Bulldogs come back to tie in regulation, beat Vikings 41-34 in double Overtime

A USA-365.com Special Report By Mark Smith

Team	1	2	3	4	OT1	OT2	F
Valparaiso (2-4, 1-3)	0	6	0	21	7	0	34
CROWN POINT (4-2, 3-1)	7	0	13	7	7	7	41

Friday, Sept. 26, 2003, 61 degrees, rain in Crown Point

1st Q: CROWN POINT (7-0) Matt Cowan, 36-yard run. Donny Kaiser kick.
80 yards, 7 plays, 9:06 left.

2nd Q: VALPARAISO (7-6) Bo Gilliland, 20 yard run. Kick wide. 64 yards, 7 plays, 9:14 left.

3rd Q: CROWN POINT (13-6) Aaron Miller, 19-yard pass from Matt Cowan. Bad snap on conversion. 70 yards, 8 plays, 6:21 left.
CROWN POINT (20-6) Donny Kaiser, 15 yard run. Donny Kaiser kick. 34 yards, 3 plays, 4:02 left.

4th Q: VALPARAISO (20-13) Collin McShane, 10-yard pass from Jon Moon. Kyle Prow kick. 50 yards, 10 plays, 11:08 left.
VALPARAISO (20-20) Bo Gillliland, 6-yard run. Kyle Prow kick. 31 yards, 6 plays, 3:06 left.
VALPARAISO (20-27) Ryan Osburn, 44-yard interception return. Kyle Prow kick. 2:22 left.
CROWN POINT (27-27) Aaron Miller, 7-yard pass from Matt Cowan. Donny Kaiser kick. 80 yards, 9 plays, 0:39 left.
1st Overtime: VALPARAISO (34-27) Jeff Brandt, 7-yard run. Kyle Prow kick.
CROWN POINT (34-34) Justin Sprehe, 7-yard pass from Matt Cowan. Donny Kaiser kick.
2nd Overtime: CROWN POINT (41-34) Alex Derks, 7-yard pass from Matt Cowan. Donny Kaiser kick.

CROWN POINT (9-26-2003) They keep doing this. With hope fading and a key game seemingly slipping away. Crown Point comes back from the brink to save the drive for a big season and send thousands (or on this night hundreds) of fans and friends home happy. If they just can keep doing this.

For the record, the Bulldogs went 80 yards in 10 plays to tie Valparaiso 27-27 after losing a two touchdown lead to a 21-point fourth quarter rally. After falling behind in overtime, Bulldog QB Matt Cowan threw two consecutive overtime touchdown passes on two consecutive possessions before Aaron Miller's end zone interception clinched Crown Point's 41-34 victory over the rival Vikings.

All this after a 56-0 loss to Portage just seven days earlier.

"We have a senior quarterback who's experienced," said coach Chip Pettit. "And he's good at this. Our kids are comfortable when the game goes down to the wire. And they made plays."

Plays were made all over the field in a very soggy Crown Point stadium Friday. This was one of those games where you wondered why you were standing out in the rain for three quarters. Then you wished that there were more than the 750 who braved occasionally heavy rain on a 60-degree night to see a game that is best described as a flawed classic.

For three quarters, it appeared that Crown Point would prevail, even though the Bulldogs offense could not run and the CP defense had trouble stopping the run. Leading 7-6, CP got a 19-yard touchdown pass from Cowan to Miller and a spinning 15-yard run by sophomore halfback Donny Keiser to go up 20-6 with 4:02 left in the third quarter.

But Valparaiso scored 21 fourth quarter points to give the green-clad visitors a 27-20 lead with only 2:22 left.
The final touchdown seemed devastating. Junior corner back Ryan Osburn, out guessed Cowan on a pass to Miller, intercepted at the Bulldogs 45 yard line and outran the limping CP quarterback to the goal line to give the Vikings their first lead of the night.

Cowan, who rallied his team to overtime wins over Merrillville and LaPorte last year, believed there was still time to rally.

"There were still two minutes left," Matt remembered. "There was still time. Our offensive line established the line of scrimmage. It was all them on that last drive. You can do anything when you have protection."

Cowan, who hit 17 of 30 passes in the rain for 226 yards, fired a 12-yarder to a diving tight end Alex Derks to start the comeback. Cowan to Miller gained 16 yards and a 2nd-and-10 pass to Donny Kaiser carried to the Valparaiso 29-yard-line.

Cowan, bad ankle and all, ran a quarterback draw play to the Valpo nine yard line and, two plays later, CP faced a 3rd-and-goal from the seven. Cowan then rolled out to his left and tossed a quick strike to Aaron Miller who grabbed the ball near the home sideline and turned it up into the end zone to tie the game with 39 seconds left in the game.

"When the game's on the line, we can make plays," said Cowan, who is 4-0 as a starting quarterback in overtime. We don't have anybody who gives up until its over. But it is getting a little too hectic. I'm going to have a heart attack."

In overtime, Valparaiso got a seven yard run from quick little Jeff Brandt behind left guard Ben Kolodzinski (6-2, 225) and left tackle Matt Johnson (6-2, 270). The game appeared over when a forth down Cowan pass fell incomplete but officials ruled Vikings' pass interference against CP's Mike Smith.

With new life, Cowan hit Justin Sprehe for the tying score from seven yards out.

Crown Point took the ball first in the second overtime and scored on a 10-yard pass to Derks after CP had shifted two plays just before the snap to confuse the Valpo defense.

Trailing 41-34, Valpo was faced with a third and 16. Junior QB Jon Moon fired a good-looking pass towards McShane (6-2, 175) in the back of the end zone. But Miller, who has developed into an impact player on offense and defense, leaped to intercept the ball and end the game.

Valparaiso appeared to take the loss hard, leaving the field quickly after the post-game handshake. Crown Point players serenaded the crowd with the school fight song and held the 'County Seat Trophy' up for the small crowd to see. This was only the 16th time in the 51-game series that Crown Point had beaten Valparaiso.

Moon was 6-of-9 for 70 yards and Bo Gilliland picked up 91 yards on 17 carries. Crown Point had 335 yards and 20 first downs. After losing six fumbles in the last two games, CP did not lose a fumble against Valparaiso.

"There were a lot of big plays tonight," Pettit told his team. "You know the way the rules are. If we never stopped them, we'd have stayed here all night."

DOG NOTES: The potential downside to a one point victory over Lake Central, a double overtime victory over Valparaiso and a one-point overtime victory over Merrillville is that all three are Crown Point's sectional rivals. You don't want to see a team again that you 'stole' a victory from.

The flip side, of course is, that CP is four points away from being 1-5. Right now, they'll take the 4-2 and run.
Pettit went for a two-point conversion trailing 22-21 in the final minute against Merrillville on Sept. 5. CP won on a two-point pass from Cowan to Derks. After the 27-27 touchdown and the 34-34 TD, Pettit could have gone for two but he chose not to. The coach's decisions worked out both times.

Senior tackle Mark McInerney, who was injured in the Lake Central game and has been trying to play with a leg brace, appeared to re-injure his knee. But, after a couple of minutes laying on the field and getting medical attention, McInerney jumped up and ran off the field. Cowan was hurt when he was hit late after scoring his 32-yard TD.

"Matt got hurt on his first touchdown run," said Pettit. "And he couldn't play much defense after that. But he battled." Cowan came out for two plays and then re-entered for good.

"I just know that the guys on this team would do this for me," Matt said later. "It's a team effort." The Bulldogs quarterback says that failure breeds success. "It helped that I got into a lot of games my sophomore year. I'm making some plays now, but I threw a lot of interceptions when I was a sophomore. I learned from playing horribly. It's coaching and experience."

Aaron Miller caught nine passes for 109 yards giving him 44 catches in six games for 549 yards, one of the state's top totals.

Crown Point used a 5-wide receiver formation at least one third of the game. The difficult-to-defend set almost dares the defense to blitz the quarterback. Valparaiso sacked the Bulldog quarterback three times.

DUNELAND ATHLETIC CONFERENCE (DAC)

                                  W- L Pts Opp     W- L Pts Opp
Portage                       4- 0 141   42         6- 0 227   61
Chesterton                   3- 1 135   65        4- 2 174 106
Crown Point                 3- 1   81 128        4- 2 125 161
LaPorte                       3- 1 128   63        3- 3 141 104
Merrillville                    1- 3   64   75         3- 3 136   95
Michigan City               1- 3   47 122         3- 3 127 146
Valparaiso                   1- 3 104 133         2- 4 158 160
Lake Central                0- 4   52 124        1- 5 100 166

Results from Sept. 26, 2003

Crown Point 41, Valparaiso 34, 2 overtimes
LaPorte 14, Merrillville 0
Michigan City 19, Lake Central 13
Portage 21, Chesterton 19‡

Schedule for Friday, Oct. 3, 2003

Lake Central at Chesterton
LaPorte at Crown Point
Merrillville at Valparaiso
Portage at Michigan City