10-02-2010

Friday, October 1, 2010,  65 degrees, Duneland Athletic Conference at LaPORTE, IN

1st Qtr: CROWN POINT (7-0) CROWN POINT (7-0) Joe Hopman, 24-yard run. 49-yard drive, 4 plays. 1:23 min. TOP. Brett Bayer kick. 6:44 left.
CROWN POINT (14-0) Tyler Kral, 6-yard pass from Joe Hopman. 35-yard drive, 7 plays. 4:03 min. TOP. Brett Bayer kick. 1:07 left.
2nd Qtr: LaPORTE (7-14) La PORTE (14-7) Scott Vaughn, 7-yard pass from Kyle Hartson. 42-yard drive, 7 plays. 1:05 min. TOP. Jake Archambault kick. 0:08 left.
3rd Qtr: CROWN POINT (20-7) Cody Bacon, 89-yard kickoff return. 0:16 sec. TOP. Kick wide. 11:44.
CROWN POINT (26-7) Pete Parks, 7-yard pass from Joe Hopman. 74-yard drive, 10 plays. 3:41 min. TOP. Kick wide. 1:51.
4th Qtr: CROWN POINT (33-7) Travis Woosley, 36-yard pass from Joe Hopman. 36-yard drive, 1 play following blocked punt by Pete Parks. 0:07 sec. TOP. Brett Bayer kick. 10:50 left.
CROWN POINT (40-7) Joe Hopman, 20-yard run. 50-yard drive, 5 plays. 3:04 min. TOP. Brett Bayer kick. 3:04 left.
La PORTE (13-40) Andrew Schuelke, 5-yard run. 52-yard drive, 6 plays. 3:55 min TOP. Kick blocked by Anthony Geisen. 1:25 left.

 

GAME STATISTICS

RUSHING:
CROWN POINT (20 carries, 142 yards, 2 TDs) Cody Bacon (HB) 7-35 yards, Pete Parks (FB) 3-26 yards; Joe Hopman (QB) 6-65 yards, 2 TDs;
Jake Lindeman (RB) 3-10 yards, Jordan Jurasevich (RB) 1-6 yards.
LaPORTE (21 carries, 68 yards, one TD) Andrew Schuelke (HB) 11-36 yards, TD; Kyle Hartson (QB) 4-25 yards; Tyler Smith (RB) 6-7 yards.

PASSING:
Joe Hopman (CP) 11-of-13, 173 yards, 3 TDs, 0 INTs.
Kyle Hartson (LaPorte) 16-of-25, 157 yards, TD, 0 INTs.

RECEIVING:
CROWN POINT: Austin Atherton (WR) 5-69 yards; Jordan Jurasevich (FB) 1-14 yards, Pete Parks (FB) 2-46 yards, Tyler Kral (TE) 1-6 yards, TD; Travis Woosley (WR) 1-36 yards, TD; Jake Lindeman (RB) 1-2 yards.
LaPORTE: Scott Vaughn (TE) 6-70 yards, TD; Damon Carnes (WR) 3-23 yards, Emmerson Coper (WR) 3-42 yards, Andrew Schuelke (RB) 2-15 yards, Jared Ross (WR) 1-7 yards.
 

PENALTIES:

CROWN POINT 6-57 yards;

LaPORTE 4-20 yards

TOTAL YARDS:
CROWN POINT: 315 yards, 10 first downs, 0 turnovers ;
VALPARAISO: 227 yards, 11 first downs, 0 turnovers.

LaPORTE (10-01-2010) On the first night in October, Crown Point's performance Friday night in a 40-13 victory over LaPorte raised questions about a couple of nights in September. Since CP won by 27 over a team that took Merrillville into overtime seven nights earlier, how did the Bulldogs lose to Merrillville?

CP will carry that question into the post-season (if not the off-season) after they scored the school's biggest-ever margin of victory at LaPorte with a 26-point second half ignited by Cody Bacon's 89-yard return of the second half kickoff. But it didn't make up for last week's very winnable 10-7 loss at still-undefeated Valparaiso (7-0, 5-0 DAC).

"No," said CP coach Chip Petit. "That stung. That was a really big game with a lot of conference implications and we came up short. You don't forget about that that easily."

CP (5-2, 3-2 DAC) wore down an out-manned LaPorte team in front of a crowd of about 4,000 on the Slicers' Homecoming night. The Bulldogs led 14-0 early on a 24-yard option run by quarterback Joe Hopman and Hopman's six-yard pass to junior tight end Tyler Kral. But a chance to go ahead 21-0 evaporated when a holding call nullified a 61-yard pass from Hopman to senior wide receiver Austin Atherton. An illegal procedure penalty backed up CP on the Bulldogs next possession and a short punt set up LaPorte on the CP 45-yard-line with 1:05 left in the half.

LaPorte QB Kyle Hartson drove his team 45 yards in six plays to get his team on the scoreboard. Three passes to tight end Scott Vaughn (6-4, 215), the last one a seven-yard pass with eight seconds left in the half, cut CP's lead in half at the half.

But Bacon took the second half kickoff at the CP 11, started slowly up the hash mark on the home side of the field and then angled diagonally across the field, pulling away from kicker Jake Archambault and beating Nick Holliday to end zone.

"The kickoff return was the biggest play of the game," said CP coach Chip Pettit. "They had a little momentum when they scored just before halftime and that just turned it around. He made one guy miss and then he found a seam and outran the safety."

Even after Bacon's second half TD put the Bulldogs ahead 20-7, LaPorte showed life. The Slicers picked up four first downs, the last one at the CP 26-yard-line. But two incomplete passes set up a 4th-and-5 where Hartson's screen pass to back-up running back Andrew Schuelke was run down by several CP linebackers for a four-yard loss. Crown Point scored the next three times they had the ball to expand the lead to 33 points late in the fourth quarter.

Hopman hit his third TD pass, a rollout toss to an 'in motion' Pete Parks to make it 26-7. Parks blocked a punt at the LaPorte 35 and Hopman immediately tossed a scoring pass to senior Travis Woosley to make it 33-7 and Hopman's second option run, this one for 20 yards, made the score 40-7 with 5:27 left in the game.

Hopman completed 11 of 13 passes for 147 yards, three TDs and no interceptions. Combine that was two rushing TDs and no fumbles (CP has not lost a fumble all season) and it might have been Hopman's best game yet.

"Joe didn't have a good game at Valparaiso," said Pettit. "He just didn't make good decisions with the ball. Tonight, he was much better in his decision-making and taking what the defense gave us."

The Bulldogs held LaPorte to an unofficial 68 yards rushing on 21 carries. Part of that was star halfback Nick Latchford (157 carries, 953 yards, 15 TDs) not being able to play with an undisclosed leg injury. But no team has gained more than 150 yards rushing in a game against CP's 3-5-3 (five linebacker) defense this season. Senior linebacker Reed Stofko said it's that defense that bothers Bulldog foes.

"It confuses their reads," he explained. "They don't know which one of us is coming in what gaps. You get two more quick guys on the field instead of two more big guys."

Stofko agreed that the Cody Bacon kickoff return was the big play of the game.

"That really got us going," he said. "It got the defense fired up. They scored right before halftime and we really wanted to stop them."

CP knows they can't catch Valparaiso in the DAC race, but the Class 5A Sectional One title is a bigger goal.

"I've been playing since I was five years old," said Stofko, a three-year varsity player who, like all CP seniors, is playing on a winning team for the first time. "I want to play in college but you never know if that's going to happen. I just want to win out (to the end of the schedule) and get into the sectional."

DOG NOTES: Crown Point has won five games by 17 points or more and they evened their road record at 2-2 with Michigan City (1-6) yet to play.

LaPorte halfback Nick Latchford did not pay after suffering a leg injury last week in the win over Merrillville. The senior halfback, who ran for 1,000 yards in 2009, was in uniform but he was not allowed to participate. Slicer wide receiver James Snyder (6-4, 195) broke his collarbone three weeks ago and is out for the season.

LaPorte vs. Crown Point drew about 4,000 fans to 4,800-seat Kiwanis Field, which is two blocks east of LaPorte High School. The crowd in the home grandstand for a .500 team was impressive. There was a large student section and the home grandstand which seats about 3,500, was filled to capacity.

"Its always like this," said basketball coach Tom Wells. "It's one of the reasons I came here. You could have a tiddly-winks competition and 1,000 people would show up. They support everything here."

Crown Point still has not lost a fumble all season, the most telling of all their statistics. No CP team in recent history has finished the regular season with no fumbles.

The 27-point victory for CP is the widest margin of victory for Crown Point at LaPorte in the 26 games of this series. CP's first DAC championship team won 37-23 at LaPorte in 2004.

LaPorte's losses are to Valpo (7-0), CP (5-2), Chesterton (5-2) and Merrillville (5-2). None of those teams are in Class 5A, Sectional 2 with LaPorte.

LaPorte tight end Scott Vaughn caught six passes for 70 yards.

"That tight end is a lot to handle," said CP coach Chip Pettit afterwards. "Obviously, they are a little different team without Latchford."

Crown Points' tight ends and fullbacks are interchangeable and the trio of Pete Parks (6-1, 240) basketball power forward Jordan Jurasevich (6-3, 210) and wrestler Tyler Kral (6-2, 215) are very physically strong players.

Kral caught his first career TD Friday and Jurasevich grabbed two TD tosses on Sept. 17 against Portage. Junior fullback/tight end Pete Parks has caught eight passes all season, four for TDs.

"Pete is a very versatile player," says Pettit. 'We've been waiting for him to show a little more fire. He's kind of a laid back kid."

Junior kicker Brett Bayer was only 4-of-6 on extra points after converting 23 of 24 in the first six Crown Point games. CP's six penalties for 57 yards were a season-high.

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Revised: October 03, 2010 .