Crown Point senior Ben Fridrich said he doesn’t care which way he’s putting points up on the scoreboard. He’s just happy to see them there.
“It all feels great,” he said. “I love being able to help my team win like that, especially coming off of two big wins in the previous weeks.”
The 6-foot-2 Fridrich drilled a pair of field goals in the second half to break a 7-7 tie and added an 18-yard touchdown catch that helped Crown Point pull away Friday night for a 21-7 Duneland Athletic Conference win over Chesterton.
Fridrich is an H-back in for Crown Point (5-3, 4-2) and caught two passes for 25 yards in the win over host Chesterton (3-5, 1-5).
But he’s been a kicker since he was 8, taught by his father — a former semipro kicker — and a cousin who kicked for NCAA Division II powerhouse Grand Valley State.
“When I was young, they taught me how to kick,” Fridrich said. “Coach (Kevin) Enright makes sure we kick every day in practice. Putting in the time to kick is real big.”
After a quiet first half, Crown Point found its offensive rhythm in the third quarter, moving 76 yards on eight plays before Fridrich’s 21-yard field goal made it a 10-7 lead.
“Coming out of the half, we didn’t have much juice,” Enright said. “We talked about that at the half. We asked our seniors to lead us and they did in the second half.”
Near the end of the third quarter, Jack Zaleski forced a fumble that Ethan Potosky recovered, leading to a 33-yard field goal from Fridrich.
Crown Point forced another turnover on Chesterton’s next drive with an interception by junior Trevor Bieszczat. Fridrich capped that drive with his TD reception on a pass from senior quarterback Ryan Bolda.
The Bulldogs’ ground game took over from there, led by the duo of Tyler Gomez and Scott Mills. Gomez finished with 144 yards on 23 carries, while Mills added 88 yards in his 12 carries.
“They’re both reading blocks extremely well,” Enright said. “They understand the scheme and showing. It’s a credit to those kids. They’re maturing rather quickly.”
Chesterton’s offense produced only 153 yards in the loss, led by senior Louie Razo’s 57 yards. rushing As Crown Point ran the clock out on its final possession, Chesterton coach Mark Peterson didn’t use a timeout to stop it.
“At that point, we’d turned the ball over twice on the last three possessions,” he said. “We did not give up. Nobody gave up. We weren’t walking away from it. It was an insurmountable game at that point, being down two scores.”
Dave Melton is a freelance writer for the Post-Tribune.
