Merrillville's back-up QB Jake Raspopovich, the varsity QB's little brother, tries to run the option in practice, as head coach Zac Wells watches, 08-08-2009.

Boys on the sidelines watching are Matt Neal (68) and Joe Sepulveda (shirt pulled up).  The Pirates' lines should be a strength in 2009.

Zach Raspopovich (6) runs the option in last Saturday's (Aug. 8) scrimmage. (All photos by Mark Smith)

Starting senior linebacker Marcus Howard talks to the team after the Aug. 8 scrimmage.

Head coach Zac Wells, who begins his 4th year as the Pirates' head coach.

The Pirates Eddie DeLuna had a hand injury. the senior wide receiver promised he'd be back for the opening game with Warren Central. on Aug. 22.

MERRILLVILLE (8-08-2009) I don't know if Merrillville considers 8-5 and a sectional championship a very good football season.  Other schools would.  But there often is an expectation for the Pirates that they should have done better than they did.

When they win nine, they 'should have' won 10.  When they win the sectional, they 'should have' won the regional. And they always win something.

It makes Merrillville one of Northwest Indiana's most intriguing 'never ending' stories.  Last year, the Pirates rebounded from a 2-3 start to win six of their last eight games and take the school's seventh sectional championship.

The Pirates graduated a lot of those players, but they expect to have the winning season that most always assume they'll have.

"The defense is always ahead of the offense pretty much," said 4th year coach Zac Wells, who welcomes back some anchors among his six returning veterans on defense.
 

"James Travis (6-0, 238) will start for us at defensive tackle or defensive end.  Joe Sepulveda (6-0, 232) will play on the defensive end and offensive line.  Linebackers are going to be Marcus Howard (5-8, 212) -- he's been a starting linebacker for two years.  Landau Lang (5-10, 180) and Dominique Gray (5-8, 156) will be back in the secondary.

On offense, the name will be familiar but the boy will be different.  The Pirate quarterback will be junior Zach Raspopovich (6-2, 160), the younger brother of 2007 quarterback Josh Raspopovich and a 2008 sophomore fill-in last year for now graduated Dolopo Macarthy.

Wells is understandably quite comfortable with the second of the three Raspopovich (Jake Raspopovich is a freshman QB) brothers.
 

"I wouldn't say necessarily he's more of a passer than a runner.  He's gotten a lot more mobile over the past year. What he won't be able to do is to break the 60-yard touchdown run.  He doesn't have that breakaway speed.  But he's deceptive.  He's a versatile kid and a good athlete."

The Pirates welcome back Denzell Pierce (5-8, 170) at tailback after the speedy junior carried 139 times for 1,062 yards and eight touchdowns.  Wide receiver Sanchez Tate (5-10, 182) will be looking to improve on his 32 catches for 416 yards last season.  Other returning seniors are Christian Matthews (6-3, 282) and Eddie DeLuna (5-8, 145).

They have a new kicker but, like the new QB, everybody in the Pirate program knows him.

"The kicker is Mike Enghofer," said Wells.  "A soccer player.  An all-state soccer player.  You don't know about him because we had Ryan Stokes last year.  Mike was good last year, too, but you can't use two kickers.  He's also a really good athlete.  He'll play soccer and football."

Wells jokes about the fullback role, a position he excelled at when he played in the late 80s and early 90s.  The game has changed.
 

"We don't have any fullbacks," he said.  "Everyone is listed as a running back or an 'H' back.  There's not a fullback listed on our roster."

It's no secret about the Merrillville roster that there are some athletes in the sophomore class like DAC wrestling champion Kourtney Berry (5-10, 188) who will eventually make an impact for the Pirates.  But the senior-laden offensive line, which includes Sepulveda (6-0, 232), Travis (6-0, 238), Julius Scroggins (6-4, 256), center Valanti Atsas (6-0, 222) and junior Rob Robinson (5-8, 304) indicates the immediate future is also very watchable.

But the immediate future is also the very watchable Warren Central Warriors, the five-time big school champ (including 2003-2006), rated ninth in the state, a 42-0 victor over Merrillville last season in Indianapolis.  The Indiana Football Digest ranks WC as the state's No. 1 team heading into 2009.
 

"Warren's about twice our size," Wells said.  "We're at 2300 (students) and they're at 4350.  I think they're second in the state.  Ben Davis has 4,520.  Our schedule is always going to be tough.  That's the way you want it."
 

Merrillville's new week-two foe is Andrean, a school the Pirates used to play when Wells was wearing his purple Merrillville jersey 20 years ago.

"We always enjoyed playing them when I was in school," the Merrillville grad recalls.  ""It (the restart of the series) was a mutual agreement.  We both needed games.  Griffith dropped us to play Valparaiso.  The rivalry has died down since we haven't played them in a while (13 years), but it'll be good to play them again.  Get some cross-the-street bragging rights.  They're only a few blocks away."

PIRATE NOTES:  Merrillville coach Zac Wells says that while this Aug. 22 season opener is the third game of a four-game contract between Merrillville and Warren Central, don't assume that's it.  Wells says there's no reason not to continue the series if Warren is agreeable.
 

"Why not?" he asks.  "Its good competition.  We might as well find out where we are every year.  We know they're always going to be good.  And I'm not sure who else we'd play.  There's nobody else around here who would play us."
 

Warren Central's offense is led by big senior QB Derek Hart (6-5, 205) who was 92-of-195 for 1,309 yards and 19 TDs (11 interceptions) last year, along with wide receiver Maurice McGee (5-10, 175) who caught 44 passes (444 yards) in 2008.
 

To give you an indication of what Merrillville is up against on Saturday night, August 22, the Warriors return seven defensive starters including Malcolm Bunnell (6-3, 340) and Elijah Jones (6-2, 300).  WC also returns six offensive starters including senior center Mike Gegner (6-4, 265) and guards Zach Graves (6-2, 300). Nobody has more size than Warren Central.
 

Wells admits that playing on Saturday night is a hardship because that's when coaches watch film with and without the players and put in a lot of preparatory work for the next week's game.
 

"The coaches get together Saturday afternoon," he says, "and I'm up until about 3:00 a.m. Saturday night putting things together for the next week.  I just tell the coaches that for one week, we just have to do that after church on Sunday."

"But he did not feel you'd ever see teams opening the season on Thursday night, a first week option that has been suggested.

"I don't know if people would come to games Thursday," Wells said.  "They have to get up the next day and go to work.  We kinda live on a school schedule.  In the real world, people have to get up and go to work the next day."
 

No one in the last 25 years has ever attempted to open the Northwest Indiana football season on Thursday night, but college football never plays on Thursday nights and among high school sports, volleyball and soccer rarely play on Thursdays.

Wells said he's just now getting comfortable as the coach of the Pirates.
 

"This will be my third full year with this staff," he reports.  "After this year, I'll be ahead of the game.  I'll have processes in place.  That's a big part of it.  Staff continuity.  Everybody knows their role.  You don't have to tell guys what to do.  They just do it, because they know."

The Pirates artificial turf appears to be in excellent condition one year after it was installed.  The only two complaints are the same as they are on all artificial turfs.  The rubberized pellets that pass for dirt between the fake blades of grass get into everybody's shoes and uniform.  And the grass is very hot in the middle of the afternoon in the summer.
But those negatives are far outweighed by the 'Big four' positives.
 

You don't have to cut it, seed it, water it or weed it and, after overnight Friday rains last Saturday's scrimmage would have been played in the mud without an artificial surface.
 

"It could be good for 10 years," Wells said.  "It's great."
 

Kourtney Berry was the 171-pound wrestling champion of the Duneland Athletic Conference last winter while James Travis was the heavyweight champion.  Eddie DeLuna was third at 135 pounds.