Late in the fourth quarter on Friday night, Ben Davis quarterback Trent Gipson lofted a ball over toward the left sideline for Jaylen Nolen, who had been his go-to receiver for much of the night.
The ball found Nolen — but Center Grove junior linebacker Jackson Schott found him at that same instant, leveling the receiver and knocking the ball loose.
"It was right by our sideline, and everyone was all hyped up and loud, so it felt really good," Schott said.
That play was just on of many big ones from a Trojan defense that bent on occasion but never broke in a 17-10 semistate triumph.
Such stinginess has been par for the course for Center Grove of late. The team hasn’t yielded more than 14 points in any of its last five games, and it held both Ben Davis and Columbus East to season-low point totals during its current postseason run.
"We didn’t end the game on offense as good as we wanted to, but our defense was just stinkin’ outstanding," Center Grove coach Eric Moore said. "You don’t win championships without a great defense."
The Giants did finish with 283 total yards, including 256 through the air. But with the exception of a 50-yard touchdown pass from Gipson to Nolen on the game’s first play, just after the visitors had stunned Center Grove with a successful onside kick, the Trojans yielded little of consequence.
The effort was spearheaded by the Trojans’ defensive front, which not only limited the Giants to 27 yards rushing on 25 carries but also kept heavy pressure on Gipson all night. Ben Davis was able to make plenty of short gains on quick passes out to the sidelines, but anytime it got into a situation where it needed longer yardage, connections were not as easy to make.
Sophomore defensive end Caden Curry again led a group of linemen that has gotten comfortable camping out in opposing backfields.
"It makes the quarterbacks get it out two to three seconds faster," Curry said of the impact that pressure has, "and that gives the DBs and cornerbacks help."
Most of Ben Davis’ passing yardage came between the 20s; when Center Grove needed stops, it got them — especially in the fourth quarter, when it was becoming increasingly clear that the one-touchdown lead wasn’t going to get any bigger.
Whether it was Curry maintaining an iron grip on Gipson’s jersey for a fourth-down sack with 6:20 remaining, then recovering a fumble three minutes later as Ben Davis was threatening, or sophomore Owen Green plowing through the middle for another sack on the Giants’ final possession, or Schott lunging to tip away what looked almost certain to be the tying touchdown pass with 1:10 to go, the Trojans always seemed to get the job done when it mattered most.
It’s a nice parallel with how Center Grove’s season has gone as a whole. After losing their first three games and four of their first five, the Trojans have again proven that when they get into winning time in November, they’re ready.
"Coach always, during the week he just nails it into our head to finish," Schott said. "It’s not about how you start, it’s how you finish. And we didn’t start this game the best we wanted to, and the same thing with the season. We didn’t start the season the best we wanted to — but we’re going to finish it, just like we finished this game."
Ryan O’Leary is the sports editor for the Daily Journal. He can be reached at [email protected].
