ST. JOHN | Crown Point's adjustments at halftime weren't dramatic or defined.
Instead, the Bulldogs coaching staff simply reminded the football team to remember the game plan against Lake Central.
"There wasn't a whole lot to change from a game standpoint, we just talked to the kids that we needed to play our football and execute in the right spots," coach Kevin Enright said. "I think to the kids' credit they never felt like they were down. That is a credit to the kids and the coaching staff to fight through the first half when things didn't go our way."
Crown Point scored three unanswered touchdowns to capture a 21-14 win over the Indians in Friday's sectional semifinal.
Quarterback Jake Jatis threw two fourth-quarter touchdown passes, seven yards to Tyler Smith and 10 yards to Zach Plesac, to rally from a 14-7 halftime deficit.
Jatis threw three interceptions in the first half, including two in the first quarter as Lake Central (8-3) scored both TDs to take a 14-0 lead after the first 12 minutes.
"The three picks, I bet he didn't even know he had three picks," Enright said. "He rebounds from a bad play or an interception and that's just a credit to him and his character."
With David Yancey injured for the second straight week, the Indians relied on power back Riley Arvanitis, who ran for 104 yards on 25 carries and two touchdowns.
"We had a hard time getting on track in the second half. I'm not crying about injuries because everyone has them, but it was hard to get going considering the number of injuries we had," Lake Central coach Brett St. Germain said. "Riley had a big game. He was one of those kids that because we had David, we gave the ball to David 25 times a game and Riley didn't get a lot of touches. He came through when we needed him."
Crown Point (8-3) punted to give Lake Central the ball with 17.5 seconds remaining, but Indians quarterback Alec Olund couldn't find his footing on a muddy field for the first two plays. He threw his second interception of the game on the final play with 1.3 seconds remaining.
"What we tried to convince the kids of this week, do they really realize how much they accomplished?" St. Germain said. "We won some games just on pure toughness and they deserve some credit for being that type of team."
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