Culver Gets Big HNAC Win!

It was an odd game for the Culver Cavaliers and Winamac Warriors. As was the case for much of Northern Indiana, Mother Nature decided to flex her muscles on Friday night, forcing many games to either postpone, cancel, or continue play on Saturday. For the Cavs and Warriors, the latter was the case. What started out as a warm night with a beautifully colored sky at Winamac, turned into a fantastic show of lightning, forcing the game to go into a weather delay with only 6.8 seconds left to go in the first quarter.

The game started off with Winamac receiving the opening kickoff, which was skillfully returned by Junior Brayden Lynch, as he broke a couple of arm tackles on his way to giving the Warriors great opening field position. The Warriors executed well as their first play went to Trent Fox off the left side, where the Junior showed great patience, waiting for the hole to open before he exploded through it. The ensuing play saw Sophomore quarterback Russel Compton complete a laser pass to Lynch for a seven yard gain and a Warrior first down. With the Cavs seemingly on their heels, the Warriors went back to the air, but this time the Cavaliers were ready. Junior defensive back Damian Sullivan skied for the ball in the middle of the field and was able to intercept the Compton pass, which he returned for approximately 25 yards.

At this point, it was time for Jalen King to take over. The Sophomore running back showed his incredible field vision on his second carry of the ball game. With the ball in his hands, on a play that was designed to go to the right of the offensive formation, King athletically planted his right foot in the dirt and made a sharp cut to his left. After that cut, it was a footrace to the end zone, a race that King won on a 29-yard explosion. With a successful 2-point conversion, the Cavs took an 8-0 lead. The Warriors were still unable to get much going on the offensive side, as their ensuing possession fizzled out, giving the ball back to Culver. Once again, the ground attack of the Cavaliers was in full force as they continued to pound the ball down the field with a steady dose of Jalen King, Carter Stevens, and Zac Ditmire. On this drive, it would be Zac Ditmire that reaped the benefits of a tremendous offensive line, as he was able to pound the ball in from 3 yards out to give Culver a 14-0 lead with 3:47 left in the first quarter.

Winamac refused to give up. After a tremendous kickoff return by Trent Fox that took them across midfield, the Warriors were able to settle down and start to execute with much more efficiency on offense. One of the gutsiest calls of the night for Winamac was in a situation towards the end of the first quarter. On 4th down the Warriors decided to go for the first down, rather than punt. They were able to pick up the first down on a great decision by quarterback Russell Compton to pull the ball on an option play, and dart off the right side of the line to get the first. With time running out in the first quarter, the Warriors went to Brayden Lynch with an unorthodox pass. Running the same blocking scheme as one might see on a “jet sweep” off the right side of the offensive line, Compton flipped the ball in front of him to Lynch who caught it, making it a completed pass. He then went off the right side, untouched for 24 yards and the Warriors first touchdown of the ball game with just 6.8 seconds remaining in the first quarter. Then Mother Nature chimed in. The game ended up being postponed after lightning strikes were seen all around the Winamac campus with Culver leading Winamac 14-6 and the 2-point conversion pending.

After having a night to regroup, the two teams returned to Winamac High School Saturday morning to continue the conference battle. The game began with the 2-point conversion, which was unsuccessful for the Warriors. Culver continued to do what Culver does, which is keep the ball on the ground and out of the hands of the opponents. The Cavs decided it would be a good idea to go back to Jalen King for some more fireworks, which he was more than willing to provide, as he took his fourth carry of the ball game an incredible 53-yards for his second touchdown of the game. After a successful 2-point conversion, the Cavaliers held a 22-6 lead as the teams drew closer to halftime. The Warriors were not ready for the first half to be done. Once again, the combination of Compton to Lynch proved to be effective for the Warriors, as Compton hit Lynch on a pass down the sideline and then watched as the 5’8 Junior sprinted 69 yards for his second receiving touchdown of the ball game. After a failed two-point conversion, the scoreboard read 22-12 in favor of the Culver Cavaliers.

Culver had the opportunity to receive the opening second half kickoff giving them a chance to get the clock running early and often in the third quarter. With a lot of back and forth between the two Hoosier North teams, the game appeared to be at a stalemate heading into the final quarter. It looked as though the Cavs finally put the game out of reach when, once again, Head Coach Mike Zehner turned to his man of the hour, and Jalen King powered his way through to his third touchdown of the game. After a failed 2-point conversion attempt, the Cavs seemed to have a perfectly comfortable 28-12 lead with just 1:49 left in the ballgame.

Enter Gabe Townsend…

Lovers and haters of the Winamac Warriors are used to seeing Mr. Townsend as a featured back in the Warriors offense, wearing #28. With the Warriors needing a boost in the play of their offensive line, Townsend approached Head Coach Craig Barr, and voluntarily offered to trade his #28 for #54, and block for the ball carriers, rather than be one of the ball carriers. The football gods rewarded #54 for his selfless act. With less than two minutes remaining in the ball game, Townsend took the kickoff from the Cavaliers after the Jalen King touchdown, and showed off his athleticism by exploding for a 70-yard kickoff return for a touchdown to make the score 28-18 with 1:34 left on the clock! The Warriors then completed the 2-point conversion to make it a one score game at 28-20. The luck ran out for the Warriors however, as the onside kick attempt was recovered by Culver’s Carter Stevens, who crashed down on top of the ball, and took away all hope for the Warriors.

As the time expired and the Cavaliers began to celebrate their hard fought 28-20 win over the Warriors, it was realized that this game had a tremendous amount of heroes on both sides of the field. Culver’s Jalen King was named the Ashley Derrickson/Five Star Player of the Game on WKVI, as he ran the ball 18 times for 160 yards and 3 touchdowns in the win. Fellow running back Zac Ditmire had an incredible game as well for the Cavs, rushing the ball 25 times for 101 yards and a touchdown. In all, the Cavaliers were able to run the ball 57 times as a team, for 318 yards, and 4 touchdowns.

The Warriors showed a great deal of resiliency, and had a lot of heroes themselves. Brayden Lynch ended the game with 5 receptions for 126 yards and two touchdowns in the loss. In the end, it all came down to Culver’s physical, consistent play on both sides of the ball that earned them the win. The crowd was able to see two programs mature an incredible amount over the weekend. The Cavaliers and Warriors had moments of great exuberance, as well as moments of great despair throughout the game that was not completed until Saturday afternoon. Both programs were able to demonstrate that they are gearing up for a challenging, but potentially incredible postseason tournament run in a matter of weeks. Do not take your eye off these two teams!

*Statistical information provided by Kankakee Valley Broadcasting Staff. These are not official team statistics*