Bulldogs 'D' picks Trojans' QB 3 times en route to CP's 42-24 win

A USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith

10-09-2007

Friday, October 5, 2007,  81 degrees at CHESTERTON, IN

1st Qtr:  CHESTERTON (6-0) Alex Beierwalter, QB sneak.  64-yard drive, 8 plays.  Kick wide.  8:45 left.
CHESTERTON (9-0) Pat Herrod, 28-yard field goal. 72-yard drive, 10 plays.  3:28 left.
2nd Qtr:  CROWN POINT (7-9) Russell Chick, 11-yard screen pass from Blake Mascarello.  55-yard drive, 13 plays.  Michael Lipton kick.  3:50 left.
CROWN POINT (14-9) Blake Mascarello, 6-yard run. 37-yard drive, 3 plays (after interception by Nick Bruno).  Michael Lipton kick.  1:00 left.
3rd Qtr:  CROWN POINT (21-9) Mike Kozlowski, 5-yard swing pass from Blake Mascarello.  5-yard drive, 1 play (after Tony Conway's interception runback to the Chesterton 5-yard-line).  Michael Lipton kick.  10:11 left.
CROWN POINT (28-9) Russell Chick, 11-yard run. 83-yard drive, 10 plays (after interception by Billy Cox).  Michael Lipton kick.  3:24 left.
CHESTERTON (16-28) Aaron Knight, 19-yard pass from Alex Beierwalter.  66-yard drive, 8 plays.  Pat Herrod kick.
4th Qtr:  CROWN POINT (35-16) Zach Cecich, 7-yard pass from Blake Mascarello.  63-yard drive, 6 plays.  Michael Lipton kick.  10:10 left.
CHESTERTON (24-35) Taylor Brown, 7-yard pass from Alex Beierwalter.  56-yard drive, 7 plays (including 2 roughing the passer penalties against CP).  Alex Beierwalter, 2-point run.   6:37 left.
CROWN POINT (42-24) Mike Kozlowski, 4-yard pass from Blake Mascarello.  68-yard drive, 10 plays.  Michael Lipton kick.  3:26 left.

RUSHING:
CHESTERTON (32-187 yards, 2 TDs)  Alex Beierwalter (QB) 6-41, 2 TDs; Zach Carnahan (HB) 22-128 yards; Sloane Malay (FB) 1-5; Scott Thorne (HB) 1 (-1)'  Ryan Knarian (QB) 2-14;
CROWN POINT (40-253 yards, 2 TDs)  Russell Chick (HB) 28-233, TD;  Blake Mascarello (QB) 7-17 yards, TD;  Matt Kozlowski (FB) 2-5 yards; Nick Bruno (HB) 1-2;  Marcus Shrewsbury (QB) 1-0.

PASSING:
CHESTERTON - Alex Beierwalter (QB) 14-24, 157 yards, TD, 3 interceptions;
CROWN POINT - Blake Mascarello (QB) 6-10, 62 yards, 4 TDs, 0 INTs; Marcus Shrewsbury (QB) 0-1.

RECEIVING:
CHESTERTON: Taylor Brown (WR) 5-67, TD; Aaron Knight (WR) 4-59; Mark Sullivan (WR) 2-15; Pat Harrod (WR) 2-9; Zach Carnahan (HB) 1-7.
CROWN POINT: Zach Cecich (TE) 2-15, TD, Russell Chick (HB) 1-11, TD; Ron Burton (WR) 1-27;  Mike Kozlowski (FB) 2-9, 2 TDs.

TOTAL YARDS:
CHESTERTON:  344 total yards, 20 first downs;  3 turnovers;
CROWN POINT:  315 total yards, 14 first downs, 0 turnovers.

CHESTERTON (10-05-2007) - This may be a night Crown Point looks back on as being pivotal to post-season success.  Not only did the Bulldogs score a season high 42 points, including a season-best four touchdown passes by Blake Mascarello, but week eight will be the first time this season the Bulldogs got the best of a passing team.

CP did not stop three-year starter Alex Beierwalter and the Trojan passing game, but the Bulldogs' pass rush and secondary held the Chesterton star to 14 of 24 for 157 yards passing and just 41 yards rushing, numbers that defensively you can live with.

The Bulldogs lived well, winning 42-24 to stay tied with Merrillville for first place in the Duneland Athletic Conference (DAC) with just one week to play.

The big number went unnoticed.  After intercepting just two of the 125 opposition's passes in the first seven games, the Bulldogs got takeaways from Billy Cox, Tony Conway and Nick Bruno to take away a game Chesterton led 9-0 after one quarter.

"This was the same secondary that was torched by Valparaiso two weeks ago," reminded coach Chip Pettit.  "I think that was the story of tonight's game.  I could not be happier about how the kids in the defensive backfield stepped up.  He (Beierwalter) is a heckuva quarterback and this is a heckuva offense."

Down 9-0 early on a very warm, humid night, CP rallied with senior rushing leader Russell Chick carrying the ball seven times for 33 yards and Mascarello completing two short passes, the final one 11 yards to Chick for a TD with 3:50 left before half-time.  On Chesterton's next possession, Bruno, CP's free safety, stepped in front of a Chesterton slant pass and intercepted, running the ball back to the Chesterton 42-yard-line.  After a five-yard penalty, Mascarello, who completed only six passes all night (four for TDs), found Ron Burton for a 27-yard gain to the 10-yard-line.  Two plays later Mascarello, the senior baseball left-hander, scrambled into the end zone to give CP a 14-9 lead with 1:00 left before halftime.

"After that first quarter, "Pettit recalled, "We were saying, 'Oh, man.  They haven't even started throwing yet.  They were rolling us up (on rushing plays).  We had only run three plays and we were down nine points.  But the game wasn't really 'on' yet."

The Bulldogs, who have now defeated Chesterton five times in a row, were never stopped after the first series of the second half.

Beierwalter (6-3, 195), who has thrown for 5,000 yards in his career, was hit by blitzing linebacker Lance LaMere while trying to pass from his own 10-yard-line. The tall right-hander would not go down, but he made the mistake of tying to throw the ball out of bounds with a tackler hanging on him.  The ball wobbled towards the sidelines and Conway intercepted, advancing the pickoff to the Trojan 5-yard line.  Mascarello rolled out and tossed a 5-yard TD pass to fullback Mike Kozlowski with 10:11 left in the third quarter to make it 21-9.

Two plays after the next kickoff, senior basketball player Billy Cox, pressed into service at cornerback due to a season-ending injury to corner Nate Haverstock, made a leaping interception of a long Beierwalter pass down the visitors' sidelines at the CP 17-yard line.  The Bulldogs then used Chick (5-10, 180), who gained a season best 233 yards on 28 carries, to put the home team in a major hole.

CP's highly regarded offensive line, which includes seniors Matt Polus (6-2, 255), Kurt Wermers (6-5, 270), Matt Childress (6-2, 260), Cody Blue (6-3, 230) lone junior Nick Colonna (5-11, 240) plus senior tight ends Zach Cecich (6-2, 220) and Joe Maginot (6-3, 220) wore down the equally big Chesterton defensive front in the unusual 80-degree October heat.

Chick, who now has 1,356 yards on 224 carries, ran hard all night, but this drive was his finest hour as he raced for 26 yards on the first play after Cox' interception, and finished it with an 11-yard TD run, making the score 28-9 with 3:29 left in the third quarter.

The Trojans rallied when Beierwalter fired a 19-yard TD pass to junior Aaron Knight late in the third period to trim the lead to 28-16.  But the Chesterton defense, which has allowed 20 or more points in seven games this season, was somewhat defeated at this point.

Chick broke a 44-yard run to the Trojan 10-yard-line and Mascarello fired a seven yard TD pass to Cecich, making the score 35-16 with 10:10 left in the game.

Chesterton rallied on a bizarre drive which began when a 56-yard TD run by Carnahan was called back on a holding penalty.  CP then committed two roughing-the-passer penalties chasing the agile Beierwalter.  Finally, a 7-yard TD toss to Brown cut the lead to 35-24 with 6:37 left.

But the Bulldogs were running the ball at will by this point and a 68-yard drive in 10 plays iced the game when Mascarello tossed his career-best fourth TD pass to Kozlowski from four yards out with 3:26 left in the game.

But even with the season high 42 points scored, it was the Bulldogs defense that changed the direction of the game.  Beierwalter was 15 of 25 for 295 yards just seven days earlier against Lake Central.  All three interceptions led to Crown Point TDs.

"I thought Billy Cox had a great performance," said Pettit.  "Billy is a first time starter at cornerback.  This is the group that had the lead with six minutes late and got torched against Valparaiso.  They got some yards.  The turnovers were huge."

Pettit was well aware that CP had only two interceptions in seven games and he agreed that it's hard for a defense to make interceptions happen.

"No, you can't, " he said.  "But I do think that confidence plays a major factor.  You have to be willing to take a risk and make a play on the ball, as opposed to just hanging in your area and making sure you don't get beat deep."

CP was operating with some very inexperienced secondary people at the end of the game as Danny Osojnicki, a two-way starter one week earlier, left the game with what appeared to be a minor back injury.  The Bulldogs used junior Evan Nikrin at linebacker and dropped former corner Anthony Stahl from his linebacker position back into the secondary.

Billy Cox (5-11, 178) is not a young player.  A senior whose 18th birthday is Oct. 10, Cox did not play varsity at all in 2006.  Truth be told, he wasn't even a defensive back at the start of the year.

"Billy's backing up Tony Conway.  He's backing up Tony Conway at linebacker.  But with the injury bug that's hit us, he found his way onto the field and he probably won't be coming off.  It's a great story.  He waited his turn."

DOG NOTES:  Crown Point averaged 20 points per game (20.0) against the first four opponents this season.  Friday's 42-24 win over Valparaiso was CP's 10th consecutive road win in the DAC over three seasons.  In the last four games, they have averaged 30 points a game (30.2).  In the two weeks prior to the Chesterton game, Crown Point had allowed 16-of-33 for 253 yards passing to quarterback Alex Sarkisian of Valparaiso and 12-of-19 for 185 yards to QB Dustin DeMuth of LaPorte.  The CP secondary was unable to intercept either passer.

Merrillville (7-1, 5-1 DAC) ran its winning streak to six games with a 24-3 win at Lake Central (5-3, 3-3).  The Pirates play Chesterton (6-2, 4-2) on the final night of the regular season.  If Merrillville wins and Crown Point (6-2, 5-1) beats Michigan City (2-6, 1-5), CP and Merrillville will tie for the DAC championship.  There are no tiebreakers in high school football.

After catching just five passes in the season's first six games, CP junior fullback Mike Kozlowski caught four passes for 54 yards in week seven against LaPorte and caught two for nine yards and two TDs Friday at Chesterton.  Coach Chip Pettit suggests that Blake Mascarello simply has more confidence in the play.

"We've had that play forever," Pettit said.  "You just have to throw the ball.  We've always had that play."

While Mascarello has 27 career starts at quarterback and threw for a school record 26 TDs last season, he never threw four in one game before Friday.  The CP senior lefty tossed three TDs in a game five times in 2006.  Last year Mascarello was 11-of-23 for 204 yards and three TDs in the Nov. 11 overtime loss to LaPorte; 15-of-22 for 209 yards and three TDs in the Nov. 3 win over Merrillville; 14-of-17 for 240 yards and 3 TDs in the Oct. 20 win at LC; 15 of 25 for 240 yards and 3 TDs in the Oct. 6, 41-21 win over Chesterton and 8-of-9 for 171 yards and 3 TDs in the Sept. 26 win over LaPorte.

CP senior Russell Chick has 14 rushing TDs and an unofficial 1,356 yards rushing on 224 carries.  In 1997 Crown Point's Brian Parker had 258 rushes for 1,702 yards and 24 TDs
and all three of Parker's totals are considered CP school records.  It would be ironic if Chick broke Parker's records in 2007.  In 1987, John Young carried 215 times for 1,480 yards and 19 TDs, setting the records that Parker broke 10 years later.  All CP football records are largely from the state tournament era (1973 to present).  Individual Crown Point high school football records before 1970 are hard to find.