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Carlin Underwood

Editor’s note: Senior DeMarco Henry is a member of the BD football team and a sports writer for the Spotlight. Here, he takes a look at Friday’s amazing 53-50 win over Pike.

To play a football game takes men.

To win the game takes heart.

To beat your most rivaled team by going 90 yards in the final 50 seconds of the game on the day after the game started  — that takes a band of brothers to come together and defy all odds.

And a few miracles.

That is exactly what happened on Friday night and Saturday morning when your Ben Davis Giants beat the Pike Red Devils 53-50

After a very long a hard fought game Friday night, the score was 50-46 Pike. The hosts had the ball after a rare interception by BD senior quarterback Kyle Castner.

Pike was on the 17 yard line about to score the game-winning touchdown. Momentum was in their favor as they had already scored on three long touchdown passes in the second half. A score or a first down seals the game.

Then mother nature interrupted play with a lightning storm casued the refs to half the game with 1:44 left and Ben Davis out of timeouts.

Huge wind gusts picked up and lightning flashed through the sky. The referees called for a 30 minute weather delay and both teams went into their respective locker rooms. In the BD lockerroom. the silence was deafening. No one spoke a word. After 30 minutes the weather was still too dangerous to play in, so it was decided that the game would be finished the next morning at 10 a.m.

The bus ride home was silent as well. Coaches and players sat in silence until the bus returned to Ben Davis. They exited the bus, turned in their jerseys to be washed and dried for the morning and everyone went home.

Coach Mike Kirschner stayed at the school washing uniforms until 2:30 a.m. and offensive coordinator Justin Faires had a hard time sleeping while trying to put together a game plan.

The next morning there was a different mentality in the Giants locker room. On Friday there was almost an arrogance among the team. Saturday morning, the Giants were on a mission. They had started this game; now they had to finish it. Upon arrival to the Pike locker room, no one was in the stands. It was clear that this was a battle between two teams and two teams alone.

Both teams warmed up like they were playing a full game. Then at precisely 10 a.m. the referees sounded their whistles and the game resumed from where it left off the night before. The Giant defense and Pike offense took the field and you could immediately tell the difference in Ben Davis’ mentality. Pike called a sweep to the outside that was stopped for a two yard gain.

They only had one more chance to score and put the game away. That opportunity literally slipped right through Pike’s hands. Beau Trudeau (who went 21 of 37 for 498 yards and five touchdowns) fired a pass to a Pike receiver in the endzone. With nobody around him, he dropped the ball.

The Ben Davis sideline erupted and sent out its offensive unit to finish the job. The Giants had to go 80 yards in 50 seconds with no timeouts. This wasn’t a problem at all for the Giants. Senior quarterback Kyle Castner (who finished 33 of 45 for 377 yards and three touchdowns) completed pass after pass to nickel and dime the Giants downfield.

Then it happened.

With eight seconds left, Castner lofted a pass to junior Chris Evans (38 carries for 196 yards and three touchdowns). Evans pulled the ball out of the air and scored the game winning touchdown for the Giants. The sideline exploded in joy. After 162 plays and 1,176 yards between the two teams, a victor had emerged. It was a fitting end to an amazing roller coaster style game.

The contest also saw two other amazing feats. Castner moved into the number two spot on the Giants all-time passing yards list. With 4,518 yards, Castner is less than 600 yards away from being the all-time record holder.

He also moved into the number one spot in the nation for passing yards this season. Throughout three games he has amassed 1,043 yards, completed 82 of 125 passes, thrown nine touchdowns and tossed only two interceptions. He is becoming a serious candidate for Indiana Mr. Football.

This past weekend’s events were amazing to say the least and a perfect example of the type of team your Giants can be if they fulfill their potential. This week, the Giants host Center Grove.