Andrean pulls away from Griffith late to advance

Andrean pulls away from Griffith late to advance
3A No. 2 and NWI No. 3 Andrean 38, 3A No. 6 and Indiana Preps No. 4 Griffith 20
By Paul Honeycutt

MERRILLVILLE – In another case where sectionals need to be seeded, Class 3A No. 2 and Indiana Preps NWI No. 3 Andrean and 3A No. 6 and NWI No. 4 Griffith participated in what felt like a championship game to all that watched.

Griffith came in at second in scoring in all of 3A with over 50 points per game while Andrean allowed just over 10 points a game defensively, good for fourth in 3A.

Entering Friday night’s Class 3A Sectional 25 opener, Andrean held the all-time overall win total over Griffith by a 13-12 edge, with both teams even at three wins apiece against each other all-time in the postseason.

These two last played a playoff game on October 27, 2006, with Griffith taking it 26-7 on its way to a semistate appearance under legendary coach Russ Radtke.

Friday night ultimately belonged to Andrean, who beat Griffith by a 38-20 final.

Andrean will now host Benton Central (1-8) in the sectional semifinals next week.

59ers junior wideout Tyler Vo admitted after the game that he and junior quarterback Dylan Gore are good at math.

Vo had a lot of receiving yards and catches to add up after the win, as he broke out for 195 yards and a touchdown on seven receptions.

“I couldn’t do it without my O-line or my quarterback,” said Vo. “Thursday night, Coach Mo sent us the first play and I said ‘let’s go at it.'”

After a stalled opening drive for Griffith (9-1), Gore connected with a wide open Vo down the seam for 76 yards on the first play from scrimmage for the host 59ers.

“Part of (Dylan’s awareness) is the way you practice and how you prepare, but I do think he’s got that quarterback moxie, though, he’s just got that it factor that you want in a quarterback,” Andrean coach Chris Skinner said.

Gore said due to the nature and lots of different looks Griffith provides defensively, they were difficult to prepare for.

“We didn’t necessarily know what to expect from an offensive standpoint on what they were gonna give us, so we just had to be ready for everything,” said Gore, who threw for 309 yards on 15 of 22 passing with two touchdowns.

A mere 47 seconds later, the state’s leading rusher, Desmond Neylon sprung for a 41-yard touchdown run to cap a quick 3-play, 66-yard drive for the Panthers.

Neylon, who ran for 120 yards on 34 carries and three total TDs, finished with over 2,000 rushing yards and is the first Griffith player to do that since Tyler Radtke in the year 2000.

Andrean (9-1) responded with a quick drive capped by an Ethan Reyna 2-yard TD run at the 4:35 mark of the first quarter.

Neylon grabbed his second score of the night on a 9-yard TD pass from senior quarterback Ryan Bullion for the only score of the second quarter.

“Man, he is a really good running back with great vision, Skinner said of one of the top running backs Indiana has. “He offered a very different running style than (Lowell running back) Tymothy James last week, so we worked lot this week on how to try to defend him.”

Griffith was able to stop Andrean on two crucial fourth downs deep in its own territory.

After a Neylon 5-yard rushing score to tie the game at 20, Griffith recovered the ensuing squib kick, but the Panthers couldn’t take advantage of the recovery and good field position.

“Our defense had a hard time getting off the field on third down there in the first half and early in the third quarter, so they came up with a huge stop there,” said Skinner. “If they don’t get that stop, who knows how this game turns out.”

Andrean went back up 26-20 on the next drive with another Reyna touchdown run, this time from 26 yards.

The Niners padded their lead with a 12-yard TD pass from Gore to Vinnie Zsuppon and then a 30-yard TD run from freshman MJ Kull.

“To have a quality group of running backs you can rotate to keep guys fresh is big in playoff football,” said Skinner.

Skinner earned his 100th victory at Andrean.

“Honestly, I didn’t even know,” said Skinner. “It’s special, but what I told the boys, I don’t view this as mine, this is the program’s.”

Andrean 38, Griffith 20

Griffith; 6 7 7 0 – 20

Andrean; 13 0 13 12 – 38

A – Tyler Vo 76 pass from Dylan Gore (kick failed), 7:38 1st

G – Desmond Neylon 41 run (kick failed), 6:51 1st

A – Ethan Reyna 2 run (Jax Alvarez kick), 4:35 1st

G – Neylon 9 pass from Ryan Bullion (Kyle Hornyak kick), 6:05 2nd

A – Javier McCoy 4 run (Alvarez kick), 10:29 3rd

G – Neylon 5 run (Hornyak kick), 5:20 3rd

A – Reyna 26 run (kick failed), 2:48 3rd

A – Vinnie Zsuppon 12 pass from Gore (pass failed), 7:05 4th

A – MJ Kull 30 run (kick failed), 4:15 4th

Griffith;Andrean

First Downs;20;18

Total Yards;322;456

Rushes-Yards;42-144;21-147

Passing;178;309

Comp.-Att.-Int.;20-35-1;15-22-0

Penalties-Yards;5-50;9-100

Fumbles-Lost;1-0;0-0

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING – GRIFFITH, Desmond Neylon 34-120, Ryan Bullion 8-24. ANDREAN, Javier McCoy 9-54, Ethan Reyna 6-49, MJ Kull 3-37, Brady Stovall 2-8, Jeremiah Gonzales 1-(-1).

PASSING – GRIFFITH, Ryan Bullion 20-35-178-1-1. ANDREAN, Dylan Gore 15-22-309-2-0.

RECEIVING – GRIFFITH, Jason Quillin 4-78, Sebastian Kutscher 6-40, Hamza Issa 3-27, Desmond Neylon 4-21, Davon Thomaston 3-12. ANDREAN, Tyler Vo 7-195, Brady Stovall 1-32, Stetson Sullivan 2-31, Gavin Helpingstine 2-17, Jeremiah Gonzales 1-15, Vinnie Zsuppon 1-12, MJ Kull 1-7.