In a game dominated by defense and special teams, Tyler Gomez took a direct snap, swept around right end and saw a surprising amount of daylight.
The junior running back’s 4-yard touchdown in the second overtime ended Crown Point’s 9-3 win over Lowell in Friday night’s season opener.
After the game, Gomez’s eyes darted around the field, absorbing the celebratory scene for the Bulldogs.
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“I was just hoping to get in,” said Gomez, who finished with 72 yards on 23 carries. “I just tried my best to get in.
“This team has really come together. People think we’re garbage. But we’ve bonded, and we have a lot of chemistry.”
Indeed, Crown Point already has matched its win total from last season.
“The past is the past,” Bulldogs coach Kevin Enright said. “It’s a different group of guys. Kids have short memories.”
The latest edition of the game for the Old Leather Helmet, the state’s oldest rivalry, will be remembered as one that ended scoreless in regulation.
In the first OT, Crown Point’s Brian Lewis kicked an 18-yard field goal, his first attempt of the game after Lowell’s Jordan Jusevitch had blocked two previous Bulldogs kicks.
Jake Post kicked a 22-yarder for the Red Devils to send the game into the second overtime.
On fourth down from the 2, Crown Point swarmed Jusevitch just short of the goal line.
“We went for it — what the hell,” Red Devils coach Keith Kilmer said. “Our defense was playing great. We came up two inches short.”
The fourth quarter ended with a flurry of action.
Jusevitch blocked James Priddy’s 41-yard field goal with 19.3 seconds left, having blocked a 37-yarder earlier in the fourth quarter. Jaeger Gill scooped up the ball and returned it to the Crown Point 21 with 7.4 seconds left.
After an incomplete pass by Jusevitch, Post missed a 38-yard field goal as time expired.
In regulation, Crown Point had seven punts, the two blocked field goals and a drive that stalled when Jusevitch intercepted a pass at the goal line.
Lowell had nine punts, the missed field goal and a possession that ended near midfield at halftime.
“It was simple — we didn’t get the ball over the 50-yard line the entire game,” Kilmer said. “You have to give those guys credit. They were scrappy, they played hard, they played with heart. But our defense hung in there too.
“If you like defense, it was a great game. If you like offense, we both stunk it up.”
Enright praised his defense’s performance.
“They played together,” he said. “They played with a lot of emotion. They believed in themselves.”
Twitter @MichaelOsipoff
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