The Red Devils were coming off an upset win over second-ranked Ben Davis and were still on the "proverbial Ben Davis hangover" throughout the week, said coach Derek Moyers. It showed with a sloppy first half in Friday's game, as Pike stumbled, losing four fumbles to fall into an early 17-point hole.

The fog lifted in the second half, though, as Pike rallied for a 24-23 win. Pike (8-3) will play Friday at Avon for the sectional

The two teams' fortunes reversed on the opening drive of the second half. Pike's Tate Spence recovered a Zionsville (8-3) fumble to set up the Red Devils' first touchdown -- a 20-yard pass from quarterback Brent Lyles to Jordan Marshall that cut the Zionsville lead to 17-10.

Three minutes later, cornerback Robert Williams snared his third interception of the game, giving the Red Devils the ball at their own 3-yard line. Pike needed just nine plays to move 97 yards, with Lyles capping the drive -- which featured a 30-yard run by Nick Hernandez and a 49-yard pass from Lyles to Dominique Booth -- with a 2-yard run to tie the game at 17.

"The intensity wasn't there in the first half," said Lyles, who finished 15-of-30 for 249 yards passing. "We all rallied as a team and knew we need to get it done. We just played awful in the first half."

The momentum had clearly swung the Red Devils way when they took a 24-17 lead with 9:41 left in the game on Lyles' 49-yard keeper. It appeared to only get worse for the Eagles when they lost quarterback Parker Dunshee to a leg injury with 7:58 left.

But backup quarterback Joshua Hinkel completed passes of 15, 12 and 9 yards to move the chains and fullback Scott Penola blasted in for the touchdown from 11 yards out. The Eagles opted to go for the win with a 2-point conversion try, but the run came up a yard short.

"We had given up so many points in the second half, we had lost confidence in our defense to stop them at that point, so that was the consensus," said Eagles coach Larry McWhorter. "I was on board with it and I would do it again."

As sloppy as the Eagles were in the first half, McWhorter felt his team should have capitalized more. Zionsville converted only two of the four fumbles into points.

"We should have been ahead 24-0 or 30-0 with all the things that went our way," McWhorter said. "The first two touchdowns they got, though, were off our turnovers. We didn't convert on that and they did."

Moyers doesn't expect his team to be hung over after this win. Avon has ended Pike's season in the tournament each of the past three years.

"Avon's beat us (each time) by three points, and two of those wins came on the last play," Moyers said. "I think I can guarantee I'll have their attention this week."

The Pike High School football players sported a fashion statement during practice this week.

"We wore 24-0 on our helmets all week so we could remember," Pike running back Taylor Sanders said of the Week 2 loss to Ben Davis

Sanders rushed for 98 yards on 30 carries, including two touchdowns, to help host Pike upset Class 5A No. 2 Ben Davis in a Sectional 6 opener. The Giants finished 8-2.

Pike (7-3) will play at Zionsville, who upset No. 7 Brownsburg, in second round.

The Red Devils' defense kept Ben Davis in check for the entire first half, leading 14-6. The Giants' only score came on a 90-yard kickoff return by Tony Allen.

"Our defense doesn't get enough credit," Pike coach Derek Moyers said. "Everyone wants to talk about the (Metropolitan Interscholastic Conference) defenses, but our kids play pretty good defense. We rely on them. They got us the ball in good spots and forced them to turn the ball over. We didn't turn the ball over like the first time and I knew we wouldn't. That was a Murphy's Law game for us."

Pike had seven turnovers in the earlier home loss to Ben Davis.

Pike led the entire way, including 21-12 after three quarters.

"When you can get up a couple of scores on them, it's huge because it makes them one-dimensional," Moyers said.

Pike's Quentin Moon had a 17-yard interception return for a touchdown to give the Red Devils a 35-19 lead. Senior defensive end David Kenney said the defense drew motivation from the offense scoring.

Ben Davis had four turnovers, two more than Pike.

"Their coach did a great job preparing them and we didn't," Giants coach Mike Kirschner said. "We were on our heels (offensively) and I don't know why. Defensively we played great at times and all of sudden, we gave up a big pass play."

The kicking game was suspect.

"In nine games, we haven't missed a extra-point all year," Kirschner said. "We botched a kick and botched a snap. Then we are playing catch-up all night. If we don't miss those extra-points, it's 35-28 and it changes how they play the end of the game and how we play it.

"It was all facets. Offensively in the first half we were absolutely horrendous."

After Kyle Castner threw a 32-yard touchdown pass to Michael Beaty to make it 35-25 with 2:38 left, Ben Davis had to go for a two-point conversion because of the earlier misses.

Kirschner said he didn't want to make an issue of it being a rematch

"That's an excuse," said Kirschner, who also benched some players for the first half for missing a practice. "We didn't play well because we didn't play well."