Bulldogs recover from early mishap to defeat Portage Indians 21-7, improve to 4-1

A USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith

9-20-2014

 

Team 1 2 3 4 F
PORTAGE (0-5) 7 0 0 0 7
CROWN POINT (4-1) 0 7 14 0 21

Friday, September 19, 2014 -  63 degrees, cloudy at CROWN POINT, Ind.
 

1st QtrPORTAGE (7-0) Taylor Sebben, 21-yard pass from Nate Cherry. 73-yard drive, seven plays. (1st possession) Josh Gonzalez kick. 6:08 left.
2nd Qtr: CROWN POINT (7-7) Morgan Kral, 19-yard pass from Artie Equihua. 49-yard drive, 10 plays. James Priddy kick. 0:29 left.

3rd Qtr: CROWN POINT (14-7) Artie Equihua, 13-yard run. 69-yard drive, nine plays. James Priddy kick. 2:27 left.
CROWN POINT (21-7) Jesse Martin 21-yard run. 28-yard drive, 3 plays (after fumble recovery). 0:21 left.

4th Qtr: No scoring.

STATISTICS

RUSHING:

PORTAGE (25 carries, 85 yards, 0 TD, one fumble): Nate Cherry (QB) 20 carries, 73 yards; Avery Sanders (HB) 5-12 yards.

 

CROWN POINT (43 carries, 206 yards, 2 TDs, 0 fumbles): Troy Grady (HB) 9 carries, 17 yards; Artie Equihua (QB) 22 carries, 121 yards, TD; Luke Polus (HB) 7-23 yards; Jesse Martin (HB) 4-37 yards, TD; Patrick Messer (WR) 1-8 yards.

PASSING:
PORTAGE: Nate Cherry (QB) 4-7, 73 yards; Ian Collier (QB) 1-7, 10 yards.

CROWN POINT: Artie Equihua (QB) 3 of 12, 73 yards, one TD, one interception.
 

RECEIVING:

PORTAGE : Marquis White (WR) 2-16 yards, Taylor Sebben (WR) 3-67, TD. CROWN POINT: Morgan Kral (TE) 2-39 yards, TD; Dax Jones (WR) 1-34 yards.
 

TOTAL YARDS:

PORTAGE: 168; CROWN POINT: 279.
 

TURNOVERS:
PORTAGE (1) fumble.
CROWN POINT (1) interception.

 

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CROWN POINT (9-12-2014) There's two truths about facing a team that hasn't won a game at mid-season.

One: Every close game is a big deal to them because it could be that first victory. Two: there are reasons they haven't won, and facing the winless team, you have to find those reasons.

When the Indians scored on their first possession at Crown Point last Friday night, that first "truth" came into play. Portage (0-5, 0-3 Duneland Athletic Conference) led most of the first half.

But the second truth also became self evident after halftime. Crown Point (4-1, 2-1 DAC) contained the limited Portage offense, scored two third quarter TDs and ended the first half of the season with a 21-7 victory.

The Bulldogs held the shorthanded Indians to just 38 yards in the final two quarters to remain one game behind Lake Central (4-1, 3-0 DAC) and Chesterton (3-2, 3-0) in pursuit of their conference title with four games remaining.

Portage was playing without junior quarterback Ahmad Harris (32 of 58, 313 yards) and wide receiver/kick returner Jared Nieves (10 catches, 134 yards), but they took the lead the first time they had the ball. On a third-and-7 play at the Portage 47, all-purpose senior Nate Cherry, filling in at QB, tossed a high-arching 25 yard pass to Taylor Sebben at the CP 28-yard-line. One play later, Cherry tossed a similar pass to Sebben for a 21-yard touchdown and a 7-0 lead.

Most evenly matched games come down to a half dozen key plays and CP's biggest plays of this night came on the last four first half possessions. The Bulldogs had moved the ball to the Portage 39, but it was 4th-and-9 and the Bulldogs, trailing by seven points were much too far away for a field goal attempt with less than one minute left till halftime.

Junior QB Artie Equihua, who had missed badly on some earlier passes, rolled to his left and fired an accurate ball to 6-foot-6 tight end Morgan Kral, who grabbed it despite close defense at the Indians' 19 yard line.

One play later, the left-handed Equihua again rolled left and fired the ball to Kral who broke a tackle at the 5-yard-line and stepped into the end zone to tie the game just 11 seconds before halftime.

The Bulldogs scored two third quarter TDs and held Portage to one second half first down but a lot of that might not happen if they didn't tie the game right before the half.

"I thought I should have had it," said Kral of a pass he missed before catching the final two in the half. "But I guess things happen for a reason and to turned out right. Got to give my team credit on that. We had a rough first quarter, but we didn't give up on ourselves."

In the third period, Equihua led a 69-yard drive (running 7 times for 46 yards) to put his side ahead 14-7, scoring on a 13-yard run. Then Portage's Nate Cherry fumbled with Jon Dietrich getting credit for the recovery at the Portage 28 yard line.

Two plays later, CP ran a mis-direction counter play to junior Jesse Martin, who broke loose on a 21-yard run to create what would be the final score.

Kral didn't disagree that it might have been the Bulldog's best half of the season.

"We stepped it up," he said. "Finally got into it at the half and we played a real good second half of football. Played as a team. Won as a team."

Crown Point only gained 279 yards, but they only allowed 168. They haven't dominated anybody, but they have survived what traditionally is the more difficult part of the schedule with excellent results.

"I feel great about where we are," said Kral, who played tight end and defensive end.

"Guaranteed five more games. This was the first half (of the season) and we're ready to go from here."


DOG NOTES: Crown Point is 4-1 for the first time since 2010. That team ended the season with an 8-4 record. All four teams that Crown Point had previously played this season (Lowell, Mishawaka, Merrillville and Lake Central) all won last Friday night.

The Bulldogs play three of their final four games on the road. The final regularly scheduled home game is the Oct. 10 Homecoming game with Chesterton. CP could host a Class 6A Sectional 1 playoff game on Oct. 24.

There are concerns about the "shelf life" of quarterback Artie Equihua, who finished game five with 621 yards on 96 carries. The small, but speedy junior takes a lot of punishment every game and the backup QB, sophomore Grayson Lynk, is untested. Equihua (5-11, 185) seemed to be injured and about to leave the game prior to his TD pass to Morgan Kral.

 

The starting QB didn't miss a play until the game was decided, but it was notable that Lynk got to play the final series Friday. CP may need Lynk to play a few snaps or more in a key game at some time before the season ends.

With 621 yards rushing, Artie Equihua is on the way to being the first CP quarterback in modern times to rush for 1,000 yards. The CP football program and roster book shows ten players rushing for 1,000 yards including Tristan Peterson, who gained 1,002 yards on 211 carries.

Russell Chick's 1,810 yards on 294 carries is the standing school record, although records before the 1980s are sketchy, if not nonexistant.

Equihua's 93-yard TD run against Lake Central was the second longest run in CPHS recorded history. John Young, who ran for 1,480 yards in 1987 had a 94-yard TD run against LC on Sept. 3, 1987. Mark Minch, who rushed for 1,013 yards in 1989, had a 90-yard run scoring run, also against Lake Central on Nov. 4, 1988.


CLASS SECTIONAL JOHN HARRELL'S INDIANA HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL RECENT SEASONS
6A 1 E-MAIL CORRECTIONS MAP TO SCHOOL 4-1
TOURNAMENT HISTORY
CROWN POINT
BULLDOGS
Coach: Kevin Enright, 18-9 in 3rd year at school
DATE OPPONENT CENTRAL TIME OA 22.8, DA 19.6
Aug. 22 Lowell {4A}  W 24-10   
Aug. 29 at Mishawaka {5A}  W 35-34   
Sep. 6 at Merrillville {6A} ot W 21-20   
Sep. 12 Lake Central {6A}   L 13-27   
Sep. 19 Portage {6A} W 21- 7   
Sep. 26 at Valparaiso {6A} 7:00 pm   
Oct. 3 at LaPorte {5A} 7:00 pm   
Oct. 10 Chesterton {6A} 7:00 pm   
Oct. 17 at Michigan City {5A} 7:00 pm   
DUNELAND CONFERENCE GAME

 

CLASS SECTIONAL JOHN HARRELL'S INDIANA HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL RECENT SEASONS
6A 2 E-MAIL CORRECTIONS MAP TO SCHOOL 0-5
TOURNAMENT HISTORY
PORTAGE
INDIANS
Coach: Wally McCormack, 9-16 in 3rd year at school, 79-54 in 12th year overall
DATE OPPONENT CENTRAL TIME OA 12.6, DA 30.2
Aug. 22 Mishawaka {5A}   L 35-54   
Aug. 29 Penn {6A}   L   0-42   
Sep. 6 (n)Lake Central {6A}   L   6-14   
Sep. 12 Merrillville {6A}   L 15-20   
Sep. 19 at Crown Point {6A}   L   7-21   
Sep. 26 at Chesterton {6A} 7:00 pm   
Oct. 3 Michigan City {5A} 7:00 pm   
Oct. 10 at Valparaiso {6A} 7:00 pm   
Oct. 17 LaPorte {5A} 7:00 pm   
DUNELAND CONFERENCE GAME

 

CLASS SECTIONAL JOHN HARRELL'S INDIANA HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL RECENT SEASONS
6A 2 E-MAIL CORRECTIONS MAP TO SCHOOL 1-4
TOURNAMENT HISTORY
VALPARAISO
VIKINGS
Coach: Dave Coyle, 7-18 in 3rd year at school
DATE OPPONENT CENTRAL TIME OA 11.0, DA 26.4
Aug. 22 at Penn {6A}   L   3-35   
Aug. 29 Homestead {6A}   L 12-39   
Sep. 6 LaPorte {5A}  W 19-14   
Sep. 12 at Michigan City {5A} 2ot  L 14-21   
Sep. 19 Chesterton {6A}   L   7-23   
Sep. 26 Crown Point {6A} 7:00 pm   
Oct. 3 at Merrillville {6A} 7:00 pm   
Oct. 10 Portage {6A} 7:00 pm   
Oct. 17 at Lake Central {6A} 7:00 pm   
DUNELAND CONFERENCE GAME

 

 

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Revised: September 21, 2014 .

 

 

Jonah Campbell (41) chases Nate Cherry (3) during last Friday's game in Crown Point. The Bulldogs held Portage under 200 total yards. (All photos by Mark Smith)
Billy Bernhardt (3), Eric Fiacable (78), Nawwaf Elayyan (16) and Troy Grady (20) step to the center of the field for the coin toss prior to last week's CP-Portage game. 
(All photos by Mark Smith.)
Luke Polus heads up field against Portage after taking the handoff from QB Artie Equihua. CP ran for over 200 yards in a 21-7 win.
Portage's Kyle Green (9) tries to slow down CP's Artie Equihua (14) in the second quarter of last Friday's game. Equihua ran for one TD and passed for another in the Bulldogs' 21-7 victory.
Portage's Drew Guth (20) blocks CP's Cameron Watson (4) for QB Nate Cherry (3) in last Friday's CP-Portage game.
CP's Morgan Kral (9) and Nick Isaacs (22) put pressure on Portage QB Ian Collier (2) in Friday's game in Crown Point. CP scored 21 unanswered points win 21-7.
CP junior defensive end Rionte Harrell (82) is happy the way things are going last Friday night as the Bulldogs stopped Portage 21-7.
CP students wore white for a 'White Out' during last Friday's Portage-Crown Point game. The Bulldogs improved to 4-1 on the season with a 21-7 victory. 
(All photos by Mark Smith.)

 

The Bulldogs' next opponent: The Bulldogs travel to Porter County to take on the Valparaiso Vikings at Valparaiso High School on Friday, Sept. 26 at 7 p.m. CDT (8 p.m. EDT). Live coverage on USA-365.com begins with the pregame show at 6:30 p.m.

Valpo is 1-4, after having lost 23-7 to Chesterton at home last week.
The Vikings opened the season with back-to-back losses to state-ranked 6A schools Penn and Homestead. Their sole win of the season came Sept. 6 over LaPorte at home 19-14, before losing in double-overtime 21-14 at Michigan City on Sept. 12.