Crown Point senior tight end Jacob Soley takes advantage of his opportunities.

With the number of offensive options the Bulldogs have, even at his position, it just depends on the situation.

“I knew coming into this one, I was going to have some passes come to me,” Soley said. “I just had to be ready.”

Indeed, those passes came to the 6-foot-4, 210-pound Indiana State recruit on Friday, and he was ready. Soley made six catches for 93 yards and a touchdown as Crown Point topped Michigan City 35-8 in a Duneland Athletic Conference game to close the regular season.

Senior quarterback Noah Ehrlich threw for 217 yards for the Bulldogs (9-0, 7-0), and senior running back Larry Ellison rushed for 77 yards and two TDs against the Wolves (3-6, 3-4).

Soley said he, junior tight end/linebacker Trevor Gibbs, a top college prospect, and senior tight end/linebacker Lucas Szymborski, a Ball State recruit, push each other.

“It’s deadly,” Soley said. “It’s dangerous. Three DI tight ends, it’s cool to have. I don’t think anyone has that in the state.”

Szymborski praised Soley’s contributions.

“He’s one of the hardest workers,” Szymborski said. “He comes in every day and has a great attitude for our guys. He comes in and steps up for us when we need a big play.”

Among Soley’s highlights, he had a 45-yard reception and an 11-yard score.

“His size and speed, he has everything in regards to that,” Crown Point coach Craig Buzea said. “Just the fact people have to decide what they want to do — are they going to decide to take the run away or the take the pass away? These guys decided they were going to take the run away. So it opened some things up.

“Jacob has had a heck of a year. I know he’s committed to Indiana State, but I think some people missed the boat on him, and it could be because we have guys like Trevor and Lucas and guys like that who play the same position. But Jacob’s had a phenomenal season.”

Senior running back Jayden Rodriguez added 67 yards and two TDs for Crown Point, mostly after Ellison left the game following a big collision on a 7-yard gain with 2:42 left in the third quarter. Buzea said Ellison, who departed the field windmilling his right shoulder, was fine.

“He’s a nice No. 2,” Buzea said of Rodriguez. “Jayden has really helped us out. We knew that’s what he could do, but usually he’s doing it in mop-up time. He was fantastic.”

Crown Point led 14-0 at halftime and didn’t trigger a running clock until Rodriguez’s 6-yard TD run and sophomore Oliver Brewer’s fifth extra point made it 35-0 with 5:08 left.

“We knew we were coming into a place where it was going to be a physical team,” Buzea said. “This was fantastic for us to have to go through. The first time we’ve gotten to halftime without a running clock. I told our guys we’d figure it out, which we did. We made some adjustments.

“That was good for us. We needed that.”

Michigan City got on the board with a minute left on senior running back Jamorieon Gee’s 1-yard TD and two-point conversion.

“Our first-team defense seven out of nine times, until we took them off the field, they had shut someone out,” Buzea said. “Let’s not forget them.”

Crown Point completed its third straight undefeated regular season, a run that includes 21 consecutive conference wins and three conference titles. The Bulldogs’ last regular-season loss was Oct. 15, 2021, against Michigan City.

“The fact that nobody’s ever done it before, to go three years in a row undefeated like we did through the whole season — as the conference sits now, obviously Hobart in their day — it’s quite a feat,” Buzea said. “It just doesn’t happen. We told our guys early on, it doesn’t happen because it’s very hard.

“It’s an honor to coach these guys. Twenty-seven straight games and never have a bad game, you would think at some point they’ll screw up, they’re not going to show up. But 27 times in the last three years, they’ve done it. I couldn’t be more proud.”