by Chris Asbrock

Game 2 of the Crosstown Showdown at Nippert Stadium between the Moeller Crusaders and the Indy Pike Red Devils was an absolute classic, with Moeller winning the thriller 37-33.

Moeller, making their 15th appearance in the Showdown, came into this game as the defending Ohio Division 1 State Champion.

Pike, making their first appearance in the Showdown, brought some serious talent with them. Most notably, Senior WR Dominique Booth who committed to play at Tennessee.

This game started off pretty sloppy for both teams. Pike received the ball to start the game and drove down the field. They were unable to punch it in the endzone as an incomplete pass, on 4th and goal gave the ball to Moeller.

The Crusaders were unable to get anything going as penalties proved costly, backing Moeller up. Moeller was forced to punt and promptly shanked the punt, giving Pike great field position.

The Red Devils took advantage of Moeller and the undisciplined play. Taylor Sanders put Pike on the board with a rushing touchdown.

Moeller converted a key 3rd and long, however, the sloppy play by the Crusaders came back to bite them as a penalty wiped the conversion off. The penalty forced Moeller to punt for the 2nd straight series.

The defense of Moeller stepped up, forcing a 3 and out by Pike. The momentum continued to roll with Moeller as on 4th down, the snap sailed Pike punter, Chaise Watkins and went out of the endzone for a safety. With 25 seconds left in the first quarter, Moeller was trailing Indy Pike, 7-2.

Moeller once again forced a Pike punt. With 11:02 left in the half, Moeller took a 9-7 lead on a Dean Meyer rushing touchdown. With momentum on the Crusaders side, they got another break as they recovered a Pike fumble.

The sloppy play came back to bite Moeller again as a little over 2 minutes later, they coughed up the football and Pike recovered. The Red Devils were not to be denied as Taylor Sanders scored with his 2nd rushing touchdown of the game. With 4:57 remaining in the half, it was Pike with a 14-9 lead.

Before the end of the half, Moeller was able to chew up over 3 minutes of the clock. The drive culminated with a Gus Ragland touchdown run. That score gave Moeller a 16-14 lead with 1:32 remaining. Pike turned it over on downs with 21 seconds left in the half as Moeller took a knee to bring us to halftime.

The rushing game was the key for both teams as Pike was lead by Taylor Sanders. Quarterback Gus Ragland lead Moeller in the first half.

The Crusaders started the second half the way they dominated the first, with a rushing touchdown. Once again, it was Dean Meyer who punched it in the endzone, giving Moeller a 23-14 lead with 8:42 left in the third.

Pike kept it close as Rashad Medaris caught a pass from quarterback Brent Lyles and took it into the endzone to cut the Moeller lead to two.

Moeller was forced to punt with 2:42 left in the third quarter, still leading 23-21. Moeller was able to tack on another score before the end of the quarter. Heading into the final quarter of play, Moeller was ahead 30-21.

The fourth and final quarter was back and forth. After trading scores, Pike was trailing 30-27 before Brent Lyles scored on a 10 yard rushing touchdown to give Pike the 33-30 lead with just over 3 minutes remaining.

The real drama occurred with 20 seconds remaining and Moeller with possession. Gus Ragland hooked up with Chase Pankey for a 43 yard touchdown to stun the Pike Red Devils.

This was a big victory for the Crusaders as they were able to overcome sloppy play to dominate the running game and hold on against a very good Pike team.

With the victory, Moeller improves to 12-3 in the Crosstown Showdown and 1-0 on the season.