Crown Point's defense pulls third straight shutout in 23-0 win at Lake Central

A USA-365.com Special Report By Mark Smith

9-10-2005

Friday, Sept. 9, 2005,  78 degrees, humid, DAC at St. John

1st Qtr:  CP (7-0) Zach Cecich, 43-yard pass (1^st career TD) from Blake Mascarello (1^st career TD pass). Donny Keiser kick. 5:09 left.

2nd Qtr:  No scoring.
3rd Qtr:  CP (13-0) Donny Keiser, 6-yard run (3^rd TD) . 71yard drive,. 12 plays after 2^nd half kickoff. Kick blocked by Phil Morales. 5:51 left.
4th Qtr:  CP (16-0) Donny Keiser, 41-yard field goal. 25-yard drive, 7 plays. 6:43 left.

CP (23-0) Jon Sertich, 5-yard run (2^nd TD). 41-yard drive, 2 plays after LC roughing the kicker on a CP punt. Brad Mallers kick 1:53 left.

TOTAL YARDS: 

CROWN POINT (302), LC (159)

RUSHING: CP -- 42-215 yards, 2 TDs, 0 fumbles

LC – 20-8 yards, 0 TDs, 0 fumbles

FB – Kevin Opat (LC) 3-6,

HB- Kevin Madrosian (LC) 2-2

QB – PJ Gbur (LC) 11-9

FB – Tony Morang (LC) 5 (-5)

HB – Donny Keiser (CP) 20-137, TD

HB - Jon Sertich (CP) 17-84 , TD

FB – Chris Schillo (CP) 1-1

WR – Ryan Forney (CP) 1-0

QB – Blake Mascarello (CP) 3 (-7)

PASSING: 

CP – Blake Mascarello (CP) 6-13, 87 yards, TD, INT

LC – Jason Goins (LC) 2-3, 14 yards

LC -- PJ Gbur (LC) 11-19, 137 yards, 0 TDs, 0 INTs

RECEIVING:

CROWN POINT - Zack Cecich (CP) 1-43 yards, TD

Ryan Forney (CP) 2-19 yards

Chris Schillo (CP) 2-16 yards

Tommy Parks (CP) 1-9 yards

LAKE CENTRAL - Joe Wingis (LC) 7-52 yards

John Cabrera (LC) 4-50 yards

Tony Moranq (LC) 1-44 yards

Troy Russell (LC) 1-3 yards

TURNOVERS: 

CROWN POINT (1), LAKE CENTRAL (0)

QB Blake Mascarella #6 passes against the Lake Central defense in CP's 23-0 win Sept. 9.

ST. JOHN (9-9-2005) - This is how it's going to be for Crown Point now. There's a new sheriff in town. And when the young guns get a chance, they want to step up with their best shot.

Three impressive wins suggest that Crown Point's defense is the new justice in these parts and whether that's the truth or not, perception has become reality.

So in warm humid conditions in the fourth week of the 2005 season, a Lake Central squad that hasn't won a Duneland Athletic Conference (DAC) shootout in three years, fired off 26 passes against the Bulldogs' baffling '35' defense, trying to become the first team in three weeks to commit the crime of breaking and entering the Crown Point end zone.

But in the end for LC, as it was for Hobart and Merrillville, they fought the law and the law won.

Class 5A No. 6 (Associated Press) Crown Point extended their shutout streak to three games and 12 periods Friday night with a 23-0 DAC win over Lake Central. CP stays tied with LaPorte (4-0, 2-0), a 38-27 victor over winless Chesterton Friday, for first place in the DAC, a league Crown Point has never won.

Overall, the Bulldogs are not a great team. Their offense is injury-riddled and mediocre at best. But let the record show. In 55 years of Crown Point football that I have documented, no Crown Point team has ever shut out three consecutive foes. Not even in the days when they played East Gary. Rensselaer and Calumet. It has never happened.

It looks like fun. But it's not nearly as much fun when you are a heavy favorite on the road.

“This is a tough place to play,” said Crown Point linebacker Vince Lewis, one of the 'gang of five' linebackers who helped hold LC to 159 total yards. “They're definitely a good team,” said Lewis. “They've got a good quarterback and their receivers can go up and get the ball.”

LC's Joe Wingis #4 caught 7 passes for 72 yds, but CP won 23-0 on Sept. 9th.

TE Zach Cecich #89 catches 1st Qtr 43-yd TD pass from Mascarella in CP's 23-0 win over LC Sept. 9th.

LC's Phil Morales #26 blocked a Donny Kesier #37 1st Qtr field goal attempt, but Keiser now has 8 FGs on the 2005 season, including one from 41-yds at LC.

QB P.J. Gbur #5 completed 11 of 19 passing attempts for LC against CP for 137 yards, but no TDs.  All photos by Mark Smith.

CP spent the night chasing LC's receivers, 6-5 junior Joe Wingis and 5-11 high-jumping senior John Cabrera, who pulled down a combined 11 passes but could not reach the end zone to shake the confidence of NW Indiana's new Top-10 team.

“This team's as good as I've seen in a long time,” said Lake Central coach Bill Melby. “And we lined up and stayed with them. We just couldn't break through. There were mistakes made. I'm proud of my kids, but we're not going to be happy with a loss, ever again.”

“We did a lot of good things, but we need to get a sense of urgency when we get a chance. I thought we had them on the ropes a couple of times and we didn't take advantage of it. But, after these last two weeks (LC lost to Portage 33-10 on Sept. 2), we've got to see that we can play with anybody.”

That's a back-handed compliment to Crown Point, which used to be a team that hoped to simply 'play with anybody.' The Bulldogs, 4-7 in 2004 and 5-5 in 2003, took a 7-0 halftime lead on a 43-yard pass from sophomore rookie quarterback Blake Mascarello to sophomore tight end Zach Cecich. The Bulldogs might have scored more except that two second quarter passes by Mascarello were intercepted by linebackers Ryan Frost and Ken Cook.

“We opened up the game plan a little bit tonight and we made a few errors,” said Crown Point coach Chip Pettit. “ I thought Blake made some good throws and I thought he made a few mistakes.”

The Bulldogs played a very conservative second half after a 71-yard, 13-play drive following the third quarter kickoff culminated in a six-yard TD run by senior RB Donny Keiser with 5:51 left in the third quarter.

LC, which alternated junior PJ Gbur and senior Jason Goins at quarterback in the first half, went with Gbur exclusively in the final two periods and they picked up five first downs against CP's unorthodox defensive scheme.

And the biggest play was one that didn't show up on the scorebook.

Trailing 13-0, Gbur fired a short side sideline pass to Cabrera, who broke a tackle and changed direction twice before he was dragged down by Ryan Forney at the Bulldogs 4-yard-line. But a penalty flag dropped before Gbur (5-11, 170) released the ball, nullified the play.

“We've got some young guys playing,” said Melby, who is finding out how hard it is to to turn around a program that lost 16 games in a row in a big school league. “They're going to make some mistakes and that's my fault. I've put them in there.”

On the other side of the field, the Bulldogs, who were in the position LC was in the mid 90s, was very complimentary of their vanquished foe while carrying the weight of suddenly very high expectations.

“I'm having fun,” said Coach Chip Pettit, who wasn't overly happy with his offense. “They (LC) are a good team. They have very good skill at the wide receivers. The QB, when he has time, throws a very good ball. We're just looking at trying to get better.”

CP's defense again confused the offensive line's blocking and held a fourth consecutive team under 100 yards rushing. LC abandoned the running game and Gbur used a quick three-step drop to get passes away because his line couldn't protect him very long. But this was Lake Central, which is 0-16 in three years in the DAC. They are obviously not as physical as most other Duneland teams and the Bulldogs seemed to experience somewhat of a letdown.

“This was a tough game to get excited for,” said Vince Lewis. “Especially after Merrillville. But we wanted to keep everything in front of us and not let anybody get behind us. I think we've done a good job of rising to the occasion. Somebody will come up with a big sack. We'll blitz them and get them out of their rhythm.”

“I always come with something different,” said defensive tackle Nick Conway of facing constant pass rush situations. “Just something different every time.”

There is talk of injured all-state candidates Matt Jansen (133-242, 1,976 yards, 15 TDs in 11 games) and Matt Ernest (47 receptions – 1,031 yards) coming back this season, Jansen possibly by the end of this month. But the mood is, 'That would be great,' instead of “We desperately need them.”

“Everybody has injuries,” said Pettit. “Half the teams in the area don't care and the other half are probably glad we've got them.”

No one noticed that CP's victory over Lake Central equaled their entire 2004 victory total. Or that CP still hasn't trailed at any time all season. Maybe because the next game is at Portage (2-2) Friday on the artificial turf over in Porter County.

Portage epitomizes everything CP wants to be. Portage, the top program in NW Indiana in the last 15 years, is known for the quick and strong defenses and the multiple offenses that CP would like to have as their trademark.

Portage also has all those DAC titles while CP's next DAC crown will be their first. Many on CP not only knew without being told that CP is 0-9 against Portage in the last seven years and that CP was 4-0 three years ago when Portage beat them 19-15.

“We have never beaten them,” said Lewis, referring to present-day CP players. Linebacker Chris Schillo added, “Yeah, he (Lewis) tells me that all the time. It'll be another big one.”

So there's no looking ahead and no looking behind. Because somebody might be gaining on you.

“I don't think Portage is going to change anything for us,” said Lewis. “They're just going to play Portage football.”

Which is suddenly very similar to Crown Point football.

BULLDOG NOTES:  Donny Keiser hit his eighth field goal of the season, from 41 yards away in the fourth quarter. With the offense reaching the end zone just seven times, Keiser is probably CP's MVP so far, running the football as well as punting out of bounds, kickoffs in to the end zone and scoring three at a time.

“Donny is running the ball as hard as he's ever done it, said coach Chip Pettit, who watched Keiser gain 137 yards on 20 carries.

“He's a great weapon in the kicking game. Without question.”

Defensive coordinator Kevin Enright said that Portage plays (or can play) a version of the '35' defense that Crown Point uses.

“They played it the whole game last week against Lake Central,” he said. “It's not exactly what we do, but they've got three down linemen just like we do. In the past, they were a 4-3 team.”

The only player to score on Crown Point this season is Lowell quarterback Jimmy Ritter who reached the end zone on a 10-yard option run in the final two minutes of CP's 16-6 win at Lowell in the season opener on Aug. 19.

It has been 18 years since Crown Point won the first five games in any season. In 1987, the Bulldogs went 10-0 before losing 23-21 to Highland. The Bulldogs' last five-game winning streak came in 1991 with present day coach Chip Pettit at quarterback. The Bulldogs were 9-3 and Lake Suburban Conference champions in '91.

Copyright © 2005 USA-365.com and Meyer Multimedia Services, a division of Meyer Broadcasting Corp.  All rights reserved.
Revised: September 14, 2005 .