Slicers cut-off Bulldogs' playoff run at Regional, win 28-21 in overtime

A USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith
11-11-2006

Friday, November 10, 2006,  41 degrees and raining in LaPorte, Class 5A Regional Championship

1st Qtr:  (LaPORTE 7-0)  Airrence Shark, 20-yard TD run.  44-yard drive, 6 plays.  Keegan Parker kick.  7:39 left.
2nd Qtr:  (LaPORTE 14-0)  Airrence Shark, 10-yard TD run. 61-yard drive, 9 plays.  Keegan Parker kick.  9:48 left.
(CROWN POINT 6-14)  Matt Ernest, 6-yard TD pass from Blake Mascarello.  54-yard drive, 11 plays.  Kick hit cross bar.  0:46 left.
3rd Qtr:  (CROWN POINT 14-14)  Matt Ernest, 34-yard pass from Mascarello.  83-yard drive, 7 plays.  Zach Cecich two-point pass from Mascarello.  2:11 left.
4th Qtr:  (CROWN POINT 21-14)  Matt Ernest, 86-yard TD pass from Mascarello.  93-yard drive, 4 plays.  Michael Lipton kick.  8:26 left.
(LaPORTE 21-21)  Marcus Phelps, 72-yard TD pass from Adam Creed.  74-yard drive, 2 plays.  Keegan Parker kick.  7:27 left.
OVERTIME:  (LaPORTE 28-21)  Airrence Shark, 3 yard run (4th and goal).  Keegan Parker kick.

TOTAL YARDS: 
CP - 257,  LaPORTE - 207

FIRST DOWNS:
CP - 14,  LaPORTE - 11

TURNOVERS:
CP - 2,  LaPORTE - 2

PENALTIES:
CP - 4-32 yards;  LaPorte - 2-15 yards

PASSING:
LaPorte - Adam Creed (QB) 1-8, 72 yards, one TD, 2 INTs;   
CP - Blake Mascarello (QB) 7-20, 168 yards, 3 TDs, one INT.

RECEIVING:
LaPorte - Marcus Phelps (WR) 1-72 yards, TD;  
CP - Matt Ernest (WR) 4-144 yards, 3 TDs; Ryan Forney (WR) 1-26, Tommy Parks (FB) 1 (-1) Jon Sertich (HB) 1 (-1).

RUSHING:
LaPorte (38-153, 3 TDs)  Airrence Shark (HB) 25-123 yards, 3 TDs; Darren Kincaid (FB) 4-16 yards, Carlton Austin (HB) 3-8 yards; Bryce Holland (WR) 1-4 yards; Adam Creed (QB) 3 (-6); Marcus Phelps (WR) 2 (-8).
CROWN POINT (38-141, 0 TDS, one fumble)  Jon Sertich (HB) 18-52; Blake Mascarello (QB) 10 (-1); Russell Chick (HB) 5-13 yards; Ryan Forney (WR) 4-19 yards; Tommy Parks (FB) 1-6.

LaPORTE, IN (11-10-2006)  Crown Point's undefeated football team should have won Friday night at LaPorte.  But certainly, they should have lost, as they did.  Bad first quarter weather favored LaPorte, but a weather-related second quarter delay unquestionably favored Crown Point.

Crown Point (12-1) should have won the game in regulation time 24-21, but LaPorte (10-3) should have won in overtime, as they did 28-21 in Friday's wild 5A Regional championship game in the rain in LaPorte County.

"It was a great game," said coach Crown Point coach Chip Pettit.  "I was proud of how our guys came back and made plays to get back into the game.  We certainly had chances to win.  But you've got to give them (LaPorte) credit."

Slicer all-time leading rusher Airrence Shark broke a three-yard run around right end on fourth down in the overtime period to break a 21-21 tie.  In Crown Point's four plays from the 10-yard line, Blake Mascarello threw three incompletions. Senior receiver Matt Ernest later said he dropped the third one, although it appeared to be overthrown.  On fourth down, Mascarello was sacked by LaPorte's star lineman Darren Kincaid, igniting a wild celebration in the center of the muddy field, the Slicers winning the school's first regional football title.

"From the time we played Crown Point before," said LaPorte coach Bob Schellinger, "we have played a lot better on defense."

Pettit agreed, but pointed to one player.

"Kincaid was killing us," he said.  "We couldn't block him all night."

But the game shouldn't have gone to overtime.  LaPorte received a short punt at the Crown Point 37-yard-line with 2:21 to go in the game.  But Adam Creed's off balance pass was intercepted by Ernest, who ran 45 yards to the LaPorte 31.  CP fullback Tommy Parks ran for a first down at the 18-yard line and a 12-yard pass from Mascarello to Ernest moved the ball to the LaPorte 6-yard-line.  Two plays later, with two seconds left, CP sophomore soccer player Michael Lipton was called on for a 21-yard field goal, basically a long extra point.  After a LaPorte timeout, Lipton, who had four field goals this season and booted the game-winning point in CP's 14-13 overtime win over Portage, pulled the kick wide left, sending the game to overtime.

But CP was lucky to get to that point.  Weather conditions changed wildly on this night, when two other Northwest Indiana playoff games were postponed and two others were delayed.  At 3:00 p.m. Friday, the mid-November temperatures were in the 50s and there was no rain.  But by kickoff, a 20-mile-an-hour north wind was blowing light rain.  LaPorte won the toss and deferred their option to the second half.  Crown Point, feeling they could move the ball with the wind, chose to receive.  But the Bulldogs could not gain a first down and the rain intensified.

LaPorte received a short punt at the CP 45 and they quickly started feeding the ball to senior running back Airrence Shark (25 carries, 123 yards) who gained all 45 yards on six carries, including a 20-yard TD run.

After the ensuing kickoff, CP gained one first down but had to punt again when Mascarello slipped and fell twice while trying to pass. LaPorte got the ball at the LaPorte 39-yard-line.  Again they charged to the goal line using Kincaid (6-0, 242), a defensive tackle, as a blocking back for Shark against the smallish CP front eight.

When Shark's 10-yard run ended a 63-yard drive and with 9:28 left in the half, CP trailed 14-0, the first time they'd been down by two touchdowns all year.  Both teams exchanged punts as the rain intensified until CP mounted what would end up being a two hour drive.  Before the Bulldogs could call a 4th-and-5 play from the 17-yard line, on-field game officials noted huge lightning strikes in the south sky and ordered everyone out of the stadium.  The huge delay would be almost 90 minutes.  It was an act of divine intervention that made this a game.

"Thank God for the delay because we were getting rolled out there," said Pettit.  "We were getting killed and, after the delay, we came back."

There was some question as to whether the game should have been resumed, but when play resumed on the muddy field at about 9:15 p.m., the rain had eased and the wind died down.  By the fourth quarter, which began after 10 p.m., the temperatures had plummeted to near 30 degrees, but the wind had died down completely.  The decision to stay and play was the correct one.  Pettit had no complaints and he congratulated LaPorte athletic director Ed Gillilund for how he handled the delay situation afterwards.

On the first play after the long delay, Mascarello scrambled for a key first down.  Four plays later, Ernest made a spectacular one-handed catch in the end zone and the score was 14-6 at the half.  Lipton's extra point attempt hit the crossbar.

Halftime was cut to just three minutes and CP, which had defeated LaPorte 42-41 on Sept. 29, tried to turn the tide.  Ryan Forney fumbled a short punt at the LaPorte 23 but CP did mount a drive from their own 17 yard-line.  Mascarello scrambled for 19 yards and hit a 26-yard pass to Forney at the LaPorte 35.  On 2nd-and-9 from the 34, Mascarello launched a perfect wide side fade pass to Ernest, who beat LaPorte Diondre Lewis and raced to the end zone to make it 14-12.  Mascarello's two-point pass to Zach Cecich tied the game 14-14 on the last play of the third quarter.

So now after 10:00 p.m., with perhaps 1/3 of the 5,000 fans who originally attended the game, in far different conditions from what had existed at the 7 p.m. kickoff, the game would be decided.  Crown Point's defense was able to stop Shark, who gained 281 yards against them in the Sept. 29 game, on two carries early in the fourth period, forcing a punt.  Mascarello, who had an impressive second half despite the conditions, fired another long fade route to Ernest, who beat LaPorte's Lewis again and raced away for an 86-yard TD and a 21-14 Bulldog lead with 8:26 left.

But Creed, who completed only one pass all night, fired a high-arching pass to his top receiver Marcus Phelps towards the visitors sidelines.  Ernest, also CP's top defensive back, appeared to go for the interception and missed, allowing Phelps to complete a 72-yard scoring play to tie the game with 7:27 left.

The fourth quarter was poorly played.  Defensive end Drew Thompson intercepted a Mascarello screen pass with 5:56 to go but CP's Michael Mohr intercepted Creed with 4:11 left.  Ernest then made his interception which set up Lipton's last second miss.

"We've won a lot of games over the last two years," said Pettit, who asked his players to speak to reporters after the game.  "These boys have won a lot of times.  This is part of it, too.  This is a lesson.  They have to know how to handle this, too."

DOG TALES:  Crown Point's players handled the loss in an unusually mature fashion afterwards.  Most teams dissolve into dismay and tears on the field.  Oddly, the senior players could be seen trying to console the younger ones, who have eligibility left.  Usually, it's the other way around.

Sometimes injuries tell you that your season is over.  When Jon Sertich left the game in the first quarter, those on the sidelines assumed he had an equipment problem.  After the game, it was learned that Sertich had suffered a low-grade separated shoulder in the first few plays.  Sertich finished the game with 52 yards on 18 carries.  Fullback Tommy Parks carried the ball just 10 times in four post-season games, to some extent because of a nagging back injury.  The fact that CP played two post-season overtime games against teams they defeated during the regular season in regulation time also indicated they were about to bow out.

LaPorte won even though QB Adam Creed completed 1-of-7 passes for 72 yards and two interceptions.  LaPorte's Airrence Shark became the fourth Duneland Athletic Conference (DAC) running back to reach the 2,000-yard mark with 123 yards on 25 carries. Shark had carried 349 times for 2,015 yards.

CP was finally able to bottle up Shark (6-0, 217) in the second half after he gained 88 yards on 10 carried in the first 18 minutes.

"Our defense made some adjustments," Pettit explained.  "We went back to the three man line and we changed our angles.  I thought we did a good job after halftime.  We had chances to win the games.  Give LaPorte credit."

Crown Point had gone through a lightning delay earlier this season at Valparaiso, but LaPorte didn't.

"I have never been in a game that was delayed like that," said Shark, who was exhausted in the post-game celebration.  "Never.  But look at the scoreboard.  That's all I can say."

The 10 victories is the most in LaPorte varsity football history.  CP's 12 wins is also a program high.

LaPorte will be the underdog next Friday in the 5A Northern Semistate game at Carmel (11-2).  The Greyhounds blasted Homestead 21-0 Friday.  Carmel, which also would have hosted CP had the Bulldogs won, has not allowed a touchdown in four playoff games.

Lowell's regional championship game with undefeated 4A No. 2 Concord (12-0) as well as Griffth's 3A regional home game with Frankfort were both postponed by heavy rain and lightning in Lake County until Saturday at 4:30 p.m.

Crown Point has never played a regional game at home.  In 1988, the Bulldogs won 28-27 at Mishawaka before they lost their only semistate appearance 23-7 at Marion.  In 1991, Crown Point lost the regional title game 14-7 at Mishawaka.

The Bulldogs end the season with several streaks.  They have won 18 regular season games in a row, 14 DAC games in a row and 11 home games in a row.

ON THE RADIO & INTERNET:  WWLO, 89.1 FM and Internet Radio (www.Indiana-Sports.com and www.USA-365.com) will switch over to cover the Bulldogs through the high school boys and girls basketball seasons.  Our first broadcast of the new season will be Saturday, Nov. 18 as the Lady Bulldogs host Warsaw.  The pregame show starts Saturday night at 7:15 p.m., CST and the tip-off is at 7:30 p.m., CST.

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Revised: November 15, 2006 .