Bulldogs' Hopman throws 3 TD passes in 42-0 win over Portage in first shutout since 2007

A USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith

9-17-2011

Friday, September 18, 2009,  56 degrees at PORTAGE, IN

1st Qtr:  CROWN POINT (7-0) Tyler Kral, 10-yard pass from Joe Hopman. 2nd play after Austin Stanley recovered Rashaan Coleman's fumble at the Portage 21. Brett Bayer kick. 10:34 left.
CROWN POINT (14-0) Drew Brueckman, 9-yard pass from Hopman. 34 yard drive, 6 plays after Adam Kutemeier blocked a punt at the Portage 34. Bayer kick. 2:43 left.
2nd Qtr: CROWN POINT  (21-0) Tyler Wells, 26-yard pass from Hopman. 61-yard drive, 6 plays. Bayer Kick. 10:27 left.
CROWN POINT  (28-0) Tristan Peterson, 10-yard run. 58-yard drive, 7 plays. Bayer kick. 4:14 left.
3rd Qtr:  CROWN POINT (35-0) Jake Lindeman, 1-yard run. 80-yard drive, 9 plays. Bayer kick. 7:28 left.
4th Qtr:  CROWN POINT (42-0) Pete Parks, 5-yard run. 80-yard drive, 11 plays. Bayer kick. 10:39 left.
 

RUSHING:
CROWN POINT (37 carries, 176 yards, 3 TDs) Jake Lindeman (HB) 15 carries, 59 yards, TD; Tristan Peterson (HB) 6-60 yards, TD; Pete Parks (FB) 3-30 yards; Tyler Wells (WR) 3-10 yards, Jamie Johnson (HB) 8-11 yards, Cody Hipp (FB) 2-6 yards.

PORTAGE (23 carries, 104 yards, fumble) Rashaan Coleman (QB) 19 carries, 72 yards; Hashim Simpson (HB) 2-17 yards; Jeron Blake (FB) 2-15 yards.

PASSING:
CP: Joe Hopman (QB) 11 of 15, 163 yards, 3 TDs;
Portage: Rashaan Coleman (QB) 8 of 25, 58 yards.

RECEIVING:
CP: Tyler Wells (WR) 2-65 yards, TD; Tyler Kral (TE) 1-10 yards, TD; Drew Breuckman (TE) 1-9 yards, TD; Pete Parks (FB) 2-10 yards; Braxton Rice (WR) 2-54 yards; Tristan Peterson (HB) 1-9 yards; Tyler Smith (WR) 1-3 yards;

PORTAGE: Jason Roman (FB) 1-4 yards; Cody Maldonado (WR) 1-17 yards; Antonio Rodriguez (FB) 2-15 yards; Alvin Best (WR) 2-17 yards; Othie Freeny (WR) 2-5 yards.

TOTAL YARDS:
CP: 339 yards, 17 first downs, no turnovers;
PORTAGE: 160 yards, 11 first downs, 2 turnovers.
 

PORTAGE (9-16-2011) Okay, now I know I don't understand.

Last week, Portage defeated Merrillville by one point, 17-16. Two weeks ago, Merrillville defeated Crown Point by one point, 21-20. So, last week's CP Game at Portage figured to be close, right?

Not at all. Crown Point scored early and often last Friday and won 42-0 at Portage, adding to the confusion of this year's Duneland Athletic conference. Senior quarterback Joe Hopman threw three touchdown passes in the first half alone as Portage, operating with speedy halfback Rashaan Coleman filling in at QB for the second week in a row, was never in the game on a cool September Homecoming night.

"I thought our defense was good," said Crown Point head coach Chip Pettit. "We did a nice job. Coleman is an explosive player. To keep him in front of us was a key. Joe Hopman rebounded well for us after last week. We protected him well and he looked very poised. He was dynamite for us tonight."

Hopman was 11 of 15 for 163 yards with no interceptions, easily his best of the five games so far this season.

"We didn't lose confidence," said Hopman of last week's 26-7 loss at Lake Central. "That was a bad game. A terrible game for me. But we all played much better this week."

The Bulldogs (3-2, 1-2 DAC) won for the just the first time in the Duneland Athletic Conference (DAC), but the way this game went left them feeling they could get back in the race for first place.

"I don't see why not," Hopman said. "When we play the way we did tonight. We were just excited about playing. Right from the start."

It helped that Coleman fumbled a handoff to Hashim Simpson on the second play of the game with CP's Austin Stanley recovering the ball at the Portage 21. Tyler Wells ran a 'man in motion' sweep for 11 yards and Hopman, who was 3-of-13 against LC, rolled out to his right and fired a shoulder high pass to tight end Tyler Kral for the Bulldogs' first TD.

After two first downs, Portage had to punt and CP senior Adam Kutemeier blocked it with Conner Andras recovering at the Portage 34-yard line. Quickly it was 14-0. After a 24-yard pass from Hopman to 6-foot-6 junior basketball player Braxton Rice, CP scored the second TD on a roll out pass, this time from Hopman to senior Drew Breuckman.
 

Five plays later, the Indians (1-4, 1-2 DAC), who were coming off a 17-16 upset of Merrillville, had to punt again and Wells ran the boot back to the CP 39-yard-line. The Bulldogs quickly picked up a couple of first downs and Hopman, then faked to Jake Lindeman and lofted a pass to a wide open Wells behind the Portage secondary for a 26-yard touchdown and a 21-0 lead with 10:29 still left in the half.

Up 21 points, it was easy for the Bulldogs to relax and shift their concern to stopping Coleman (6-0, 185), a very athletic junior, who ran the ball 19 times out of the 'Wildcat' formation where the QB takes a direct snap and runs with the ball behind 10 blockers. It was remarkable how quick Coleman kept coming on plays where there was no deception, just a reliance on him to slip and break tackles.

"I've got to give him credit," said CP senior defensive end Billy Van Cleef, who had to chase Coleman on the artificial turf for the first three quarters. "He is so fast. You think you have him and you don't. I think it's fun to have a guy come at you like that. He's a tough back. Done let the score fool you. There was some hitting going on out there. They kept fighting."

Portage is playing with junior QB Kevin Knies, who was injured early in the 62-7 loss at Lake Central on Sept. 2. It was a very disappointing homecoming game for the home team in front of about 3,000 fans on a cool, fall night. A 10-yard TD run by sophomore Tristan Peterson with 4:14 left in the half changed the scored to 28-0 and left the impression that the game was over before the Homecoming queen was named.

CP took the third quarter kickoff 80 yards in nine plays including a 1-yard TD run by Lindeman, making the score 35-0. The final touchdown was a five-yard run by fullback Pete Parks with 10:39 to go in the game after another 80-yard drive.

How did CP rebound from the 19-point loss at Lake Central?

"We concentrated on keeping them in front of us," said Pettit. "We worked on blocking rushers off the 'edge'. I'm not being sarcastic. That's just what you do. You work on fundamentals. This was a big game for our seniors to show some leadership."

The best thing about this game was that CP did not commit any turnovers and they appeared to suffer no injuries. Van Cleef tried to explain how CP could lose to Merrillville by one point, Merrillville could lose to Portage by one point. But CP could beat Portage by 42 points.

"That's the DAC," he said. "The coaches always say you've got to be prepared for a fight every week. That's what football is. A game of fighting. You've got to play every game that way because in the sectional, if you lose the fight, you're done."
 

Crown Point plays Valparaiso (2-3, 2-1 DAC) Friday and the Vikings defeated CP twice last season, preventing them from winning the DAC and class 5A Sectional 1. But it's not CP's way to make too much of that.
 

"The Valparaiso (next week's opponent) is a pretty big deal," Van Cleef said. "But one game is nothing. You just want to keep getting better."

DOG NOTES: Crown Point mathematically can tie for the DAC title by winning the four remaining league games, but it's also possible that they could win the final four and not tie for first place. With Chesterton's come-from-behind 31-21 win over Valparaiso last Friday, CP gets a chance to climb back in the DAC race if they can defeat Valparaiso this week. Lake Central (5-0, 3-0 DAC) still has Valparaiso and Merrillville to play on the road. Chesterton (4-1, 3-0) still has Crown Point and Merrillville to play.
 

The truth is that no DAC team with two losses has ever won or shared the title in the history of the league.

The 42-0 win at Portage was the Bulldogs' first shutout win since 2007. CP also beat Portage in a 27-0 shutout on Sept. 14, 2007, a year in which the Indians finished the season at 5-5, while the Bulldogs finished 2007 with an 8-3 record.

Joe Hopman has eight TD passes in five games. In 2010, he had 20 TD passes in 12 games. When a team runs the 'Wildcat' where the QB runs or passes on every play it's often difficult to tell what a quarterback 'sack' is. For a sack to be credited, there has to be a reasonable appearance that the QB was attempting to throw and not run. Senior defensive end Cameron Tanner was credited with two more QB sacks giving him six for the season Billy Van Cleef sacked Portage QB Rashaan Coleman twice, giving him five sacks for the year.