Lazerus: Youth is served for Crown Point

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Crown Point's Tristan Peterson scores a touchdown to seal the Bulldogs sectional championship win over Merrillville on Friday, November 4, 2011, in Merrillville. | Scott R. Brandush~Sun-Times Media

Updated: December 6, 2011 8:30AM

MERRILLVILLE — Tristan Peterson and Jake Jatis always hoped they’d be in this position — the starting tailback and the starting quarterback playing for Crown Point in front of thousands of fans in the sectional championship game.

They just never dreamed it would happen this year.

“No way,” said Jatis, a sophomore quarterback thrust into the starting role in the postseason when Joe Hopman broke his collarbone.

“Never would have thought it,” said Peterson, a sensational sophomore running back who took over as the starter in Week 7 after Jake Lindeman suffered an ankle injury.

Sophomores don’t get to experience this feeling. Not at quarterback. Not at running back. Not at linebacker, either, as Crown Point’s other two sophomore starters — Brendyn McKinnon and Connor Andras — did.

Yet Jatis can say he won a sectional championship at quarterback. Peterson can say he ran for 194 yards and four touchdowns in the big game. McKinnon and Andras can each say they picked off one of the region’s best quarterbacks under the brightest lights.

So it’s no surprise that Jatis twice used the word “dream” in the delirious aftermath of Crown Point’s 42-21 shellacking of Merrillville team in Friday night’s Class 5A Sectional 1 championship at Demaree Stadium.

Especially considering the word he used to describe the way this game started.

“It was a nightmare,” Jatis said.

That’s putting it mildly.

The game couldn’t possibly have started worse for Jatis and the Bulldogs. Admittedly jittery in just his second start ever, Jatis’ first pass was tipped and intercepted by Merrillville’s Tyrie Fuller. His second pass was way behind his receiver. His third was even worse, picked off by Bryant Isabell. Seventy seconds into the second quarter, Crown Point was down 14-0 and Jatis was 0-of-5 with two picks.

“That was bad,” Jatis said, smiling now because it didn’t matter anymore. “That was very bad.”

Jatis’ teammates flocked to his side on the bench following the second pick. Don’t worry, they told him. Play your game, they told him. We’ll pick you up, they told him.

Naturally, the seniors were involved in that pep talk. But on this Crown Point team, sophomores don’t act like sophomores. So Peterson was one of the first ones in Jatis’ ear.

And with the Pirates cruising along with a 14-0 lead and the Bulldogs clearly nervous and bordering on panicky, Crown Point coach Chip Pettit turned to one of those sophomores to calm every down.

You don’t normally ask sophomores to do that.

“But Tristan’s special,” Jatis said.

Indeed, Peterson settled everyone down and made it a game again, running eight times for 75 yards on the ensuing drive, including a 1-yard touchdown to cut the lead to 14-7.

From there, a veteran Merrillville team self-destructed with penalties and turnovers, while Crown Point ripped off six unanswered touchdowns. Junior Tyler Smith stepped in front of a Jake Raspopovich pass and went 50 yards for the game-tying touchdown just before halftime. Peterson marched the Bulldogs down for another score to start the second half. McKinnon set up another Peterson score with his big interception. And by the time Andras made his pick and return to the Merrillville 15 to set up Peterson’s last score, the game was well in hand.

Score one for the kids.

“Brendyn and Triston and Connor have now been starting for a while,” Pettit said. “They’ve been coming on and getting better as the season’s gone on. As good as Jake Jatis was last week, he obviously struggled early in this ballgame. But he made a couple of good throws in the middle of the game that were turned into some points.”

Pettit won a sectional championship at Crown Point as a player in 1991 and as a coach in 2005, but he knows just how remarkable this one is.

“That equipment room has been calling our name for the last three weeks, and we keep putting it off,” he said. “It’s really unlikely that we’ve been able to make this run, especially without our quarterback. But when you’re been playing good defense, anything’s possible. And with the young kids, obviously the more they play, the better they’re going to get.”

And wouldn’t you know it, they get another chance to play next week. On an even bigger stage. Against an even bigger opponent in Penn.

The dream is alive.

“This is all a big surprise for me, to be here in this position,” Jatis said. “My teammates, especially the defense, really picked me up. To be here, to win this game, this is really something.”