If Crown Point junior Larry Ellison seemed to be running angry, well, maybe he was.
Lowering his shoulder. Or running over Lafayette Jefferson defenders. Or turning on the “burners,” as he put it, to run past them.
“I was just thinking back to last year,” Ellison said. “They upset us on our field in front of our home crowd. For the sectional championship too. So I had to come out with a different emotion.”
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Ellison drew from that well, gaining 291 yards and scoring a touchdown Friday night as the Bulldogs downed the visiting Bronchos 42-10 in a Class 6A sectional semifinal.
After the game, even the 5-foot-9, 165-pound running back was surprised to hear his yardage total.
“Holy shoot,” Ellison said. “I didn’t even know I had 200.”
Crown Point coach Craig Buzea had a similar reaction to Ellison’s performance.
“Holy cow,” Buzea said. “For never playing running back before, he’s had a pretty decent year. Wow.”
Ellison played defensive back last season, when then-unbeaten Crown Point was upset by Lafayette Jefferson in a sectional final. The Bronchos (5-5) tried to do it again Friday. They led 10-0 with 5:01 left in the first quarter.
But Crown Point (10-0), which is ranked No. 4 in 6A by The Associated Press and No. 5 by the coaches, responded in a major way. Ellison’s 20-yard TD run provided the team’s first points with 1:12 left in the first quarter, and then came the downpour.
The Bulldogs advance to play Duneland Athletic Conference rival Lake Central, which they beat 38-12 on Sept. 8, in the sectional championship game.
“You get a start like we got, we have to weather the storm,” Buzea said with a laugh as a pouring rain continued. “Their speed is something we don’t see. Their tempo they play is something we don’t see. So we knew we would have to adjust.
“The bye doesn’t do teams good. You’re rusty. It was just a matter of doing what we do. Our guys did a really nice job of staying poised. I don’t think you saw any panic. Our offensive line had to come out and do what they needed to do. After a couple of adjustments, they made some huge holes for Larry.”
Crown Point junior quarterback Noah Ehrlich had three TD runs, from 14 yards, 3 yards and 9 yards. He also threw a 23-yard TD pass to tight end Trevor Gibbs.
“We just don’t get discouraged,” Ellison said. “We see a score, and we see 0-0 on the scoreboard. We just keep playing how we play. We just keep the positivity up even if we’re down. We just do what works and keep running it until we get some points on the board.”
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Crown Point senior wide receiver/defensive back Jacob Jones said he also wasn’t overly concerned when the team fell behind.
“We can’t let up on our seniors,” Jones said. “Our team’s not done yet. We’ve trained hard to go to state, and we’re going to try everything we can to make it there.”
Ellison and the Bulldogs certainly did what they had to do to avoid another season-ending loss to Lafayette Jefferson.
“This was not a revenge game for us,” Buzea said. “We sure didn’t look at it that way. It was two different teams. They’re in our way of where we need to go, and that’s how we look at it. We look at Lake Central the same way. Our goal is to win a sectional, and that’s what we’re going to attempt to do.”