MISHAWAKA — Chalk up another win for Penn over a Northwest Indiana team.

James Iapalucci overcame an early fumble to throw for 140 yards and a touchdown to lead the Kingsmen past Crown Point 23-0 Friday night in a Class 6A regional.

Penn (12-0) — which has two wins over Valparaiso and one each over Merrillville, LaPorte and Crown Point this season — advances to next week's semistate at Carmel.

“We put ourselves behind the eight ball early there,” said Crown Point coach Kevin Enright, whose team trailed 13-0 after one quarter. “In not being in a game like this consistently, I think our guys didn't know what to expect.”

The Bulldogs (6-6) were held to 40 rushing yards and 30 passing yards. Penn finished with 263 yards.

“I don't think we were afraid,” Enright said. “I don't think anybody was in awe of Penn's past accomplishments.”

Iapalucci kept it simple by taking what the defense gave him.

“He's a special athlete and a pretty intelligent young man as well,” Kingsmen coach Cory Yeoman said of Iapalucci. “He understands what we're trying to do.

“I thought he was going to have a heck of a year, and he hasn't disappointed.”

The second-ranked Kingsmen have won 24 of their last 26, 36 of 39 and 48 of 52 dating back to 2013. In the past few weeks, Penn has won a Northern Indiana Conference North Division championship, a sectional title and now a regional championship.

Iapalucci certainly wasn't going to let one bad play dictate his final home game. Tucking it away and running with it on Penn's second snap from scrimmage, Iapalucci eyed a whole lot of green in the middle of the field. He picked up 16 yards but fumbled while being tackled. Crown Point recovered 38 yards away from taking an early lead.

“I just made a big mistake and wipe it from my head,” Iapalucci said. “My teammates picked me up, told me to forget about it, and we bounced back from it.”

The Bulldogs ran two plays following the fumble before Ryan Bolda threw the first of two interceptions to Penn free safety Paul Moala.

Moala's first pick — he ran the second back for a touchdown — killed any momentum Crown Point might have mustered. It was all Penn the rest of the way.

Moala's second interception of the game and seventh of the season was a carbon copy of the first, and his 54-yard return for a touchdown opened the scoring. The Kingsmen also had a 9-yard TD run by Logan Martz in the first quarter.

Jared Hancock's 25-yard field goal in the second quarter and Iapalucci's 23-yard TD pass to Matt Kominkiewicz in the third quarter closed the scoring.

“The defensive line just did a great job putting pressure on the quarterback,” Moala said. “I was just in the right spot. I just sat back, and the ball found its way into my hands.”