Crown Point wins 1st undisputed DAC crown with 47-7 win over Michigan City

A USA-365.com report by Mark Smith

10-15-2005

Friday, Oct. 14, 2005,  68 degrees, clear, DAC at Crown Point

1st Qtr:  CROWN POINT (7-0)  Matt Jansen, 12-yard run.  28-yard drive, 5 plays.  Brad Mallers kick. 3:20 left.
2nd Qtr:  CROWN POINT (14-0) Vince Lewis, returned botched punt 40 yards for TD. Mallers kick. 10:40 left.
MICHIGAN CITY (7-14) Ryan Fics, 2-yard run. 59-yard drive, 6 plays. 7:58 left
CROWN POINT (21-7) Donny Keiser, 16-yard run. 80-yard drive, 7 plays. Mallers kick. 5:31 left.
CROWN POINT (28-7) Donny Keiser, 7-yard run. 23-yard drive, 2 plays (after Jon Sertich's 32-yard punt return) Mallers kick. 2:32 left.
CROWN POINT (35-7) Matt Ernest, 11-yard pass from Matt Jansen. 39-yard drive, 3 plays (after Ryan Forney's 32-yard punt return). Mallers kick.  0:42 left.
3rd Qtr:  CROWN POINT (42-7) Jon Sertich, 2-yard run.  66-yard drive, 10 plays, Mallers kick. 6:45 left.

4th Qtr:  CROWN POINT (45-7) Donny Keiser, 32-yard field goal (state record tying 13th of the season). 42-yard drive, 10 plays. 10:11 left.
CROWN POINT (47-7) Michigan City punt snap exits the back of the end zone. 0:29 left.

TOTAL YARDS: 

Michigan City: 191 (-4 rushing)  CROWN POINT:  344 (136 rushing)

PASSING:
     Matt Jansen (CP) 13 of 18, 208 yards, 2 TDs, one INT
     Kevin Collyard  (MC) 14 of 26, 195 yards, 0 TDs, 0 INTs

RUSHING:
   Ryan Fics (MC) 11 for 45 yards, TD
Donny Keiser (CP) 14 for 90 yards, 2 TDs
Jon Sertich (CP)  6 for 33 yards, TD
Tommy Parks (CP) 1 for 13 yards
Ryan Forney (CP) 1 for 0 yards
Matt Jansen (CP) 1 - 2 yards, TD

RECEIVING:
Jusitn Micarek (MC) 7 for 122 yards
Zach Martin  (MC) 3 for 33 yards
Mark Buehl (MC) 3 for 39 yards
Alex Soller (MC) 1- 1 yards
Matt Ernest (CP)  5 - 106 yards
Tommy Isailovich (CP) 2 - 33 yards
Tommy Parks (CP) 1- 21 yards
Ryan Forney (CP) 2 for 27 yards
Jon Sertich (CP) 2 - 14 yards
Chris Rutherford (CP) 1- 4 yards

CROWN POINT (10-14-2005) - When a team wins something significant, I run down on the field with my little pad and pencil, shove a microphone into somebody's face and ask them to say something significant. It's a tall order.

RB Jon Sertich 27 with block from Marcus Robinson 64 evades Michigan City LB Tyler Steele 58 in CP's 47-7 win, 10-14-2005.  (Photos by Mark Smith)

RB Donny Keiser 37 scored on touchdown runs of 6 and 16 yards and kicked a state-record tying 13th field goal of the season for CP on 10-14-2005.

QB Matt Jansen 7 looks to pass downfield as Tommy Parks 49 runs a "safety valve" pattern against MC on 10-14-2005.

The Bulldogs celebrate their 47-7 win over Michigan City, their 1st ever Duneland Athletic Conference championship and only third undefeated regular season record in the school's 100+ year football history.

Friday night, Crown Point routed Michigan City 47-7 to complete the schools' third undefeated football regular season in a near century of Crown Point football.  The same school that was 0-9 in 2000 improved to 9-0 in 2005.  The school that spent some years in the basement of the Duneland Athletic Conference (DAC) since they joined the big school league in 1993, ascended to the throne as the league's undisputed, undefeated champion.  How could anyone put all that into words?

"Why not us?" asked coach Chip Pettit, who actually did say five years ago he that thought the CP football program would be up to the level of the top DAC schools in five years. "You always set your goals high. You don't say we want to be middle of the pack in five years. Of courses, we thought we could be champions. That was the goal."

Mission accomplished.  At least, the original mission.  CP's seventh consecutive league win, an abject runaway in front of about 3,000 home fans in perfect 68-degree weather, made the 2005 Bulldogs the first Crown Point boys team to sweep a DAC league season.  Now they start the 'second season', actually the 'real' season.  The third ranked Bulldogs begin the six-week IHSAA football playoffs that begin when the Bulldogs travel to rival Valparaiso (5-4) Friday, Oct. 21 at 7 p.m.

"We're really looking forward to next week," said quarterback Matt Jansen, who has returned from a six game absence to lead an offense that has scored 116 points in the final three regular season games.  "It's always tough to play at Valpo.  They're pretty much the only team that's run the ball on us this year.  I'm sure our defense will be looking forward to stopping them."

It's a shame that 9-0 doesn't win you a week off.  It would be nice if Crown Point could sit back and appreciate going against one of the state's 50 toughest schedules.  The 13-0 shutout of defending champion Merrillville the 35-14 rout of second place LaPorte.  And Friday's 40-point destruction of a team that was judged to be up-and-coming.

Friday. Michigan City couldn't get a witness. The Wolves gave up almost 400 total yards, misfired on at least six shot gun or punt snaps and gave up 200 more yards on special teams.
       
The Wolves looked like the Michigan City teams of the late 90s that weren't any good. Ace running back Ryan Fics, who has 1,699 yards in eight games, was held to 45 yards on 11 carries and left the game after a hard mid-air tackle midway through the third period and didn't return.  In the final minute of the game, the final in an endless stream of bad snaps sailed over the head of 6-foot-6 punter Alex Tomsheck and out of the end zone for a safety and Crown Point's 46th and 47th points.

"I think we caught Michigan City at the right time," said Pettit, referring to MC's 42-10 loss at LaPorte seven days earlier. "They had some problems tonight and we took advantage of it.  We had a very good night on special teams."

Long punt returns by Jon Sertich (32 yards) and Ryan Forney (31 yards) set up late second quarter TDs that inflated a 21-7 lead up to 35-7 at the half. The Wolves were demoralized after halftime, and after Ryan Fics appeared to be shaken by a hard hit in the middle of the third quarter, Michigan City's level of play diminished significantly.

The Bulldogs inserted the entire second string offense at the start of the fourth quarter, leading 42-7.

The first play of the game was a pass from senior quarterback Matt Jansen to junior wide receiver Matt Ernest, a symbolic pairing.  Jansen threw 47 passes to Ernest last year but Jansen missed the first six games on 2005 with a knee injury awhile Ernest missed the last seven games with a shoulder injury.

Crown Point (9-0, 7-0) didn't score until a one-yard QB sneak by Jansen with 3:20 left in the first period but it became 14-0 five minutes later when Tomsheck fumbled a bouncing punt snap and was hit by Chris Rutherford. Linebacker Vince Lewis picked up the ball and ran 40 yards for his first career touchdown and a 14-0 lead.
 
Michigan City took advantage of Bryan Mayfield's interception of Jansen at the Wolves' 41-yard-line. The Wolves then went 59 yards in six plays including a fourth down, 39-yard completion from QB Kevin Collyard to receiver Justin Milcarek to the Crown Point two-yard line. Fics then ran  it in for his 25th TD of the season with 8:40 left in the half.

"He's a very good player obviously," said Pettit of the Wolves' Fics. "We just tried to contain him and when they got behind, they got away from him a little bit."

Crown Point then drove 80 yards in seven plays to take a 21-7 lead on Keiser's 16-yard run with 5:31 to go in the half.  Some good clock management and the two long punt returns ballooned the lead to 35-7 at the intermission.

Throughout the second half, it was obvious that Crown Point would win, gaining the undefeated regular season and the DAC title. There was plenty of time to think about how quickly the program has recovered since the 22-game losing streak in 1999, 2000 and 2001.  Pettit, who never seems to be too invested in any one victory or defeat, didn't really want to revisit the low points of recent CP grid history.

"We just went through some down times," he said.  "You just needed to get the best players in the school on the field.  Get them strong and get the numbers up."

"When these boys (the 2006 senior class) came in as eighth graders," Pettit said. "The team was 0-10.  But they didn't have anything to do with that. I gave them the same speech I always give the eighth-graders after their season is over.  I just gave it again this week.  I just told them to work hard.  Hard work is no guarantee."

"Our attitude, I think, is the same every week," Pettit said.  "We just want to get better.  That's always our goal.  Is there a chance we could go out and get beat by Valparaiso if we don't play well?  Of course there is.  Valparaiso.  Good program.  On the road.  But if we play well, we expect to win.  We're hoping we can keep getting better."

BULLDOG NOTES:  The tough part of sports is perception, which is almost never reality.  One of the glaring misconceptions of sports is that good teams have good players and bad teams have bad players.

When Crown Point was 0-10 in 2000, they actually had a couple of players who are better than anyone they have now.  Bret Govert, CP's all-time interception leader, was a two-way player on that squad five years ago. Sean O'Drobinak, now a backup tight end at Bowling Green, was also on CP's varsity in 2000.  Middle linebacker Danny Knaga, who played Division II college ball, started for that squad.  Future college wrestler Kevin Wilkinson also played for CP in 2000.  All-area QB Matt Cowan was just getting his start.  The problem was depth and strength in the lines.

The Bulldogs' present offensive line, while young and not bigger than it was 2000, includes tackles Zach Brumm (5-10, 220) and Kurt Wermers (6-4, 255), guards Brian Gertsch (6-3, 240) and Marcus Robinson (6-3, 280) and center Andrew Krumweid (6-5, 215), is physically stronger and more athletic than what CP had five years ago.

Matt Ernest (6-2, 185) is a one-way player for now.  CP's baseball shortstop played wide receiver and defensive back as a sophomore but he was just a pass catcher against Michigan City.

"Right now I'm strictly playing offense," he said after catching four passes for 104 yards. "That could change, but right now I'm just on offense."

Ernest had trouble watching the last seven games with a broken collarbone.  

"It's hard," he said. "It was great that we were doing so well.  But it was very hard not to be a part of it.  Not good at all.  We'd been doing so well.  They didn't necessarily need me."

The CP teen missed almost two months of football, two weeks more than senior quarterback Matt Jansen sat out with his knee injury.

"It was a week-to-week thing," Ernest said.  "It was possible I wasn't coming back.  But I always thought I was.  My mom doesn't want me to play.  She was really nervous tonight.  My dad and everybody else wants me to play."

I don't know if it's intentional, but Crown Point has almost made their defensive starters defense-only players.  In the last two weeks, Donny Keiser has seen much more time at tailback than Jon Sertich, the starting defensive safety who doubles at halfback. Senior Andy McNiece now starts at cornerback.  Ryan Forney, who began the season at cornerback, is there only occasionally now.  Forney is a wide receiver and kick returner for the offense.

Offenses continue to look at CP's 3-5-3 defensive formation, see only three defensive backs and throw the ball 25 times. It's not working. Chesterton and Michigan City combined for 475 yards the last two weeks and scored a total of three touchdowns.

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Revised: October 17, 2005 .