Undefeated Crown Point triggers running clock in defeating Chesterton 48-10 on a night DeSean Reed, one of many Trojans juniors to make most of playing time, picks up first varsity interception

Tom Keegan
Onwardtrojans.com

The outcome long since had been decided when Chesterton junior DeSean Reed entered the game in the fourth quarter of visiting Crown Point’s 48-10 win, the 20th in a row against DAC competition.
The clock was running, a mercy rule engaged when one team has a 35-point advantage in the second half.
Those details didn’t matter to Reed because he had a job to do and was determined to do it as well as he possibly could. He succeeded, and his performance was one of those hidden victories buried in the rubble of a lopsided lost.
A cornerback, Reed tracked a pass from promising Crown Point sophomore reserve quarterback Chase Horton beautifully, never took his eye off it, sprinted to try to get under it, correctly judged that he would be just short of accomplishing that unless he reached. So, he extended his arms, intercepted the pass at the Chesterton 18 and held onto it as he crashed to the ground. In fact, he held onto it so long that the referee had to holler at him to give it back as he was running toward the sideline, so he turned around at passed it to the ref. There went the memento.
Reed picked off a pass in a JV game against Portage a couple of weeks ago on a Saturday morning, but this was different. This was under Friday night lights in front of packed stands on the home side, against reserves from a deep team ranked No. 2 in the 6A poll, trailing only Brownsburg.
“I’m trying to showcase what I can do with the reps I get, trying to make a big play, put my name and ability out there and show what I can do,” Reed said.
Chesterton coach Mark Peterson said that early in his sophomore year, Reed was making his presence felt.
“He was just starting to be a guy for us and he hurt his shoulder,” Peterson said. “He’s really kind of coming into his own from a backup’s perspective. He’s a guy who’s going to start seeing some time and have an opportunity to make a little run down the stretch here.”
The injury came in the second week of the 2024 season in a JV game vs. Hammond Morton. It required surgery to repair a torn labrum in his right shoulder.
“Me and the other guy collided, my shoulder popped out of socket and was dislocated,” Reed said. “I got carted off and I had to go the ER. When I got the MRI, they said I needed surgery. I was kind of scared for that. But, I mean, it just happens. That’s life. It was a long process. I went through surgery, rehab and everything, a long recovery, a six-month recovery. I feel like I’m basically 100% now.”
Reed ran track in the spring but said his shoulder didn’t enable him to swing his arms the way sprinters do to achieve times that he is certain he’ll be able to produce this coming spring.
Strength and conditioning coach Matt Wagner raves about his work ethic in the weight room, so Reed’s not cheating himself in his effort to work his way onto the field in varsity games.
The degree of excitement Reed generated on the sideline from a team on the wrong side of a blowout indicated how popular a teammate he is.
“It was a very good play,” said senior linebacker Lucas Anderson, who had his fourth interception of the season at the end of the first half. “He plays his heart out whenever he can. He’s got a pick on JV, I know that.”
The uniform appears to mean a lot to Reed: “I love the game, and I love being a part of this team and I try to help the best way I can. I’m just trying to do what I can do and take advantage of the opportunities I get.”
The loss ended a four-game winning streak for Chesterton (5-3, 4-2 in the DAC) and the Bulldogs stretched their DAC winning streak to 20 games, their regular season one to 26.
Crown Point scored a touchdown on each of its first five possessions and took a 35-10 lead into halftime.
“To play a team that’s that caliber, that good, you have to be at your full strength and unfortunately, we weren’t tonight,” Peterson said. “They did some things package-wise on offense that took advantage of some inexperience.”
The Trojans were playing without injured running back Andrew Goveia, who rushed for 704 yards and six touchdowns in the first seven games.
“Andrew is a day-to-day guy,” Peterson said without specifying the injury. “We elected to sit him tonight. We didn’t have as much success running the ball as we would like to have but in the same breath giving him an opportunity to kind of rest up, rehab a little, is going to play in our favor, I hope.”
The Trojans also played without defensive lineman Colin Kellogg, who is having a strong senior season. Offensive lineman Tyler Nevious, receiver Patrick Mochen and tight end Dylan Bradford left the game with injuries and did not return.
Signs that this would be a long night for the Trojans came early and never vanished. Chesterton sophomore quarterback Hunter Boyd was sacked for an 11-yard loss on the second play from scrimmage and the Trojans punted from the 5. Crown Point took over at the Chesterton 34 and on the second play sophomore running back Max Gurnic ran for a 31-yard touchdown.
Back-to-back 15-yard penalties against Crown Point and Boyd passes to Gus Wisch for 11 yards and Louis Raffin for 14 and 7 yards put the Trojans into field goal range and Mace Redman cashed in with a 37-yard field goal to cut the Bulldogs’ lead to 7-3.
Griffin Van Tichelt nearly took the kickoff all the way until Mochen showed his speed, ran him down, and tackled him at the Chesterton 24, a wrestler tackling a wrestler.
Getting dominant surge from its massive offensive line, Crown Point needed twice as long, four plays, to find the end zone on its second possession. Custy hit Alex Rodriguez in the back of the end with 2:15 left in the first quarter to make it 14-3.
The next two Chesterton possessions ended on the second play, with Boyd throwing his second and third interceptions of the season, the first by Van Tichelt, the next by linebacker Ben Clark, another wrestler.
Crown Point drove 18 yards on six plays, capped by Van Tichelt’s 4-yard TD run before Clark’s pick, and after it drove 28 yards on seven plays, the last a Caydon Smith 5-yard TD rush that gave the visitors a 28-3 lead with 7:41 left in the half.
Chesterton responded with its only touchdown drive of the night, ignited by the long, lean lefty Boyd’s hot hand. Hitting his three favorite targets, Raffin, Wisch and tight end Mike Rone, Boyd went 5 for 5 for 85 yards on the drive that ended with him scoring on a 2-yard quarterback sneak and Chesterton trailed 28-10 with 4:13 left in the half. Boyd’s 53-yard completion to Wisch, who covered the final 33 yards after the catch, was the big play on the drive. Wisch raced along the left sideline and dove for the pylon but stepped out of bounds at the 2. A check of the replay shows it was the correct call, the proof coming in the form of flying crushed rubber pellets.
Chesterton would not score again.
Indiana University linebacker recruit Trevor Gibbs proved difficult to stop on both sides of the ball for the Bulldogs. The final two plays of a drive that put Crown Point up 35-10 with 2:18 left in the half came on a Gibbs 19-yard reception from Cooper Malaski and a 4-yard Gibbs touchdown run.
“We had some opportunities to throw the ball with some efficiency, but overall, they’re a good team,” Peterson said of the Bulldogs. “They’ll probably win the sectional and make it to another regional and semi-state, and then we’ll see how they settle after that.”
Boyd was sacked twice for 16 yards in losses and fell on a fumbled exchange, plus the two interceptions, but whatever ball movement the Trojans had came from Boyd finding Wisch, Raffin and Rone.
Boyd completed 18 of 27 passes for 212 yards before giving way to junior Declan Mayer (3 for 7, 34 yards) at the beginning of the fourth quarter.
Wisch had four catches for 95 yards. Raffin had eight receptions for 66 yards and drew a pass interference penalty from the Crown Point defense. Rone caught four passes for 35 yards.
Reed wasn’t the only junior reserve to make the most of late playing time. Colin McCoy caught a 34-yard pass and Elliot Mehling had a 10-yard reception and Mayer completed 3 of 7 passes for 34 yards.
Crown Point’s dominance afforded the Trojans’ reserves playing time, just not as much as if the running clock had not been in effect.
Crown Point scored touchdowns on its first two second-half possessions, on a Gurnic 8-yard run and an 11-yard pass from Custy to Logan Urbaniak to make it 48-10 with 3:18 left in the third quarter, from which point the game was played with a running clock.
Chesterton goes from the top team in the DAC to the second-best, playing Merrillville this coming Friday night on the road. Then it’s onto the four-team sectional. The first round is scheduled for Oct. 24.
The Trojans will learn the sectional pairings Sunday night (Oct. 12) on the IHSAAtv.org show that starts at 5 p.m.