chase Wahlin that went for around 40 yards before the two connected once again to make it a 23-13 deficit late in the third quarter.
Following a punt, Zientra would find junior wide receiver Andrew Sloan down the sideline that would set up a quarterback sneak to make it a 23-20 ball game early in the fourth quarter.
With all the momentum in the world, Zientra got the ball back once more with seven minutes left in the game to try and finish the comeback — Tyler Rakan had other ideas as he came up with his third interception of the night to give possession back to the Culver offense.
Like clockwork, Rodriguez would find the endzone once more from 11 yards out to make it a commanding 30-20 lead with 5:16 left in the game.
Despite Zientra connecting with sophomore wide receiver Noah Dearman for consecutive completions to quickly move the ball down the field, Rodriguez would put an exclamation mark on the game with his second interception of the night to secure the 30-20 victory for Culver.
Now at 6-1, Culver Academies already have their most wins since 2021 — and their best start since 2017 when they went 10-2.
“It feels amazing,” Rodriguez said. “That’s what we needed. Going into our last game next week and sectionals we will end the season strong and keep going as far as we can… we have shown who we are.”