By Ashley Looper
Video Editor
INDIANAPOLIS – Class 5A second-ranked Ben Davis outgained visiting 5A 11th-ranked Penn 394-182, but the hosts still had to survive an onside kick in the game’s final moments Aug. 29 to prevail, 35-27.
(Click here for video highlights and a post-game interview!)
Early on, this has the makings of a blowout as Ben Davis senior quarterback Greg Rice (13 carries and 171 yards on the ground, 5 of 14 for 49 yards and one interception though the air) faked a handoff on the Giants’ first play and rambled 77 yards for a touchdown. Then Phil Dudley put Ben Davis (2-0) up 14-3 on a three-yard run.
Penn (0-2) finally got on the scoreboard when’s Alan Sinclair 33-yard field goal closed the first-quarter scoring at 14-3. But Ben Davis pushed the lead to 21-3 on Miles Wright’s two-yard run.
The Kingsmen from suburban South Bend did not panic, however, as they added another three-pointer from Sinclair (a 34-yarder) before Tony Bodle’s 31-yard touchdown reception from back-up QB Jared Melander on fourth down made it 21-13 at the half.
When Brandon Drudge reeled off a 62-yard run, Penn was almost all the way back. But the extra-point kick was missed, allowing the Giants to hold on to a narrow 21-19 advantage.
They took advantage of the opening with a pair of ridiculously long TD runs. Rice ripped off an 83-yard score near the end of the third quarter before Wright rumbled in from 53 yards out just path the halfway point of the fourth.
That made it 35-19 and provided enough breathing room so that Melander’s seven-yard scoring pass to Karl Columbus and his two-point conversion toss to Garrick Dikos still required the ill-fated onside kick.
Ben Davis now moves on to the ultra-competitive Metropolitan Interscholastic Conference portion of its schedule. The Giants will face 0-2 North Central (Indianapolis) in the 6 p.m. ET kickoff of the Key Bank Bowl at Lucas Oil Stadium Sept. 5. (5A No. 4 Warren Central faces Lawrence North in the 8:30 p.m. nightcap).
Penn, meanwhile, will try to avoid its first 0-3 start in eons with a Northern Indiana Conference date at Mishawaka Marian next Friday.
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