Crown Point’s Dominic Fantin stuck with it.
The sophomore safety kept his concentration to make a nifty interception on a deflected pass to a Ben Davis receiver during the Class 6A state championship game on Saturday night.
“I thought he was going to catch it,” Fantin said. “I was getting ready to lay a hit on him. I saw it pop out, and I knew I had to make a play, get things going for us.
“It’s amazing. After I got it, I was thinking about how I’m going to remember it forever. I’ll be able to talk about it forever.”
The 6-foot, 170-pound Fantin’s pick late in the first quarter was emblematic of the tenacious, opportunistic defense the Bulldogs played against Ben Davis at Lucas Oil Stadium. But in their first appearance in a state championship game, they succumbed 38-10 to the juggernaut Giants after hanging in it in the first half.
Junior defensive back Andy Parent and sophomore defensive back Griffin Van Tichelt also had interceptions for Crown Point (13-1), which trailed Ben Davis (13-1) just 10-3 at halftime. Fantin had eight tackles, tying with senior linebacker Will Clark for the team lead, to finish with 53 tackles and a team-high three interceptions this season.
“We have four sophomores on the defense, and to go against that offense and hold them to 10 points at halftime, we were happy about that,” Crown Point coach Craig Buzea said. “Dom is one of those who’s done everything we’ve asked of him. You’re going to hear a lot about him in the next couple of years.”
Another highlight for Crown Point was senior offensive lineman Jeff Meschede receiving the Mental Attitude Award.
“I’m just really excited my coaches and my teachers nominated me for it,” he said. “It’s awesome.”
Buzea wasn’t surprised Meschede was honored.
“That’s a huge win for our program,” Buzea said. “I can’t say it, but I’m probably happier for him to win it than I would be if we won the game. It’s just one of those things, he’s as deserving a player as you could imagine. He’s everything you want as a football player.”
Despite the loss, Crown Point still had a history-making season, becoming the first 6A team from the Region to make the state final since the expansion to six classes in 2013 and the first to do it in the largest class since Valparaiso was the 5A runner-up to Ben Davis in 2001.
The Bulldogs won their first regional title since 1988 — their only previous one — as well as their first sectional title since 2018 and their second straight Duneland Athletic Conference title, and they put together their second straight undefeated regular season.
“It’s amazing,” Fantin said. “We never thought we’d come this far. It’s amazing we made it.”
Senior wide receiver Nick Soley expressed a similar sentiment.
“It’s crazy,” he said. “You can’t ask for a better team than this. Best Crown Point football team in history. We did our best. We worked as hard as we could. We just love each other. That’s it.
“The seniors, we’ve been through it all. Starting our sophomore year going 5-5, going into our junior year and going undefeated and losing in a sectional final, that hurt really bad. But we bounced back our senior year.”
Buzea noted Crown Point should return between 12 and 14 starters, but he praised that senior class.
“We don’t have a huge senior class, but the seniors we had were awesome,” he said. “There’s a lot of holes to fill not only on the field, but also off the field as well. Those guys are the reason why we’re here.
“We have excellent sophomores, excellent juniors. But you don’t get to a state championship game without excellent seniors. So every year is tough. But instead of looking at what we have to replace, I’d rather celebrate them because what they’ve done for our school, our program and our community is unparalleled.”
Nick Soley caught four passes from junior quarterback Noah Ehrlich for 106 yards to pace the Bulldogs.
“It’s an honor,” he said. “To put up those stats, it’s cool. Obviously it doesn’t happen without a great O-line and a great QB. It’s just an honor to be able to do it on this stage.”
Sophomore tight end Trevor Gibbs had four catches for 27 yards, and senior receiver Jacob Jones added three catches for 20 yards. Junior running back Larry Ellison rushed for 89 yards on 21 carries.
Ben Davis, which won its 10th state title, scored on its opening possession but managed only a field goal for the rest of the first half. Crown Point freshman Oliver Brewer kicked a 21-yard field goal with two seconds left in the half after a 39-yard pass from Ehrlich to junior tight end Jacob Soley. Ellison also had a 34-yard run on the drive.
“Not to have a defeatist attitude, but if somebody would’ve told me you’re going to be down seven at halftime to Ben Davis in the state championship, we would’ve taken it,” Buzea said. “The one thing we were probably a little disappointed in is not punching it in down there and making it a 10-7 game. But we felt like we needed to get on the board, and we did.”
Ben Davis also scored on its opening possession of the second half, and its lead snowballed. Ehrlich accounted for Crown Point’s touchdown with a 1-yard run with 2:45 left in the game.
Buzea emphasized Ben Davis’ speed on both sides of the ball.
“We’ve never seen anything like this during the regular season,” he said. “Our guys did all they could do. … Our kids all around competed as well as they could. We were overmatched in a lot of areas. It shows us where we need to be.
“We knew when we took over three years ago, there were adjustments we had to make. One of them was improving our team speed on defense, and we’ve done that. I don’t know if we’ll ever get to the team speed they show. But if we want to come here and win, we have to find a way to come back. Every time you come down here, you’re going to play a team like Ben Davis, Cathedral, Brownsburg, all of those teams. We’ll continue to work at it and tell our guys, ‘Hey, this is not the ceiling, this is the floor for us.’ The goal is to come back every year, and we’ll continue to work at it.”
