9-10-2011

Friday, September 9, 2011,  67 degrees & cloudy, Duneland Athletic Conference at ST. JOHN, IN.

1st Qtr:  LAKE CENTRAL (6-0) David Yancey, 48-yard run. 8 plays, 80-yard drive. 3:36 min. time of possession (TOP). Bradley Uzubell kick failed. 8:19 left.
2nd Qtr: LAKE CENTRAL (13-0) Yancey 72-yard run. 2 plays, 81-yard drive. 0:52 sec. TOP. Uzubell kick. 1:33 left.
LAKE CENTRAL (20-0) Dylan Morang, 52-yard pass from Yancey. 2 plays, 50-yard drive. 0:39 sec. TOP. Uzubell kick. 11:50 left.
CROWN POINT  (10-7) Jake Lindeman, 13-yard run. 15 plays, 69-yard drive. 6:34 min. TOP. Brett Bayer kick. 5:09 left.
3rd Qtr: LAKE CENTRAL (26-13) Tyler Szeczecina, 25-yard interception return. Uzubell kick. 5:19 left. 
4th Qtr: No scoring.

 RUSHING:
LAKE CENTRAL (40 carries, 268 yards, 2 TDs, 1 fumble) David Yancey (QB) 13-176 yards, 2 TDs, fumble; Drew Hollingsworth (RB) 12-58 yards; Chase Fieldhouse (RB) 7-23 yards; Riley Arvanitis (RB) 7-18 yards; Alec Olund (WR) 1-(-5 yards).

CROWN POINT (29 carries, 107 yards, TD, 0 fumble) Jake Lindeman 17-55 yards; Tristan Peterson 8-42 yards; Pete Parks 3-11 yards; Jake Jatis 1-(-1 yard).

PASSING:
LAKE CENTRAL: David Yancey (QB) 3 of 4, 62 yards, TD.
CROWN POINT: Joe Hopman (QB) 3 of 13, 32 yards, INT; Jake Jatis (QB) 0 of 3, 0 yards.

RECEIVING:
LAKE CENTRAL: Dylan Morang (WR) 1-52 yards, TD; Chase Fieldhouse (RB) 1-6 yards; Alec Olund (WR) 1-4 yards.
CROWN POINT: Tyler Wells (WR) 1-26 yards; Zach Plesac (WR) 1-2 yards; Braxton Rice (WR) 1-8 yards.

TOTAL YARDS:
LAKE CENTRAL: 324 yards, 14 first downs, 1 fumble lost.
CROWN POINT: 144 yards, 8 first downs, 1 interception.

ST. JOHN (9-09-2011) In a game where much of Northwest Indiana was watching, the Lake Central Indians more than lived up to the hype surrounding their first three season victories, as they controlled both sides of the ball in a convincing 26-7 win over the visiting Crown Point Bulldogs.

Crown Point, which was rated in the top-20 of Class 5A going into the game, was shocked by two first quarter long touchdown runs by LC junior quarterback David Yancey (5-10, 200), who broke touchdown runs of 48 and 72 yards to put the Indians up 13-0 after one quarter. Yancey connected on a beautiful 52-yard play-action pass play to Dylan Morang for a 20-0 lead 10-seconds into the second quarter, and the Bulldogs found themselves in a deep hole. It was the first time this season that CP had fallen behind by three touchdowns.

Crown Point made their expected move to get back into the game with a sustained 15-play drive on the ensuing series, marching 69-yards, collecting 5 first downs and converting three of three 4th down attempts, including the run by Jake Lindeman on 4th and 3 from 13 yards out for a touchdown that brought CP to within 13 points at 20-7 with 5:09 left in the second quarter. 

Crown Point then tried an on-side kick in a bold attempt to get back into the game, but the kick was recovered by LC at their own 49 yard line. On 2nd and 11, Bulldog sophomore linebacker Brendan McKinnon fell on a loose ball following a Yancey to Chase Fieldhouse attempted backfield exchange, and Crown Point took over on the LC 46-yard line with 4:20 left in the first half and an opportunity to close the gap to one score before halftime. The Bulldogs picked up a first down and advanced to the LC 28-yard line before the drive stalled and turned the ball over to the Indians on downs with 1:15 left in the first half.

The Bulldogs had a couple of opportunities to close the gap early in the third quarter. Trailing 20-7, the Bulldogs returned the opening second half kick-off 15-yards to their own 30-yard line and picked up a couple of first downs en route to the LC 32-yard line before the drive stalled. The CP defense held LC to three and out, but the Indians' punt pushed CP back to their own 17-yard line. Then on 2nd and 8, Crown Point quarterback Joe Hopman was under pressure from the LC defensive rush and he threw an ill-advised pass right into the waiting hands of Indians senior linebacker Tyler Szeczecina (5-10, 180), who ran the interception back 25-yards virtually untouched for LC's final score, and effectively nailing the lid on the coffin for any further CP comeback. Indeed, the remainder of the third and fourth quarters were a defensive stalemate and neither side's offense scored in the second half.

The fact that LC placekicker Bradley Uzubell missed two extra point kicks in four attempts proved in the end to not have any impact on the final outcome of the game.

DOG NOTES:  The Indians' win moves LC into a three-way tie for first place in the Duneland Athletic Conference with Valparaiso and Chesterton, all with 2-0 conference records. Valparaiso beat Michigan City 38-21 and Chesterton beat LaPorte 31-7. 

CP now leads the all-time LC series 30-24-1.

Sophomore quarterback Jake Jatis (6-4, 195) played the final 1-1/2 quarters in relief of Hopman, who was only 3 of 13 passing in the first 2-1/2 quarters against the stubborn LC defense. Hopman had an inexplicably 'off night' for the Bulldogs, with many passes underthrown to, or thrown behind his intended receivers. Jatis seemed to have had the opposite problem on a couple of his passes, in which he overthrew his intended targets. Jatis finished the night 0 for 3 passing and one carry for a loss of one yard.  It was that kind of night for the Bulldogs.

Next Friday (Sept. 16), the Bulldogs (2-2, 0-2 DAC) go on the road to Portage (1-3, 1-1 DAC), who surprised the Pirates 17-16 at Merrillville Friday night. Hashim Simpson has 122 yards rushing to lead Portage offensively and Alvin Best returned a kickoff 94 yards for one of the Indians' scores. Simpson's 53-yard run late in the game set up a 25-yard winning field goal from sophomore Nathan Johnson. Portage junior QB Rashaan Coleman was only 2-of 14 passing for 34 yards, but he rushed for 110 yards. Coleman was filling in at QB for Chris Knies, who was knocked out of the game last week with a shoulder injury. Merrillville QB Jake Raspopovich had a chance to rally his team late as he did the week before at CP, but his pass to Courtney Berry came up two yards short.

Internet radio USA-365.com welcomed a new voice to the microphone in the CP-LC game Friday night as Frank Sprankle joined veteran announcer/producer Dave Woodworth in the press box. We welcome Frank to our broadcast team and look forward to his contributions throughout the remainder of this 2011 high school football season!

Visitors can listen to the USA-365.com high school football audio archives for 2011 games at http://www.usa-365.com/CP_Football_MP3_2011_Audio_Archives.

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Revised: September 10, 2011 .