Bulldogs block 3 punts en route to 35-21 lightning - delayed win at Valparaiso

A USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith

9-23-2006

Friday, September 22, 2006,  71 degrees, light rain at Valparaiso, DAC

1st Qtr:  CROWN POINT (7-0)  Jon Sertich, 9-yard run.  5 plays after blocked punt by Tommy Parks at the Valpo 26-yard line.
Michael Lipton kick. 7:43 left.
CROWN POINT (14-0)  Jon Sertich, 47-yard punt return.  Lipton kick.  2:49 left.
2nd Qtr:  VALPARAISO (7-14)  Nick Rodich, 31-yard pass from Alex Sarkisian.  73 yard drive, 9 plays.  Colin Krupchak kick.  6:54 left.
CROWN POINT (21-7)  Zach Cecich, 63-yard pass from Blake Mascarello.  75 yard drive, 3 plays.  Lipton kick.  5:51 left. 
3rd Qtr:  CROWN POINT (28-7)  Tommy Parks, 2-yard run.  2 plays after blocked punt by Tommy Parks at the Valpo 7-yard line. Lipton kick.  8:26 left.

VALPO (14-28)  Nick Rodich, 24-yard pass from Alex Sarkisian.  74 yard drive, 7 plays.  Krupchak kick. 3:20 left.
4th Qtr:  VALPARAISO (21-28)  Hollis Ballard, 9-yard run.  43-yard drive, 6 plays.  Krupchak kick.  11:17 left.
CROWN POINT (35-21)  Zach Cecich, 9-yard pass from Blake Mascarello, 11-yard drive, 3 plays after blocked punt by Matt Osojnicki at the Valpo 17-yard line.  Lipton kick.  7:03 left.
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GAME TOTALS (Unofficial Numbers)

TOTAL YARDS:  VALPRAISO - 221,  CROWN POINT - 324
FIRST DOWNS:  VALPARAISO - 17,  CROWN POINT - 7
TURNOVERS:  VALPARAISO 1;  CROWN POINT 0

RUSHING:
VALPO (24-29 yards, one TD)  Hollis Ballard (HB) 11-46 yards, TD;  Eric Jackson (HB) 7-23; 
Alex Sarkisian (QB) 5 (-37) 4 sacks; Zack Lilovich (HB) 1 (-1)
CROWN POINT (32-178 yards, one TD)  Jon Sertich (HB) 22-178 yards; Tommy Parks (FB) 4-14;
Russell Chick (HB) 3-6, Blake Mascarello (QB) 3 (-20 yards)

PASSING:
CP - Blake Mascarello (QB) 8-17, 146 yards, 2 TDs;   
VALPO - Alex Sarkisian (QB) 20-33, 192 yards.

RECEIVING: 
CP:  Matt Ernest (WR) 4-62 yards; Tommy Parks (FB) 1-1;  Zach Cecich (TE) 2-74, 2 TDs;  Jon Sertich (HB) 1-9.   

VALPO:  Hollis Ballard (HB) 6-38, Scott Rastovic (WR) 5-44, Ryan Pylipow (WR) 2-17, Eric Jackson (HB) 1 (-3); 
Travis Allen (WR) 1-7;  Nick Rodich (WR) 5-61, 2 TDs.

CROWN POINT (9-22-2006) -  From strictly an entertainment standpoint, you couldn't beat it.  I'm not sure either head coach loved Crown Point's 35-21 rain-delayed win at Valparaiso Friday night.  But if you paid to get in, you got 56 points, only one turnover, a 35-minute lightning delay, three blocked kicks and four touchdown passes.  Come on.  What more do you want?

"It was good team win," said CP coach Chip Pettit.  "I thought with the weather delay, our kids handled that well.  They came back focused and they didn't miss a step.  That's always a concern.  But we came back focused.  When you take a break like that, everyone kind of forgets why they're here."

Crown Point (6-0, 4-0 Duneland Athletic Conference) blocked three punts and the Bulldogs' senior Jon Sertich had two punt returns of over 40 yards, one for a TD.  Valparaiso fumbled one kick and let a couple of others roll, losing a lot of yardage.

"I thought our special teams were outstanding," said coach Chip Pettit. "I thought (Tommy) Parks, (Matt) Osojnicki, our whole punt return team was outstanding.  I thought our kickoff coverage was good.  I thought we could have done better (offensively).  I thought we stopped ourselves sometimes."

"That's about as good as our offensive can play," said Valparaiso coach Mark Hoffman about his side's repeated rallies from an early 14-0 deficit.  "And that's probably about as well as our defense can play.  We've had some problems on defense, but special teams had been a strength.  We work on that a lot.  I don't know what happened there tonight."

Even though the score narrowed to 28-21 early in the fourth quarter, it's probably not accurate to say these two teams were exactly equal.  Valpo (17) rolled up more first downs than CP (7)  but Crown Point out gained the home team 324-221.  Still, a Valparaiso (2-4, 1-3 DAC) upset was very possible if they could have gotten any decent play on special teams.

CP, which won its 15th regular season game in a row, got going early when senior Tommy Parks blocked a punt by Valpo's Matt Lasky, with the bal spinning out of bounds at the Valparaiso 26-yard line.  Three plays later on 4th-and-9, CP quarterback Blake Mascarello fired a 17-yard pass to senior receiver Matt Ernest.  On the next play, Sertich, who carried 22 times for 178 yards, broke two tackles on a 9-yard TD run for a 7-0 Crown Point lead with just 2:34 gone in the game.

As the Bulldogs lined up to kickoff, the rain, which fell lightly at the opening kickoff, intensified.  Lightning danced in the south sky, convincing game officials to send the teams off the field and ask the fans to get out of the metal bleachers.  After a 35-minute delay, Valpo did not gain a yard in three plays and amazingly, Parks blocked Lasky' punt attempt again, with the ball being downed at the Valpo 22-yard line.  CP did not score on that possession, but Valpo was backed up in their own territory and Valpo's third punt attempt was run back by Sertich 47-yards down the visitors sidelines for the 14-0 score with 2:49 left in the opening quarter.

Valparaiso came right back with a 73-yard drive that ended when CP transfer Nick Rodich, playing wide reciever for Valpo, lined up in the slot and ran past the Bulldog defense to catch a 31-yard touchdown pass from VHS junior quarterback Alex Sarkisian.

After an exchange of second quarter punts, Crown Point lined up with tight end Zach Cecich on the short side of the field.  Cecich, a 225-pound junior, ran past the Valpo defense and caught a well thrown pass from Mascarello for a runaway 63-yard TD at 5:51 minutes before halftime.  CP should have scored at the end of the second quarter, but they allowed the clock to run as they tried three running plays after getting a final minute first down inside the Valpo 10-yard line.  The Bulldogs lined up for a field goal with six seconds left, but a bad snap forced Ryan Forney to run and he was tackled by Valpo's Tyler Doane to end the half.

In the third period, CP drove to the Valpo 21 and lost the ball on downs.  But after Valpo could not gain a first down.  Sertich ran a Lasky punt back 44 yards to the Viking 7-yard line.  Two plays later Parks scored his seventh TD of the year from the 2-yard line to make it 28-7 with 6:20 left in the third period.

Rodich fumbled the ensuing kickoff at the Valpo 36 and Crown Point appeared to be ready to name the final score.  But Sertich was stopped on a 4th-and-1 at the Viking 26 and Valpo mounted a big rally. Hollis Ballard, who gained 1000 yards in 2005 and had 770 yards in Valpo's first five games this season, touched the ball four times in the next five plays, gaining 35 yards as the Vikings drove 74 yards to make it 28-14.

As the Valpo crowd started to make noise, Crown Point failed to get a first down and Ernest's poor punt went out of bounds at the Crown Point 43-yard line.  Valparaiso then drove 57 yards in six plays with Ballard scoring on a nine-yard run off right guard to make it 28-21 with 11:17 left in the game.  Valpo had a chance to tie after CP got a 40-yard run from Sertich, but eventually punted into the end zone.  But the Vikings had to punt from deep in their territory and Osojnicki, the 6-foot-6 track hurdler, blocked another Lasky punt at the Valpo 17-yard-line.  Two plays later, after a CP time out, the Bulldogs again lined up the tight end on the weak side and Cecich made a bobbling catch at the goal line for his second TD with 7:03 to go.

Valparaiso, which lost twice to the Bulldogs last season, could not get closer than the CP 30-yard-line after that.  Hoffman thought his offense had opportunities they didn't cash in on.

"He (Sarkisian) had some reads he did not make," noted the Vikings head coach.  "He took some sacks he shouldn't have taken.  The hot reads were there and he was looking other places.  But he's just a junior and I like the way he stood in there (against the rush). He's a warrior.  We just have to get better."

CP's Pettit, never one to heap too much praise on his quarterback, has been pleased with Mascarello in recent weeks and another productive turnover-free victory was another gold star for the team that's won 12 league games in a row.

"He was all right at times," smiled Pettit, as he headed for the bus.  "He came make some plays."

Crown Point's been all right and making plays for two years now. 

DOG TALES:  The rain delay in the first quarter was reminiscent or a 12 hour delay that occurred during Valpo's 43-10 victory over Crown Point in September of 2002.  On that night a lightning and rain storm convinced Valpo officials to postponed the game until Saturday morning when Valpo completed the win.  No CP varsity game has been delayed by lightning in between those two dates four years apart.

The total of 21 points for Valparaiso is the most scored against Crown Point in one game since CP beat portage 31-21 in September of 2005.  The last team to score more than 21 points on the Bulldogs was Merrillville which beat CP 34-19 on Oct. 29, 2004.

Valpo coach Hoffman, a 30-year coaching veteran, might be suffering a little with a team that averages 30 points a game, but allows 37 a game, something almost unheard of with Valpo's proud program.

"I'm okay," he said.  'I've seen a lot.  I've been around a long time.  I've seen a lot."

Coach Chip Pettit commented on the fact that CP's longtime athletic director and 40-year high school veteran Jerry Caravana announced his plans to retire after the 2006-2007 school year.  Caravana was a teacher when Chip Pettit was in Crown Point high school in the late 80s and early 90s and, as AD, pushed for Pettit's hiring six years ago. 

"To spend his whole professional life at one place and do what he has done for Crown Point high school, I think the community really owes him a big 'thank you', " Pettit said.  "There's nobody that loves Crown Point high school more than Jerry Caravana."

The playing field was wet, but in decent shape despite rain for much of the late afternoon Friday.  The crowd was about 3,000 and the Valpo turnout was less than past years, obviously due to the team's record and the wet weather.
   
The night had to be fun for Nick Rodich, the Valpo senior who was at Crown Point high school his freshman and sophomore years.  Rodich (6-2, 185), who played both ways, scored two TDs, but he fumbled a kickoff and was one of several who had problems trying to stop Ernest.  Both student sections chanted his name, with widely varying degrees of love and affection.  But, after a hard tackle in the third quarter, you could see CP senior Jon Sertich help Rodich to his feet and patted him on the back.

LaPorte star Airrence Shark (6-0, 216) gained 230 yards on 33 carries as the Slicers ran away from Merrillville 41-14 in the DAC Friday night.  This game was tied 14-14 in the middle of the third quarter when the Pirate defense, ranked  No. 1 in Class 5A state wide for points allowed (35) through five weeks, got busted up in the late going.  That's the fifth time in six years that LaPorte has defeated Merrillville.  LaPorte (5-1, 4-0 DAC) hosts Crown Point (6-0, 4-0 DAC) Friday, Sept. 29.

Portage came off their close 17-10 loss to Crown Point last week and defeated Chesterton 6-3 in overtime Friday.  Raphael Martinez hit two field goals, including a 27-yarder in overtime as the Portage defense, which has allowed 86 points all season, shut down the powerful Chesterton (30.6 ppg. thru 5 games) offense.

Hobart, a team that led Crown Point in the second half before losing 34-20 in August, improved to 5-1 with a 36-29 home win over undefeated Andrean Friday night.  Hobart led 28-9 at the half.

Lowell, which lost 17-0 at CP in the season opener, got three TDs from halfback Steffan Peck and broke a three-game losing streak with a 35-12 win at Hammond.

5A No. Hamilton Southeastern (6-0) beat Westfield 34-10 and 5A No. 1 Warren Central (6-0) beat Terre Haute North 35-0.  Southeastern and Warren Central met in the 5A state title game last year with WC winning 55-20.  At least 25 games statewide were suspended or postponed from Friday to Saturday or Monday night (9-25-2006) due to lightning storms.

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Revised: September 23, 2006 .