Merrillville wins Class 5A battle of NW Indiana 16-13 over CP, advances to face Penn at Regional

A USA-365.com report by Mark Smith

11-6-2005

Friday, Nov. 4, 2005,  58 degrees, cloudy - Class 5A, Sectional 1 Championship at Merrillville

1st Qtr:  MERRILLVILLE (3-0) Ryan Stokes, 32-yard field goal. 43-yard drive, 9 plays. 7:57 left.
2nd Qtr:  CROWN POINT (6-3) Tommy Parks, 10-yard pass from Matt Jansen. 68 yard drive, 6 plays. Kick wide.  5:07 left.
MERRILLVILLE (9-6) Anthony Curry, 32-yard pass from Evan Parker. 80-yard drive, 10 plays. Run failed. 0:00 left.
3rd Qtr:  MERRILLVILLE (16-6) James Aldridge, 8-yard run. Stokes kick. 7:45 left.
4th Qtr:  CROWN POINT (13-16) Matt Jansen, 2-yard run. 85-yard drive, 8 plays. Brad Mallers kick. 4:18 left.

FIRST DOWNS: 

Merrillville 19, Crown Point 10

TURNOVERS: 

Merrillville 0, CP 2

TOTAL YARDS: 

Merrillville 319 (198 rushing), CP 216 (97 rushing)

PENALTIES:  

Merrillville 4-35 yards,  CP 4-30 yards. 

PASSING: 

Matt Jansen (CP) 7 of 24, 138 yards, 0 TDs, one INT
Evan Parker (M) 11-20, 121 yards, TD

RECEIVING: 

Matt Ernest (CP) 4-89 yards; Tommy Parks (CP) 1-10 yards; Ryan Forney (CP) 2-37

Chad Dawson (M) 6-107 yards; Anthony Curry (M) 1-32

RUSHING: 

James Aldridge (M) 26-139 yards, TD 

Jon Sertich (CP) 3- 38 yards; Donny Keiser (CP) 5-33 yards
Matt Jansen (CP) 3-6 yards.

CP's RB Donny Keiser #37 had problems running against Merrillville's defense. Drew Dawson #1 and Beau McClendon #2 close the gap on Keiser in Merrillville' 16-13 sectional championship win over the Bulldogs, 11-4-2005. (Photos by Mark Smith.)

CP's Matt Jansen #7 scrambling to evade the Pirates' John Stoddard #43, 11-4-2005.

The Bulldogs' H-back Tommy Parks #49 in wide receiver slot prior to snap of ball. Parks had a 10-yard TD pass reception and a blocked punt in the 2nd Quarter of CP's 16-13 loss to Merrillville, 11-4-2005.

RB Eric Williams #6 takes advantage of block thrown by James Aldridge #23 on CP's Jordan Rhye #24 in the first half of Merrillville's 16-13 sectional championship win, 11-4-2005.

MERRILLVILLE (11-4-2005) - It was going to be a great victory for one and a crushing loss for the other. That's just the way it was in the Class 5A Sectional one championship game in front of at least 7,000 people at Merrillville's Demaree Stadium Friday.

"Nobody's got any regrets, right?" asked Crown Point coach Chip Pettit to his silent group of players who surrounded him on the grass at the north end of the field. "You played as hard as you could."

No one asked for their money back after this one. In a game and an experience that ended far too soon, neighbor Merrillville ended the undefeated run of arch-rival Crown Point in a memorable state playoff played in perfect weather.

An 80-yard drive in the final three minutes of the first half and a 60-yard drive in the third quarter took the home team from a 6-3 deficit to a 16-6 lead. That proved to be enough to stave off a late CP rally in a battle worthy, not only of two top-10 Class 5A teams but two squads ranked one and two in the state among 5A teams in scoring defense.

In the final moments, speedy quarterback Evan Parker and all-state Merrillville halfback James Aldridge (6-2, 221) ran behind Division I offensive tackle Brian Jordan (6-5, 300) and Division I guard Dexter Larimore (6-3, 275) for three consecutive first downs to run out the clock.  The best players playing their best was just enough to overcome the best regular season team, the unbeaten champions of northern Indiana's best conference.

"Offensively, I was really pleased with our ability to get out of the hole." said veteran coach Jeff Yelton on the field in the midst of the post-game celebration.  "We were backed up in that second quarter. We were able to be lucky enough to score a touchdown and then we held on."

"I thought the game was played at a pretty high level," said CP coach Chip Pettit at the other end of the field. "Congratulations to them. I thought James Aldridge ran much better than he did before (in CP's 13-0 win over Merrillville in September). Sometimes we got to him quickly, but sometimes he got his eight to nine yards. Multiple times on third down when we needed to get a stop, they made plays."

Crown Points will go into the off season saying they should have won this game and with good reason. The Bulldogs led 6-3 in the second quarter when junior Tommy Parks blocked a Pirate punt and Merrillville punter William Crosby was tackled at the Pirate six yard line, giving the ball to the Bulldogs.

But CP's offense, which had averaged 40 points a game in the last five wins, did not score. The Bulldogs' 1,000-yard rusher Donny Keiser was knocked down by Larimore for no gain. QB Matt Jansen was dropped for a two-yard loss by Jordan. And Anthony Curry tipped a potential TD pass away from Ryan Forney. Keiser, who set a state record this year with 16 field goals, could not hook a 27-yard attempt inside the cross bar and the Bulldogs came away with nothing when they could have gone ahead by 10 points.

"You've got to make your own breaks and when  you get a couple you need to capitalize," said Pettit. "We got a blocked punt in the second quarter that we needed to capitalize on and we didn't."

Merrillville roared back before halftime against the Crown Point '35' (three lineman, five linebacker) defense that had four shutouts in 11 games.  With 2:43 left in the second quarter, Evan Parker completed three passes and James Aldridge ran for 14 yards to reach the Bulldog 33 yard line. The Pirates almost sabotaged their own drive with back-to-back penalties, but on a 3rd-and-20. Parker (5-10, 180) scrambled up field and changed direction like a halfback, gaining 22 yards to the Bulldog 26 yard line. After CP's Nick Hladek sacked Parker for a six yard loss, Parker made the play of the game.

Fading back out of the shotgun formation with just 13 seconds left in the half, Parker, arched a long, high pass towards the goal line on the home sidelines. Senior Anthony Curry (5-11, 190) got behind two CP defensive backs and made a leaping catch at the flag for the biggest TD of the game and a 9-6 halftime lead.

"One of their kids went up and made a play," said Pettit later. "We had our best leaper (Matt Ernest) back there and they threw over him. He (Curry) went up and got it. Great throw. Great catch."

In the third quarter, Merrillville got a major break. A weak punt by Crosby hit a Crown Point player in the back and was recovered by Merrillville's Colt Contreras at the Bulldog 30-yard line. Five plays later, Aldridge cut a designed run off right tackle back over left guard and zipped 8-yards into the end zone for his 20th TD of the season and a 16-6 lead.

It was the first time that Crown Point had been 10 points behind all season and a touch of redemption for Aldridge, who has been slowed by an ACL injury he suffered last November on the first play of the regional title game against Penn. Aldridge posted his fifth consecutive 100-yard game, gaining 139 yards on 26 carries, the most by any back against CP all year.

"People are going to say what they're going to say," Aldridge said of whispers that he wasn't as good as last year when he ran for 2,000 yards. "I don't let it bother me. My line opened the holes. All I had to do was run."

Crown Point (11-1), which won 11 games for the first time in the long history of the school, rallied with a 45-yard Jansen to Ernest pass that high-lighted an eight play 85-yard drive late in the fourth quarter. Jansen fired a 20-yarder to Ernest at the 2-yard line before the 6-foot-3 quarterback scored on a two-yard shot-gun run with 4:18 to play.

But the Bulldogs never got the ball again. Merrillville outweighed the CP defensive front by about 25 pounds a man, even when you included CP nose guard Nick Conway (5-10, 265). With Jordan, Larimore and big junior Doug Spencer (5-11, 230) leading the way, the Pirates ran out the clock with three late fourth quarter first downs and Pirate students rushed the field to celebrate.

"Rayshon Richardson did a great job," said Yelton.  "Dexter Larimore didn't come off the field except for a couple of times. Early in the year with the hot weather, that's tough to do. Our secondary did a great job of adjusting to their routes. If Jansen gets five seconds scrambling, he can still drop back 30 yards and throw it 60 yards."

Yelton's offense is built more for Parker than it is for Aldridge, a move-in prior to the 2004 season. The Pirates spread four wide receivers and use no blocking back. It works because of Parker, who is too athletic for one tackler and an increasingly accurate passer.

"We sent video home with Evan every night." Yelton said. "One night we watched video till 7 o'clock.  He's a tremendous threat. If you don't 'spy' him (follow him everywhere with one defender), you are going to have trouble and even if you do spy him, you're still going to have trouble.  He had a lot of poise. These seniors have been in the sectional championship game three years in a row. We talked about how that weighs on you when you have not been there before. There were times in the first half when they (CP) looked like they were running in sand they were so tight. That happens when you haven't been there before.  We just tried to be loosey, goosey. We just wanted to keep our poise and our kids did it."

Truthfully, Merrillville still has better players than Crown Point and no one who has seen both teams would tell you different. That's not a knock against CP.  It's the reality.  This is the first Merrillville team to win back-to-back sectional titles in the history of the school. Jordan, Larimore and Aldridge are high Division I players.  Parker, Deji McCarthy (6-1, 235) and three or four other Pirates are certain college players and Merrillville graduated  D-1 headliners Michael Neal (Purdue) and Bart Woodward (Wyoming) last season.

In four games (two each in 2004 and 2005) against Merrillville, Crown Point was 2-2 and allowed just 53 points. The Bulldogs know that a 50-50 draw with a team that was 4-7 in 2004 is a remarkable achievement, although it will be some time before the players can see it that way.

"While we're disappointed tonight," said Pettit, "we competed at a very high level.  To win the Duneland Conference undefeated and outright is quite an accomplishment, I think. We didn't reach our goal here tonight, but I have no problem with the effort and the commitment. We just came up a little short tonight."

"This was a great game. Somebody's got to win. Somebody's got to lose. Tonight, it happened to be us. My hat's off to Merrillville."

SECTIONAL NOTES:  CP coach Chip Pettit instructed his boys, in defeat, to go over to the visitors grandstand and salute some of the 3,500 fans from CP who came out to watch them on a November Friday night.

"We had a great crowd tonight," said Pettit. "We've gotten great support from our community. I thought we owe it our fans just to say thank you.  We put a lot of time and energy into this. When it's over, let's not have any regrets.  I think, to a man, we'll all be able to look in a mirror and not have any regrets."

Merrillville fans anticipating victory at Demaree Stadium, with the largest crowd since 1991.

Nearly 3500 fans packed the visitors grandstand at Demaree, wearing the red and white of the Bulldogs.

The crowd was a story in itself.  In the second half, both grandstands appeared full at Demaree Stadium, the biggest high school football stadium in NW Indiana.  The presence of the both bands (the Merrillville band was not allowed in the stands while the CP band occupied seating area) certainly made the total attendance larger than the paid attendance, which was said to be a little over 6,000.  The actual number of  people in attendance Friday was probably in the neighborhood of 7,500. A funny second quarter public address announcement was made asking Crown Point fans to 'squeeze together' so more could get into the visitors' grandstand, which was said to seat 3,500.

The Merrillville parking lot was not full, but it never is. Merrillville has parking for something like 4,000 cars, far more than it would take to fill the stadium with fans.  To my knowledge, since Merrillville's 1991 renovation, the parking lot has never been full of cars at any one time.

Amazingly, everything was peaceful, even as it took almost an hour for cars to exit the lot after the close game. There were no major behavior disturbances and no obvious problems other than a lot of trash from tailgaters and post-game celebrators left in the parking area.

Jeff Yelton knows outsiders think it's odd that his team is always in the shotgun, even late in the game when the Pirates are running out the clock.

"That's our offense," he says flatly, "We are always in the spread. We will get under center sometimes."

James Aldridge wants to play in the regional again.  "Tell Penn I'm coming." he said. "That's where my season ended last year and that's where its going to begin this time."

Yelton said, "He played like a thoroughbred tonight. People don't realize how tough it is for a 17-year-old to come back from an injury like his. We've got a Division I guard and a Division I tackle. We just said, 'We're gonna run there. If you're good enough, stop us."

Crown Point has a good chance to return to the Sectional one championship game in 2006.  Portage is sure to rebound from a 2-8 season but Michigan City and Merrillville suffer big time graduation losses.  Lake Central is still searching for DAC success and East Chicago is still overmatched against DAC teams.

Crown Point losses nine defensive players, but they return seven of 11 starters on offense including center Andy Krumweid, tight end Zach Cecich and tackles Kurt Werners and Jordan Brumm in the offensive line.  Skill positions players Matt Ernest, Jon Sertich, Tommy Parks, Danny Byrd and Ryan Forney all got lots of playing time in 2005 and will make sure that points go up on the board next season.  QB Blake Mascarello played six games this season and freshman backup QB Marcus Shrewsbury will definitely push for the starting job in 2006 as well. Crown Point is in better shape for 2006 than it may first appear.

Merrillville football players hoist the Class 5A, Sectional 1 trophy in front of their home grandstand following their 16-13 win over CP, 11-4-2005

CP wasn't thrilled with the wild on-field celebration by Merrillville students and players after the victory, clinching a second consecutive sectional title.  Some Pirate players grabbed the giant purple Merrillville school flag with a block 'M' in the middle and ran around the field waving it.  But to call this a hostile rivalry would be inaccurate.  CP and Merrillville coaches and faulty members stood around on the field for a half hour after the final gun, talking the game over.  Several CP boys came out to talk to Merrillville coach Jeff Yelton after the game.

"My son Kyle knows a lot of their players," explained Yelton. "They have a lot of good kids and they really had a great season."

There was a chance that the Merrillville-Penn regional game could be played on Saturday night (Nov. 12) due to the two-hour travel distance between Merrillville and Penn and the time difference (the Penn school district is on the eastern standard time in the Mishawaka-Elkhart area) that will make it a three-hour trip.

But Penn, which beat Elkhart Memorial 35-21 for the Sectional two title Friday, would have to agree to the change and there's nothing in it for them.

The 11 wins for Crown Point is an all-time school record and the 11-1 mark is the school's best ever. The last time CP reached the Section one championship game they also lost by three points, 20-17 to Portage in 1995.

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Revised: November 06, 2005 .