Difficult to bring down
Still not 100%, Crown Point senior Tiawhan plows ahead in playoff loss
It was not the way Crown Point’s Elijah Tiawhan envisioned his season and career ending.
But the senior running back at least was able to finish on the field on Friday night. He had suffered a torn LCL in his right knee on Sept. 2 and missed five games before returning for the Bulldogs’ regular-season finale on Oct. 14.
“It meant a lot to me,” Tiawhan said. “I didn’t think I was going to be able to come back when it first happened. I got the chance to be out there. “My teammates and coaches were really supportive, my family.”
Continuing to wear a brace and estimating he was 90% healthy, Tiawhan ran for 97 yards and had a 42-yard reception that set up the Bulldogs’ second touchdown in their 38-28 loss at home against Lafayette Jefferson in a Class 6A sectional championship game.
Crown Point coach Craig Buzea appreciated Tiawhan’s efforts.
“I’m glad he got to come back,” Buzea said. “Even Randy Lach, our tight end, was told he was going to miss the whole season, and he came back for the playoffs. I’m glad they got the opportunity to come back and play. Whether they were full strength or not, I don’t know. But they came back, laid their heart on the line, and I can’t thank them enough.”
Meanwhile, quarterback JJ Johnson threw for 206 yards and two TDs and ran for 72 yards and two more scores to close out his breakout senior season for the Bulldogs (10-1). Buzea said “most people said he couldn’t play quarterback,” and Johnson showed otherwise.
“We have a great group of guys, a great group of coaches,” Johnson said. “They put us in position to have the opportunities to succeed. It was a fun season.
“Everybody on this team can say we love each other. This team got along so well. No one wanted it to end, so no matter what happened, everyone was going to give their all until the very end.”
Indeed, Crown Point trailed 14-0 early in the second quarter and 21-13 late in the third after Jefferson (9-2) ripped away a fumble for a 70-yard TD. The Bulldogs tied the score at 21-21 with 2:48 left in the third when Johnson hit freshman tight end Trevor Gibbs for a 16-yard TD, and the two connected again for the two-point conversion. Sophomore Larry Ellison’s 65-yard kickoff return set up the Bulldogs at the 16-yard line.
But Glenn Patterson’s 4-yard TD run gave Jefferson the lead again at 28-21 with 10:29 left in the game, and Joel Garrido added a 41-yard field goal with 5:15 to go.
Still, Crown Point responded with senior receiver Boedy Burandt’s 27-yard TD catch from Johnson with 2:48 left.
Patterson, who gained 225 yards despite having two 70-plus yard TD runs called back by holding penalties, then broke loose for a 66-yard score with 2:29 left.
“We knew all season speed was an issue with us, and they certainly are fast, and they exposed our lack of speed sometimes,” said Buzea, who also noted that preparing for Jefferson’s hurry-up offense was different from facing it live. “But with all that said and done, we fought back and had a chance to win it. We just couldn’t get any stops when we needed to.”
Buzea said the Bulldogs, whose defense started all underclassmen, made more mistakes than they did the entire season.
“You can’t do the things we did and win a sectional championship,” he said. “You just can’t do it. Whether it’s wide-open dropped passes, somebody taking the ball right away from you and scoring a touchdown, some penalties that just cost us, you’re not going to win against quality teams like that. We didn’t play well enough to win, and they played outstanding.
“We can’t look at each other and say we deserved to win. We didn’t coach the way we needed to — we didn’t play the way we needed to — to beat a quality team like this.”
However, Crown Point did make major strides in its second season under Buzea, including winning its first Duneland Athletic
Conference championship since 2007 and first outright since 2006.
“Tie game late in the game, we haven’t been in a close game like that, and they have,” Buzea said. “You don’t ever want to lose, but it’s the first time we’ve been in that situation. We’ll learn from it and get better.
“I don’t think anybody in their right mind thought they’d accomplish what they did. Nobody. … These guys have exceeded all of our expectations.”