9-25-2010

Friday, November 5, 2010,  37 degrees, snow flurries, Class 5A Sectional 1 Championship at VALPARAISO, IN

1st Qtr: No scoring.
2nd Qtr: VALPARAISO (3-0) Sam Ficken, 26-yard field goal. 69-yard drive, 13 plays. 10:08 left.
CROWN POINT (3-3) Brett Bayer, 31-yard field goal, 49-yard drive, 8 plays 2:31 left.
3rd Qtr: CROWN POINT (6-3) Brett Bayer, 29-yard field goal, 27-yard drive, 8 plays after Reed Stofko fumble recovery. 3:43 left.
VALPARAISO (9-6) Danny Hummel, 34-yard pass from Paul Andrie. 82 yards, seven plays. Bad snap-no XP. 1:10 left.
4th Qtr: VALPARAISO (16-6) Paul Andrie, 1-yard QB sneak. 67-yard drive, 11 plays. Sam Ficken kick. 0:24 left.
 

GAME STATISTICS

RUSHING:

CROWN POINT (32 carries, 122 yards) Cody Bacpon (HB) 18 caries, 53 yards (unofficial season: 252 carries, 1,497 yards);
Pete Parks (FB) 10 carries, 26 yards; Joe Hopman (QB) 6 carries, 43 yards;
VALPARAISO (31 carries, 81 yards, TD, fumble) Andrew Kittridge (HB) 17 carries, 50 yards; (unofficial season: 165 carries, 885 yards); Greg Simms (FB) 7 carries, 34 yards;
Paul Andrie (QB) 5 carries, 2 yards; Danny Marchetti (WR) 1 carry (minus-03 yards); Stephen Simms (HB) 1 carry (minus-2 yards).

PASSING:
CROWN POINT: Joe Hopman (QB) 4 of 10, 38 yards, one intyerception;
VALPARAISO: Paul Andrie (QB) 11 of 17, 136 yards, TD; Jerrick Suiter (WR) 1 of 1, 23 yards.

RECEIVING:
CROWN POINT: Tommy Parks (FB) 1-5 yards; Cody Bacon (HB) 1-2 yards; Austin Atherton (WR) 1-12 yards; Jordan Jurasevich (TE) 1-19 yards;
VALPARAISO: Adam Thoma (TE) 4-43 yards; Andrew Kittridge (HB) 3-60 yards; Danny Hummell (WR) 2-19 yards; Ryan Nix (WR) 1-16; Eric Shannahar (TE) 1-9 yards; Jerrick Suiter (WR) 1-12 yards.

TOTAL YARDS:
CROWN POINT: 160 total yards; nine first downs, one turnover;
VALPARAISO: 240 total yards, 1 first downs, one turnover.
 

VALPARAISO (11-05-2010) When Valparaiso defeated Crown Point 10-7 at Valparaiso in September, you left feeling that CP was the better team. When Valpo beat CP again last Friday, a 16-6 decision that was just 9-6 with 30 seconds left in the game, you didn't drive home with the same impression.

Obviously there's not a lot of difference between the 2010 football squads from Valparaiso and Crown Point. But I have to admit there is a little. Enough so it wasn't a crime against humanity that the Viikings (12-0), not CP, advanced to host MIshawaka (12-0) for the regional title next week.

Crown Point didn't deserve to lose, but they didn't do enough to win, either. It wasn't so much yards gained, hard hits or turnovers. It was that undefeated Valpo, on their home field, was just a little bigger at key spots and a little bolder. The fourth-ranked Vikings made the one big offensive play of a snowy, cold night, a 36-yard pas from senior quarterback Paul Andrie to a leaping 6-foot-4 Danny Hummell late in the third period. It was a near-perfect pass play that defensive back Joel Johnson had no chance to stop.

Until then, the Bulldogs (8-4) looked like winners, leading 6-3 on two field goals from junior kicker Brett Bayer. Even with the score 9-6 ,the Bulldogs had the ball twice in the fourth quarter, but they punted on 4th-and-1 from the Valparaiso 42-yard line with 8:22 to play in the hopes of pinning the Vikings deep in their own territory. Valpo did punt and CP drove to the VHS 48-yard line where Joe Hopman's first down pass was intercepted by junior defensive back Greg Thome at the Viking 37. The home team then drove 63 yards for the final TD, Andrie's quarterback sneak with 24 seconds to play.

For much of the night, this game resembled the 10-7 win by Valpo over CP in September. Both defenses got the best of both offenses and that wasn't a surprise. Valparaiso's top runner, track hurdler Andrew Kittridge, was held to 50 yards on 17 carries by the Crown Point defense, which allowed only 94 yards rushing per game in 11 previous Fridays.

CP's Cody Bacon, who came into the game with 1,444 yards rushing in 11 games, was held to 53 yards on 18 carries by the Viking defense, which allowed just 12.3 points per game all year. Valparaiso was careful all night, throwing passes very quickly into the flat or on rollouts.

"They were blitzing so much we had to do some gap blocking," said Hoffman. "That's why we went to the shotgun formation to get (Andrew) Kittridge on those little counters. But we had to do that because we couldn't man block them so we went to different angles. The empty backfield because we could block them. I had to keep seven up front to block them."

CP was conservative as well. After tossing 177 passes through 11 games, the Bulldogs threw just 10 passes on the road in 35-degree weather. Coach Chip Pettit said that was a product of the opposition and the conditions, which were the coldest of the season.

"We didn't want to come over here," he said, "and get into our spread sets, and not be able to block Number 92 (Valpo star defensive end Adam Peterka, who has 16 QB sacks) and have the ball up for grabs in the air because of the wind. And have the game get away from us before it even started."

"We wanted it to be exactly how it played out. We wanted to keep it a one score game. We took advantage of their fumble to take the lead. They (Valpo) just made a couple of more plays than we did."

The Viking defense blanketed Austin Atherton with taller players and held CP's top receiver (57 catches for 1,090 yards) to just one catch for 12 yards. But Atherton chose not to run back a missed field goal by Valpo star kicker Sam Ficken, letting the bouncing ball dribble into the end zone with the Vikings field goal protection team anchored at the 38-yard line. In the fourth quarter, with CP trailing 9-6, Atherton, who typically is a high-jumping, risk-taking player, called for a fair catch when it appeared he had room to run from his own 33-yard-line. Assuming he was healthy, CP needed Atherton to get the ball and with Valpo's Ficken booming kickoffs into the end zone for touchbacks, CP's record-breaking touchdown open field threat touched the ball only twice all night.

Pettit faced a major choice on the 4th-and-1 at the Valpo 45, trailing 9-6 with 8:22 remaining. The choice to punt was a conservative move the Bulldogs might not have made in better conditions against a lesser foe. And it appeared to work when the Vikings were also forced to punt and Hopman scrambled for a 14-yard gain and a first down at the Valparaiso 48 with five minutes left and the 15-mile-an-hour wind at their backs.

But Hopman, on a roll out to the short side of the field, did not get his pass over Thome (5-10, 165), to Jurasevich (6-3, 205) near the CP sideline with 4:50 to play.

"We had the same scenario in the first half. We wanted to flip the field on them. That was the idea. We did get the ball back and it was about an 18 yard swing. We had the wind at our back."

"I wasn't surprised they punted," said Hoffman. "They pinned us back there before in the second quarter. They had the wind. I wasn't surprised at that at all."

"Crown Point is coached magnificently. I played football with (CP assistant coach Dennis (Gutowski) in grade school and in high school. (Assistant coach Dave) Egofske has been around forever. It's a great staff. This has been a battle. These games have not been easy. To beat a team as well coached and well-prepared as Crown Point, we needed a total team effort and we got it tonight."

"Jurasevich had single coverage," recalled Pettit. "That's a match up we wanted. It just wasn't a great ball (pass). Their kid reacted to the ball better than we did. I'm not sure it was a horrible ball. Their kid reacted to it."

"They have really good athletes in the secondary," he said, "and that can take things away from you."

The Bulldogs may be a year away from DAC and sectional title taking. CP graduates all five starting linebackers, but they will return Hopman, a couple of offensive linemen and tight ends and top kicker Brett Bayer (nine field goals) for next season. Offensive prospects are plentiful and the future seems bright. But the future isn't promised to anyone. And when the team you had to beat beat you just 10-7 and 16-6, it has to be frustrating.

"Sure it is," said Pettit. "But these kids have come a long way. I'm pleased with their effort and their commitment. We played darn good ball tonight. I'm not disappointed in how we played. We just needed to make another play here and there."

SECTIONAL NOTES: Valparaiso's long time coach Mark Hoffman didn't want to compare this team to other top teams he's had in his 33 years of being a high school football head coach.

"If you look at it," said Hoffman, "we just won the close games. We very easily could have lost those 10-7 games. How many teams kick 47-yard field goals? We had to kick two of those to win."

Hoffman was very happy after the game, especially with senior quarterback Paul Andrie (11 of 17, 136 yards), who had been 2-of-13 seven days earlier in a 20-14 sectional semifinal win over Merrillville.

"He was absolutely magnificent tonight," Hoffman beamed. "Paul is great because of Jason Renn (Valpo's QB in 2002). Jason has been coaching him and we hope he's going to become a teacher here. He's getting his engineering degree. He kept telling me 'Coach, they're loading the box, we gotta throw.' Just like a quarterback coach should do. He (Andrie) hit Hummel on that long bomb. That was a perfect play."

The last time CP played for the sectional title on the road, they lost 16-13 at Merrillville on Nov. 4, 2005. CP's 8-4 final record was their best since 2006. Valpo will end the season with a 9-0 record against Duneland Athletic Conference teams.

Had CP won, they'd have faced Mishawaka for the first time since 1991, when the Cavemen defeated CP 14-7. The CP quarterback that night was present-day coach Chip Pettit.