Kurtz key in Crown Point's historic season

Bay Kurtz isn't the type of soccer player who would rub individual or team accomplishments into anyone's faces.

However, he admitted he's still feeling the joy of culminating Crown Point's history-making season with a state championship — a 1-0 win over Columbus North decided via penalty kicks.

"I've stayed kind of humble about it," he said. "It's definitely a cool feeling, and I guess I'm still kind of on that high a little bit."

However, given the fact that not many people gave the Bulldogs much of a chance in the postseason, Kurtz was happy to prove the doubters wrong.

A 5-1 loss to Andrean was the low point of the season, coming two games before the postseason began. The Bulldogs -- who were just 9-6-2 when the postseason began -- regrouped, routing Michigan City 8-0 in their final regular season game before going on their epic postseason run.

"We got beat against Andrean pretty bad, and at one point the team itself was pretty down," said Kurtz, The Times Player of the Year. "It was definitely a good feeling to prove everybody wrong and not only that, to bring some respect to Crown Point. The team really got close toward the end."

Kurtz proved he was one of the most skilled midfielders in the area this season, no small feat for being only a sophomore. Kurtz finished with 11 goals and 12 assists on the season as Crown Point faced one of the toughest schedules of any team in Indiana.

Kurtz also played the entirety of both semistate games while on antibiotics recovering from a bout with strep throat. C.P. coach JR Rosenbaum wasn't expecting Kurtz to be able to play a lot, but he proved his coach wrong. Kurtz was also the first shooter in every postseason penalty kick session, and he made every clutch kick.

"We finished our regional game against Munster and he had strep throat, so he was out for three days that week (of semistate)," Rosenbaum said.

"He only practiced Thursday and Friday. He's a fighter; he's going to do whatever he has to do for the team. He had nothing left in the tank the entire weekend, but he just would not come off the field and would not stop fighting for the guys around him. When we asked the guys who wanted to take penalty kicks at the end, I'm sure his legs were saying 'no, no,' but he stepped right up and said 'Yeah, I'll take one.'"