Andrean sophomore linebacker Trey Stephens knew what was coming.
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With Rensselaer Central facing a fourth-and-goal from the 1-yard line on the game’s opening drive, the 5-foot-11, 185-pound Stephens recognized a clue from film study.
“Their running back always telegraphed when he does an inside run or an outside run,” Stephens said. “So I told my lineman to the left of me — Dh’Mari Wright — to stuff the hole and I’d get him off the edge.”
Wright crashed inside, and Stephens looped around to drop Bombers senior running back Dylan Kidd in the backfield for a drive-ending loss.
That was the closest Rensselaer’s offense came to scoring in Andrean’s 28-2 win in a Class 2A sectional semifinal played at East Chicago Central.
Rensselaer (6-5) covered 78 yards on 19 plays during that opening possession but came away empty due to Stephens’ timely reads for Andrean (8-3), which will play Whiting in the sectional final.
Andrean coach Chris Skinner said Stephens has been making plays like that since being a varsity starter during his freshman season.
“He doesn’t play like a sophomore,” Skinner said. “He’s played in some big games before. They took nine minutes off the clock on that drive, and for them to come away with no points … he made a play when we needed him to.”
The Bombers did score two plays later when junior defensive lineman Jordan Cree sacked Andrean sophomore quarterback Scott Ballentine in the end zone for a safety following a botched shotgun snap to give Rensselaer a brief 2-0 lead.
But the 59ers took over from there, churning out 266 rushing yards as the elements caused Skinner to abandon his team’s passing attack.
“It didn’t translate to a lot of points in the first half, but we still felt good about the run game early,” Skinner said. “We wanted to make sure we were taking care of the football and moving the chains because throwing it in this weather was almost impossible.”
Stephens was a key cog in the ground game as well, with 94 yards and a touchdown on 12 carries, including a 31-yarder in the second quarter that served as an early spark for an Andrean offense that struggled to get going.
Leading 7-2 at halftime, Andrean started finding more cracks in the Rensselaer defense. Late in the third quarter, junior running back Drayk Bowen raced 33 yards to the end zone for one score and then followed up with a 55-yard TD run on the next possession. Stephens added a 24-yard TD run in the fourth to put the game out of reach.
Bowen had just 35 yards on seven carries in the first two quarters before erupting in the second half to finish with a game-high 143 yards and two TDs.
He said that the commitment to the run game in the first half helped set up the bigger plays in the second half.
“Our running backs were getting downhill early,” he said. “We’d take our 3 yards if we had to and then move on to the next play. Then it started opening up.”
Dave Melton is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.