INDIANAPOLIS–Two things that always travel well in football are a running game and defense. The Lapel Bulldogs turned to both in a successful effort Friday to erase the memory of an embarrassing home loss the previous week.

The Lapel ground game rolled up 270 yards and four rushing touchdowns in the second half Friday and the Bulldog defense set up two late scores with turnovers as Lapel knocked off Heritage Christian 28-20.

For the Lapel defense, it was a drastic turnaround from the 38 first half points and 53 total allowed the previous week to Shenandoah. Against Heritage Christian (2-3), the Bulldogs allowed zero points in the first half.

“Our defense was pretty spot on all night,” coach Tim Miller said. “We had some guys step up and play some roles they hadn’t played before.”

Miller said one of those players was junior Jaylin Page, a 5’5″, 125 pound nickel cornerback, who stepped into a very physical position and excelled.

“We had several guys who got their first start,” Miller said. “Jaylin Page had to come in and play out of position, for him, at outside linebacker. He’s not our biggest guy, but he played really well. He made some tackles in their run game that were huge plays.”

Offensively, the Bulldogs were also blanked at halftime, but got the ground game rolling in the second half.

Senior Josiah Hudson started the scoring with a five-yard touchdown run in the third quarter for a 7-0 advantage.

Heritage battled back to take a 12-7 lead in the fourth quarter, but the Lapel offense finished with a flurry.

Senior Dawson Phillips, who finished with a team leading 137 yards rushing, dashed 23 yards for a touchdown and added the two-point conversion to give Lapel the lead for good at 15-12.

Hudson added 71 yards rushing and junior Sparky Manis chipped in 51 yards on 10 carries. As a team, Lapel averaged better than six yards per attempt.

“Our offensive line, both running and passing, was incredible all night,” Miller said. “We have a pretty good stable of running backs with Phillips, Hudson, and now Sparky Manis in the mix. But the offensive line is really where it starts.”

The Phillips touchdown came with 4:18 left in the game. But thanks to the Lapel defense, it would not be the final score.

On the ensuing Eagle possession, Lapel (3-2) recovered a fumble which led to a two-yard TD run for quarterback Levi Frazier and a 21-12 lead. On the next Heritage Christian play, Hudson picked off an errant pass which set up a nine-yard scoring run by backup quarterback Cole Alexander and a 28-12 lead.

“Our defense stepping up really made a huge difference,” Miller said.

Lapel’s next opponent is also a road game at Rushville on Friday. The Lions are winless on the year, having given up at least 40 points in every game. But, they beat Lapel last year and are averaging 26 points per contest offensively.

“They came to our place last year and really handed it to us,” Miller said. “That’s probably a game we should have won, on paper, so we have to be ready to play this week. They run a lot of wing-T stuff and we follow that with Lewis-Cass, so it’s a couple weeks for us to figure out the wing-T if we get a chance to play Shenandoah again in sectional.”

Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. Friday at Rushville Consolidated High School.