Justen Ramsey had to make the play when he saw the football wobbling in the air.
The 6-foot, 295-pound senior defensive tackle figured it might be his only opportunity.
After his teammate Devin Sanders tipped the ball, Ramsey picked off a pass Friday in Merrillville’s 20-14 home victory over Andrean.
It was emblematic of the way the Pirates (1-0) played on defense. Merrillville forced four turnovers and held Andrean to just 26 yards rushing.
Ramsey also recovered a fumble, but it will be the interception that the Ball State recruit remembers.
It happened early in the fourth quarter. Andrean (0-1) was near midfield and looked like it had some momentum when Zack Merrill dropped back to pass.
Sanders got a hand on the ball and Ramsey did the rest. It was his first interception.
“I didn’t even know it was in the air,” he said. “I just looked up and saw it. I was on the ground. I said to myself, ‘I have to catch this. This is a clutch moment. If I don’t catch it, it will be bad.’”
Ramsey got it done, just like the Pirate defense did all night.
The 59ers gave Merrillville the winning touchdown.
That came after a bad snap on a punt attempt went over J.J. Wadas’ head. The Pirates tackled him at the 1 with 43.7 seconds left in the third quarter. Darius Schultz scored to make it 20-14.
Neither team could move the ball consistently. Merrillville also finished with four turnovers.
Andrean tied the game with 6:35 left when Evan Satoski caught a 3-yard TD pass from Merrill. That came after Andrean recovered a fumble at the 16.
Aahric Whitehead started at quarterback for the Pirates. He threw a 32-yard TD pass to Jeremiah Howard and a 36-yard TD pass to Armani Glass in the first half.
Peter Rodriguez also played quarterback. He finished with 37 yards rushing on six carries.
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Merrillville coach Brad Seiss said the offense is developing.
“It was up and down,” he said of the QB play. “There were some opportunities for big plays that both missed. It’s a learning experience. We’ll watch film and figure it out.”
Andrean was solid defensively, holding Merrillville to 243 yards. The 59ers just couldn’t move the ball consistently.
“Our guys battled hard,” Andrean coach Chris Skinner said. “We gifted them a TD at the half-inch line. We tried. We just made too many mistakes.”
The Pirates, who finished 1-9 last season, will take the win.
“We were happy, “Ramsey said. “We played hard, but we gotta do better.”
