Ladies and gentleman, it's September which means football season is in full swing. The Pirates of Merrillville hosted the Crown Point Bulldogs in an extremely entertaining game. Now, as a former La Porte Slicer football player myself, I can tell you first hand there is no game without meaning when you play an opponent from the Duneland Athletic Conference. However, every team also has their own inter-conference rival when the game just means that little bit more. Crown Point vs. Merrillville are such rivals, and the game certainly showed that.
Crown Point struck first in the first to go up 6-0 (missed the extra point) and didn't relinquish the lead for most of this game. Merrillville had some bright spots on offense but seemed to step on their own two feet every time they got something going. Penalties, missed assignments, and turnovers almost proved to be the demise of the Pirates. Then with about four minutes to go, the offense came to life, driving 91 yards on 4 plays in 40 seconds to send the game into overtime at 14 a piece.
In the overtime period, Crown Point had the ball first and scored a touchdown to go up 21-14. Merrillville answered back with a touchdown of their own and sent the home crowd into a fever pitch. Then just as fast as the crowd was at it's peak, Merillville had a false start penalty when going for the two point conversion, then missed the ensuing extra point to lose 21-20. The win sends Crown Point to a 3-0 (2-0) start while Merrillville falls to 1-2 (0-2).