Mascarello engineers Bulldogs' 4th Qtr rally to tie, then win 20-17 in OT over Merrillville

A USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith

9-01-2007

Friday, August 31, 2007,  70 degrees, clear & dry at CROWN POINT, IN

1st Qtr:  No Scoring.
2nd Qtr: MERRILLVILLE (7-0) Jonothan Lee, 15-yard pass from Dolapo Macarthy.  47-yard drive, 5 plays.  Ryan Stokes kick.  0:21 left.
3rd Qtr:  No Scoring.
4th Qtr:  MERRILLVILLE (14-0) Jonothan Lee, 59-yard pass-run play from Dolopo Macarthy.  72 yard drive, 4 plays.  Ryan Stokes kick.  6:21 left.
CROWN POINT (6-14) Zach Cecich, 56-yard pass from Blake Mascarello. 75 yard drive, 6 plays.  Kick wide.   5:01 left.
CROWN POINT (14-14) Zach Cecich, 11-yard pass from Blake Mascarello. 52-yard drive, 6 plays. 2-pt. run by Blake Mascarello.  1:53 left.
1st OVERTIME:  MERRILLVILLE (17-14) Ryan Stokes, 21-yard field goal.
CROWN POINT (20-17) Blake Mascarello, 10 yard run.

RUSHING:
MERRILLVILLE (22 carries, 116 yards, 0 TDs, 0 fumbles)
Ronneal Williams (HB) 9-31 yards; Roosevelt Williams (HB) 7-67, Dolapo Macarthy (QB) 6-18

CROWN POINT (39 carries, 204 yards, 1 fumble)
Russell Chick (TB) 31-162 yards,  Blake Mascarello (QB)  7-10 (2 sacks - 12);  Zach Cecich (TE) 1-32 yards)

PASSING:
MERRILLVILLE -  Dolapo Macarthy (QB) 13-33, 158 yards, 2 TDs. 0 INTs;
CROWN POINT - Blake Mascarello (QB) 14-28, 193 yards, 0 TDs, 1 INTs.

RECEIVING:
MERRILLVILLE - Clay Cooper (WR) 3-38, Jonothan Lee (WR) 7-100, 2 TDs; Ronneal Williams (HB) 1-5; Demarrio Richardson (HB) 1 /-1; Jourdan Thomas (FB) 1-16;
CROWN POINT - Zach Cecich (TE) 4-102 yards, TD; Ron Burton (WR) 4-45 yards; Mike Kozlowski (FB) 1-42, Matt Osojnicki  (WR) 1-9, Russell Chick (HB) 4-49

TOTAL YARDS:
MERRILLVILLE (274 yards, 11 first downs and 0 turnovers)
CROWN POINT (397 yards, 15 first downs and two turnovers)

TURNOVERS:
MERRILLVILLE (0) fumble; CROWN POINT (2) 1 interception.

CROWN POINT (8-31-2007) -  Just amazing.  Truly amazing.  The  Crown Point Bulldogs should have lost to Hobart.  They should have lost to Merrillville.  But they just couldn't let it go.  After two undefeated seasons in 2005 and 2006, the question of how good this year's CP team is a very valid one.  In all three games so far, the Bulldogs have trailed in the fourth quarter.  That's not a blueprint for a successful season.  But there's certainly no question that they can come back in the fourth quarter and take anybody's victory away in the dark of the night.

No team had reason to be surer of victory than undefeated 5A No. 3 Merrillville after Dolapo Macarthy's 57-yard pass run play to Jonothan Lee gave the Pirates a 14-0 lead with 6:21 to play into the game on Friday night.

But Northwest Indiana's premier rivalry saw another chapter written in week three of the 2007 season.  Crown Point's offense, unable to finish all night long, struck twice in the final six minutes to tie the game and got a 10-yard run from Blake Mascarello in overtime to pull out a remarkable 20-17 upset win over the 5A No. 3 Pirates.

"The history of this rivalry," said coach Chip Pettit, "would suggest that the game was going to go down to the wire.  We talk about that a lot with our kids.  How we're going to play 48 minutes of football and you've got to make the plays at the end."

"Down 14-0, it looked bleak.  But I think we've got a bunch of believers around here.  Pettit added, "I thought offensively we played well all night.  Especially the offensive line and the backs.  But we had a little trouble handling the football."

Merrillville (2-1, 0-1 DAC), coming off wins 17-10 over Warren Central and 14-6 over Griffith, scored on passes of 15 yards and 57 yards from junior QB Dolapo Macarthy (6-6, 195) to senior Jonothan Lee.  The longest pass was a simple toss to the wide receiver behind the line.  Lee broke a tackle and ran away from the CP defense.  That seemed to be a backbreaker.  Some in the CP crowd actually headed for the parking lot with the home team down 14 points midway through the fourth quarter.

But Crown Point (2-1, 1-0 DAC) then mounted a comeback which stretched believability.  On a 3rd-and-9 with 5:12 minutes left, CP QB Blake Mascarello rolled out and tossed a swing pass to Russell Chick for a 13-yard gain. Three plays later on a 3rd-and-10, Mascarello lobbed a high-arching pass to the wide side of the field where tight end Zach Cecich (6-3, 220) made a leaping back-pedaling grab, broke a tackle, barely avoided stumbling to the ground and broke free for a spectacular 57-yard touchdown.  Even though kicker Michael Lipton pulled the extra point wide, CP was still alive, down 14-6 with 5:01 left.

Then, Merrillville may have made a tactical error.  After Ronneal Williams ran for two yards to start the clock, Macarthy threw an incompletion, which stopped the clock.  On 3rd-and-9, the Merrillville QB was sacked for a seven yard loss by CP linebacker Andrew Szymborski, forcing a punt.  CP's Russell Chick returned the boot nine yards to the Bulldog 48-yard-line with 3:23 left.

From there Mascarello fired a pass between the hashmarks that appeared to be behind Cecich.  Running towards the home side line, the CP tight end reached behind his back with his left hand and grabbed the ball before running over two defenders to the Merrillville 21.  Two runs by Chick moved the ball to the 11-yard-line.  After two incompetions, Mascarello lifted another high-arching toss into the right-handed corner of the end zone.  Merrillville defensive back Demarrio Richardson, who may have broken up as many as six passes on the night, fell down while bumping with the larger CP player.  Cecich pulled down his second TD with 1:53 left in the game.

"Cecich is a bull," said Merrillville coach Zac Wells.  "He's got great hands.  He's got a really big body.  The pass he caught (the first TD)... I've seen Demarrio go up and get that ball maybe 40 times since he's been here, over three years.  But Cecich is so big.  He's the guy to throw it to.  I'd do the same thing."

"That's all him," said Mascarello later.  "I just know if I can get it out there, he'll make the catch.  I thought we were moving the ball all night, but we just kept making stupid mistakes. Fumbles. Interceptions.  I called the wrong play a couple of times.  We finally just started doing what we can do.  I just throw the ball up to let him use his hands and his athletic ability. That's just him and our line giving me time."

CP needed a two-point conversion and they did not have to dream it up.  Mascarello faked a rollout to his right and wheeled back to his left on a 'naked' bootleg.  A run to the flag with absolutely no blocking.

"We had that play in Tuesday," said Pettit.  "We worked on that all week.  If we were in a situation that needed a two-point conversion, that was the play we were going to run.  They knew that."

Mascarello, who is hardly a speedster, fooled all 11 Pirates into taking at least one step to the right.  The senior baseball pitcher then raced to the flag for two points to tie the game.
It worked perfectly.

Defensive line coach Bob Komara highlighted the risk.

"That play requires the defense to all pursue and they pursue (Merrillville) very well.  It's a gamble because if one (Merrillville) kid is sleeping and doesn't pursue, he stops it easily.  But they all did what they were supposed to do."

Merrillville got the ball back for two late first downs, but the CP pass rush hurried Macarthy into incompletions and the Pirates had to punt one last time.  CP ran out the final 30 seconds to send the game to overtime.

In the extra period, Ronneal Williams gained five yards on first down from the Pirates' double tight end, three running back formation.  On second down, out of the same set, Williams was stopped for a one-yard gain.  On 3rd-and-4, Macarthy's pass to the flag was wide of the intended receiver and Ryan Stokes came on to boot his second field goal of the season.

CP got the ball on the OT possession and Mascarello dropped back to pass on first down.  With all the receivers to the right of the formation, Mascarello ran around left end 10 yards for the game-winning TD.

"That was designed to go to (Cecich), but they had about four guys on him," Blake said.  "I figured if everybody was over there (to the right) that there couldn't be anybody over here.  That wasn't a planned play."

Wells explained why Merrillville spread the field and threw the ball even with the lead.

"If you can't make them honor you on the edge," said the Pirate coach, " you can't run the ball.  Those plays (quick passes to wide receivers behind the line of scrimmage) make them honor us on the edge."

"We're getting more consistent as the weeks go on, but we need to be more consistent on offense," said Zac Wells.  "Did we throw the ball 30 times?  We only threw it 24 the first two weeks.  We took a couple of shots down the field.  But those are safe plays."

"This is a tough loss, but we'll learn from situations like this.  There's ups and downs.  We talk about that to the kids all the time.  You don't win these games until you are in these games.  I'd rather this happen now in August than later on."

It's not good to trail in the fourth quarter every week.  But it is good to rally to win in the fourth quarter every week.

"We just kept doing what coach Pettit told us to do," said Cecich, CP's basketball center, referring to almost 400 yards gained against Northwest Indiana's top defense.  "We were making so many mistakes.  We were stopping ourselves."

The Bulldogs seemed a little stunned at a second consecutive home-field last second victory.  Either that or they were just adopting the calm demeanor of their coaches.

"This is pretty exciting," said Cecich.  "This is fun.  It's Friday night."

DOG NOTES:  This is the sixth consecutive regular season victory for Crown Point over Merrillville.  The Pirates have won two of the last three playoff matchups between the two schools.  CP now leads the all-time series 31-30-1.

Crown Point may have lost to Lowell (3-0) in the season opener, but they are, as of yet, the only team to score on them.  The Devils blasted Kankakee Valley 38-0 Friday night for their second consecutive shutout.  CP defeated Morton 3-0 on Aug, 24.  Russell Chick scored two first quarter touchdowns against Lowell on Aug. 17 before the Red Devils rallied to beat CP 23-14.

Merrillville junior QB Dolapo Macarthy was 13-of-33 for 158 yards, two TDs and no interceptions.  But he may have missed a half dozen open plays that were very makable.

"Dolapo is still young," said Wells.  "He missed some reads.  He took his share of butt-chewings tonight.  He's still a new QB (he was wide receiver as a freshman).  This is only the second time he's ever seen that defense.  And he only played a half against them last year.  That is a very good CP defense.  We thought their front eight were as good as we've seen."

Merrillville is still without senior offensive tackle Steve Lohse (6-6, 320) who has not played a down yet.

"He wasn't wearing an ankle brace in practice," explained Wells.  "So a twisted ankle that should have held him out for one week knocked him out for four weeks.  We're pretty bumped up.  We were before we played all these teams."