FB: 1A #1 Lafayette Central Catholic drills host Twin Lakes, 62-12

By Sam King
jconline.com

MONTICELLO – Opposing defenses keep setting up ways to stop Danny Anthrop, and the Lafayette Central Catholic senior continues to make a mockery of them.

Twin Lakes was the Sept. 2 victim.

STAY TUNED FOR VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS FROM EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR MIKE MCGRAW (A SADDENED TWIN LAKES ALUM)!!

Anthrop scored five touchdowns for the second game in a row and led the Class A No. 1 Knights to a 62-12 victory over the Indians for their 33rd consecutive win.

"We didn't corral Danny and we told them we can't arm tackle him," said Twin Lakes coach Brad Urban. "We started arm tackling, and he made us look bad.

“That's a credit to him. He makes a lot of people look that way."

Twin Lakes came in allowing 6.5 points per game after victories over Logansport and Frankfort. But Anthrop thrashed the Indians defense with shifty lateral moves, making seemingly every player on the field miss at times.

No matter how many times the Knights see Anthrop's playmaking, they're still amazed.

CC took over possession at its own 38 with 58 seconds to go in the first half. After an incompletion, Munn hit Anthrop in the flats.

Coach Kevin O'Shea wanted Anthrop to go out of bounds, but the receiver had other ideas. After being forced to the sideline by multiple defenders, Anthrop ducked and dodged his way out of the pile and galloped for a 62-yard touchdown.

"He's got great lateral speed and great change of direction," O'Shea said. "You've got three or four guys who have him corralled on the sidelines and the next thing you know, he is popping out of there and reversing field.

“He makes you look really, really good as a coach."

Anthrop caught six passes for 195 yards and three touchdowns. He also scored via a 23-yard run one play after Jake Churchill's 69-yard punt return score was negated by a block in the back.

Anthrop had 61 rushing yards on five carries and for good measure scored on a 78-yard punt return, adding some highlights to show Notre Dame coaches on his visit today.

"That doesn't matter that much," Anthrop said. "It didn't matter if I was just going home – I'd still be putting up my best game."

Friday night also marked the return of six CC players back from suspension. They entered in the second quarter, providing a stronger offensive line for quarterback Austin Munn that allowed him time in the pocket.

Munn finished 8 of 13 for 243 yards passing with four TDs and no interceptions.

"Our line and our receivers did a great job for the first two games, but now it is these guys' turn to come out," Munn said. "They were all ready to go.

“That first quarter took forever for them, but it showed how strong our team is when they got out there."

Sam Kochert's four-yard touchdown put CC ahead 6-0, but the Indians drove 65 yards on six straight runs. Josh Hankins busted a 20-yard run and Zach Diener gained 24 yards on a keeper to set up Christian Winkle's game-tying 4-yard plunge.

But CC responded, scoring just over three minutes later on Munn's 36-yard pass to Timmy Mills.

Winkle's second touchdown run with 7:12 to go in the second quarter cut the lead to 27-12. The Indians had another chance to slice the deficit, but Twin Lakes muffed a punt and CC recovered.

The Knights scored four plays later on the first of two Brad Schrader TD runs.

"Turnovers really hurt us in that first half," Urban said. "Four turnovers against a team of that quality is really going to put you in a hole."

Winkle finished with 71 yards on 12 carries for the Indians (2-1), who struggled to move the ball after halftime against a Matt Burks-led CC defense

Schrader finished with 100 rushing yards on 12 carries for the Knights (3-0) in his first game of the season. Sixty-one of those yards came on a fourth-quarter TD run.