Cowan, Miller, Bulldogs "D" the stars in 31-14 regular season finale win over Michigan City

A USA-365.com Special Report By Mark Smith

Team	1	2	3	4	F
Michigan City (3-6, 1-6)	0	0	14	0	14
CROWN POINT (5-4, 4-3)	14	10	7	0	31

Friday, Oct. 17, 2003, 48 degrees, dry in Crown Point

1st Q: CROWN POINT (7-0) Matt Cowan, 1-yard run. Donny Keiser kick. 76 yards, 10 plays. 5:53 left.
CROWN POINT (14-0) Jordan Rhye, 10-yard interception return (1st career TD). Kesier kick. 4:03 left.

2nd Q: CROWN POINT (21-0) Matt Cowan, 1-yard run. Donny Keiser kick. 68- yard drive, 6 plays. 1:45 left.
CROWN POINT (24-0) Donny Keiser, 37-yard field goal. 4th FG of the season. 20-yard drive, 5 plays. 0:00 left.

3rd Q: CROWN POINT (31-0) Matt Cowan, 24-yard pass (14th TD pass) to Aaron Miller (8thTD) . 55 yards, 6 plays. 8:59 left.
MICHIGAN CITY (31-7) Shawn Lee, 1-yard run. (9th TD). 67 yard drive, 7 plays. 5:33 left.
MICHIGAN CITY (31-14) Shawn Lee, 66-yard run. (10th TD). 66-yard drive, 1 play. 2:50 left.

4th Q: No scoring.

CROWN POINT (10-17-2003) - There isn't always that much to say about a game that unfolds almost exactly as expected. Crown Point raced to a 24-0 half-time lead and won 31-14 over visiting Michigan City Friday in the regular season finale for both schools.

Seniors QB Matt Cowan and Aaron Miller plus a hard charging defensive line that sacked MC passer Matt Buell four times were the stars.

The future is now for Crown Point (5-4, 4-3 DAC), a better than average Bulldog team that lines up against a much better than average Portage (8-1, 5-1 DAC) squad in the most intriguing Class 5A Sectional one quarterfinal.

"We think we'll have to play extremely well to slow down an offense that talented," coach Chip Pettit said of Portage at the end of his third regular season as CP's coach. "But that's the task ahead of us and we're going to do the best we can."

One thing Crown Point does well is rush the quarterback and that paid off in the first quarter Friday after CP had scored on the Bulldogs' first possession to take a 7-0 lead.

On a 3rd-and-8 play, Michigan City quarterback Matt Buell dropped back to pass under a heavy rush from senior Dave Metsch. Buell's nearly blind pass was intercepted by sophomore linebacker Jordan Rhye who easily carried it into the end zone for a game-breaking touchdown with 4:03 still left in the opening quarter.

"Jordan gives us a little speed," Pettit says. "We're young there. By the time they're seniors, those guys are going to be very good players."

The Bulldogs reestablished the combination of two good senior players, Cowan and end Aaron Miller. Cowan was 13 of 17 for 205 yards with Miller, a 6-foot-2 receiver, catching six for 124 yards. Junior end Mike Smith caught another five balls on a cold night for 75 yards. Michigan City simply did not have a defensive scheme that could handle the Bulldogs four and five wide receiver formations.

What the Wolves, who have won only one DAC game in three years, do have is halfback Shawn Lee, who smoked the CP defense for 177 yards on 21 carries. While the truth is, 131 yards came after CP led 31-0, the MC rushing leader did go home with 171 yards.

"I thought he was faster in person than he was on tape," said Petit. "I thought our defense was outstanding in the first half."

Lee (5-9, 185) ran six times inside a 67-yard drive that made it 31-7 with 5:33 left in the third quarter and he then gained 66 yards on one play to make it 31-14 with 2:50 left. The Michigan City senior, who began the game with 885 yards on 144 carries, became the second DAC back (Portage's Antoine Brown is the other) to pass the 1,000-yard mark for the 2003 season.

"I thought we did a good job on him in the first half, " Pettit continued. "He's a stud. But everybody in this league has got one. You've got to have one or you aren't going to score many points."

Realistically, CP's 5-4 represents a very good season.

In a league where you just don't start sophomores, Crown Point has started sophomores in Ryhe and linebacker Vince Lewis, halfback/placekicker Donny Keiser, receiver Tommy Isailovich and guard Marcus Robinson. Other sophs like linebacker Chris Rutherford, safety-QB Matt Jansen and receiver Chris Schillo see the field in every game.

"I see some good things from week to week," says Pettit. "We're flying around (on defense) and doing the best we can. There's some things we do better than others."

The trick will be to do those things next week.

DOG NOTES: CP coach Chip Pettit says that his team might look at what someone like Chesterton (a 21-19 loser) or LaPorte (a 22-21 winner) did against Portage, but you don't invest heavily in mimicking somebody else.

"We'll do a little of that," he said of watching what other DAC teams did against Portage. "But we've just got to do what we do best. We've got to execute."

The Bulldogs halfback Donny Keiser gained 57 yards on 15 carries and booted a 37-yard field goal.

"I think Donny runs the ball well," said Pettit. "He runs hard for a sophomore. But how many yards he gets is dictated by how good a job we do up front. He has a bright future but, as always, it's the boys up front that make the difference."

Michigan City ran the opening kickoff back 59 yards and ran a late first quarter kickoff back 71 yards.

"Our defense was really good in the first half. Our kick return defense was not real good. We had only one possession in the first half where we went three and out so our offense did a good job as well. They sure did run the ball well after half-time, though."

LaPorte completed a late run to the DAC crown by beating first place Portage 22-21 in front of a capacity crowd in LaPorte Friday. Both the Indians and Slicers finish the year at 6-1 in league play. Chesterton, a surprise 7-3 loser at Merrillville, ends up 5-2 and Crown Point stands at 4-3 and finishes fourth. This marks the first time in their 11 years in the DAC that CP has finished in the first division twice in a row. They were 5-2 and the second place team last year.

Crown Point played in front of another disappointing crowd. On a night that got sharply colder as the game progressed, CP had about 1,200 folks in the home grandstand. MC brought less than 100 fans.

Senior Dave Metsch suffered a shoulder injury and did not play the second half, although the score might have had something to do with that. Junior reserve linebacker Nick Parkinson suffered a foot or ankle injury late in the game and limped off the field afterwards. CP is 4-1 at home this season and 9-2 at home in two years.