CROWN POINT (8-06-2010) I can almost guarantee that Crown Point will score points on Lowell this year when the two teams meet for the annual season opening football game the night of August 20.  That's a big deal because Lowell has shut out the Bulldogs in each of the last two seasons.

Now ... whether they'll beat Lowell for the first time in four seasons ... I'm not so sure about that.

With a half-dozen starters back on offense including quarterback Joe Hopman, who started every game for CP in 2009, the Bulldogs seem certain to score more than the 140 points (14 per game) they put on the board last year, when they won just three times in 10 games.

Everybody wants to win every season.  But unless there are significant injuries, playing younger players in 2009 will pay off in 2010.  CP's also going to have some two-way players in 2010 and two of the boys who 'may never leave the field' are defensive back, wide receiver and kick returner Austin Atherton and defensive end/tight end Tyler Kral, two of eight starters on defense.

Atherton (6-0, 155) is not very big, but he clearly has that receiver's gift of being able to jump as high as he can and catch the ball up over his head at the top of his leap.  As simple as that sounds, that should make him Hopson's number one target this year.  Kral (6-3, 215) will demand a double team block many times on defense this season or he's going to terrorize Duneland Conference quarterbacks.  With some injuries already popping up in the pre-season, it's not certain where Kral will play on offense, but they don't have plans to move the football that work without him in the starting lineup.

"In past years, I think we haven't had many two-way guys," said Atherton.  "We have a few more now.  Maybe five.  It's tough, but I'm ready to go."

Tyler Kral insists that it's not that big a deal.

"I went both ways last year.  It's not that big a deal.  It's going to be a lot of playing time.  When they say, 'Do you want to play D?,' you say 'Yeah.'  'Do you want to play O'. 'Sure.'"

The highlight of Atherton's career so far was when he was knocked out among a leaping grab against Honart at home in week-2 last year.  Austin was lifted onto a rolling stretcher and rolled of the field.

"That's actually happened to me before," he said. "Where I was blocked out.  When I opened my eyes, I saw Mr. (atheltic director) Bill) Dorulla.  And I'm thinking, what are you doing on the field?  I tried to get up and everybody said, don't move.  It was kinda funny."

"They told me I caught the ball.  I said 'No".  I said what yard line are we on now?"

But everything that happened in 2009 will be very much 'last year' if the Bulldogs can top Lowell in the home and season opener next week.

"Atherton said, "I'm excited to play them.  It's always a big deal.  They have a new coach.  There's a lot of talking among the parents.  The biggest rival.  This is my first year starting varsity.  Last year I didn't come in until week four.  But I'd have to say Lowell.  The 'Leather Helmet.'  That's what it's about.  The oldest rivalry in Indiana.  Even though I haven't played in a Lowell game yet, I'm more excited for it for any game I've ever played in."

BULLDOG NOTES:  Crown Point only has four home games this season, but the opener with Lowell is one of those and that means a near-capacity crowd will fill the 5,000-seat Bulldog stadium on Aug. 20.

CP coach Chip Pettit, a former Bulldog star in the early 1990s, warns his players not to get into trouble at the Lake County fair, which always draws hundreds of people from Lowell to the fairgrounds, which is at the south end of Crown Point. 

Though the Lowell-Crown Point rivalry is largely a friendly one, "If you see some boys from Lowell at the fair," Pettit told his team after last Friday's scrimmage. "Just walk away.  You've got nothing to say to them.  They've beaten you three years in a row.  Anything you have to say to them you can say on Aug. 20."

Dave Egofske, the CPHS head coach Before Chip Pettit, has returned to CP to help coach running backs and the offensive line.  Egofske was at Michigan City last year, but MC head coach Craig Buzea left to go to Homewood-Flossmoor.

"I've been looking to get him back here for about five years," revealed Pettit.  "Between him and Mark Croell, you could not find two better people to coach the offensive line."

Egofkse's last season was winless (0-10) in 2000 but he did lead the Bulldogs to a 7-4 record in 1995 and an 8-3 record in 1997.  On Nov. 3, 1995, CP should have been sectional champions, but a highly-debatable pass interference call in the end zone wiped out a 17-14 overtime lead against, ironically enough, coach Craig Buzea and Portage.

This Friday will be the final time Crown Point will scrimmage Highland.  In 2011, CP coach Chip Pettit says the pre-season scrimmage will be against Andrean.  In 2011, Lowell will begin the year with a pre-season scrimmage against Merrillville.
 

LOWELL vs. Crown Point (13 years)

2009 (13-2, 5-1) Kirk Kennedy
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Aug 21 (W) 19-0 at Lowell...


2008 (13-1, 6-0) Kirk Kennedy
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Aug 22 (W) 7-0 at Crown Point...


2007 (13-2, 5-1) Kirk Kennedy
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Aug 17 (W) 23-14 at Lowell...

2006 (7-6, 3-4) Kirk Kennedy
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Aug 18 (L) 0-17 at Crown Point...


2005 (11-4, 4-3) Kirk Kennedy
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Aug 19 (L) 6-16 CROWN POINT...


2004 (9-4, 4-3) Kirk Kennedy
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Aug 20 (W) 25-15 at Crown Point...


2003 (11-2, 6-1) Kirk Kennedy
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Aug 22 (W) 20-14 CROWN POINT...


2002 (6-5, 2-3) Kirk Kennedy
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Aug 23 (L) 0-23 at Crown Point...


2001 (5-7, 0-5) Kirk Kennedy
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Aug 17 (W) 14-7 CROWN POINT...


2000 (8-3, 3-2) Kirk Kennedy
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Aug 18 (W) 20-13 at Crown Point...


1999 (12-2, 4-1) Kirk Kennedy
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Aug 20 (W) 27-21 at Crown Point...


1998 (2-8, 0-5) Kirk Kennedy
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Aug 21 (L) 14-17 at Crown Point...


1997 (8-3, 6-0) Kirk Kennedy
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Aug 22 (L) 18-41 at Crown Point...

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