Offenses unstoppable as Bulldogs squeeze by LaPorte, 42-41

A USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith

9-30-2006

Friday, September 29, 2006,  51 degrees, light rain at LaPorte, DAC

1st Qtr:  CROWN POINT (7-0)  Zach Cecich, 23-yard pass from Blake Mascarello.  75 yard drive, 5 plays.  Michael Lipton kick.  9:19 left.
LaPORTE (7-7) Adam Creed, 5-yard bootleg run.  66 yard drive, 9 plays.  Keegan Parker kick.  5:54 left.
CROWN POINT (14-7)  Tommy Parks, 7-yard run.  43 yard drive, 6 plays after a 48-yard kickoff return.  Michael Lipton kick.  2:06 left.
2nd Qtr:  LaPORTE (14-14) Andrew Vaughn, 5-yard pass from Adam Creed.  59 yard drive, 8 plays.  Parker kick. 10:18 left.
CROWN POINT (21-14)  Jon Sertich, 40-yard run.  94 yard drive, 5 plays. Lipton kick.  7:44 left.
LaPORTE  (21-20) Airrence Shark, 71-yard run. 92 yard drive, 6 plays.  Kick wide.  1:28 left.
CROWN POINT (28-20) Matt Ernest, 15-yard pass from Blake Mascarello. 68 yard drive, 3 plays. Lipton kick.  0:41 left. 
3rd Qtr:  LaPORTE (28-28) Carlton Austin, 3-yard run.  94 yard drive, 12 plays.  Adam Creed, 2-point conversion run.  2:27 left.
4th Qtr:  CROWN POINT (35-28) Jon Sertich, 3-yard run.  62-yard drive, 6 plays.  Lipton kick.  9:24 left
LaPORTE  (35-35) Airrence Shark, 44-yard run. 71-yard drive, 6 plays.  Parker kick.  8:19 left
CROWN POINT (42-35) Tommy Parks, 30-yard (4th and 23) pass from Blake Mascarello. 28-yard drive, 6 plays after Tommy Parks' 43-yard kickoff return.   Lipton kick. 4:20 left.
La PORTE (42-41) Matt Mizia, 10-yard pass from Adam Creed. 73 yards drive, 11 plays. 2-point pass by Creed knocked down by Matt Ernest.  0:54 left.

GAME TOTALS

TOTAL YARDS:   CROWN POINT - 394, LaPORTE  - 461
FIRST DOWNS:  CROWN POINT - 18, LaPORTE  - 24
TURNOVERS:  CROWN POINT -1, LaPORTE - 2

RUSHING:
CROWN POINT (32-263 yards, 3 TDs)  Jon Sertich (HB) 15-224 yards, 2 TDs; Tommy Parks (FB) 6-16 yards, TD;  Ryan Forney (WR) 2-16 yards;  Russell Chick (HB) 2-3 yards; Matt Ernest (WR) 2-2 yards;
Blake Mascarello (QB) 4 (-12) 2 sacks (-17); 
  LaPORTE (43-362 yards, 2 TDs) Airrence Shark (HB) 26-81, 2 TDs;  Adam Creed (QB) 11-51, 1 sack (-8); Carlton Austin (HB) 3-11 yards, TD;   Bryce Holland (HB) 2-10 yards; Darren Kincaid (FB) 1-0 yards.

PASSING:
CROWN POINT (8-10, 145 yards, 3 TDS, one INT)  Blake Mascarello (QB) 8-9, 145 yards, 3 TDs, one INT;
Ryan Forney (WR) 0-1, 0 yards.
LaPORTE (11-20, 108 yards, 2 TDs, one INT)  Adam Creed (QB) 11-20, 108 yards, 2 TDs, one INT.

RECEIVING:
CROWN POINT: Jon Sertich (HB) 3-14 yards, Matt Ernest (WR) 2-51, TD; 
Zach Cecich (TE) 2-50 yards, TD; Tommy Parks (FB) 1-30 yards, TD.
LaPORTE:  Marcus Phelps (WR) 3-28 yards; Airrence Shark (HB) 3-27 yards, Matt Mizia (TE) 2-21 yards, TD; 
Andrew Vaughn 2-10 yards; Jawuan Marshall (WR) 1-22 yards.

LaPORTE, IN (9-29-2006) -  You hesitate to call it a great game because nobody really stopped anybody.  But from an entertainment standpoint, it won't get any better than this.  Nearly 5,000 fans on the west side of LaPorte won't soon forget the highly-anticipated matchup between 5A No. 3 Crown Point and 5A No. 9 LaPorte.  Some stood in the rain to watch ace halfbacks Airrence Shark and Jon Sertich total 500 yards rushing.  QBs Blake Mascarello and Adam Creed combined for five TDs.  Both coaches called every play in the book and they almost all worked.

Crown Point scored six touchdowns Friday night in LaPorte County and the Slicers answered with a TD every time.  With the score 42-41 in the game between the two teams tied for first place in the Duneland Athletic Conference (DAC), CP defensive back Matt Ernest knocked down a potential game-winning two-point conversion pass by LaPorte quarterback Adam Creed to allow CP to get out of town with a 42-41 victory.

The Bulldogs (7-0, 5-0 DAC) lead LaPorte (5-2, 4-1) by one game with two weeks left in the regular season and you almost wish both teams could win their sectional championships (LaPorte is in Sectional two, CP in sectional one) so these two groups of players could do it again.  Maybe you do, but I don't think the coaches do.

"When we were here two years ago, Sertich had 290 and Shark had 200," said Pettit, who smiled as he hauled out the Airrence Shark puns that local papers have worn out over the last four years. "I don't know what it is.  We were swimming in 'Shark-infested' waters all night.  Somebody just threw us a life-preserver."

Defensive co-coordinator Kevin Enright could still smile because the Bulldogs were 7-0.

"I'm sure we'll look at the film tomorrow and see that we missed some assignments.  But he's a great player and LaPorte's a great team.  There were times we had him and we bounced off of him.  They played with a lot of emotion.  It was their homecoming.  It was probably entertaining to watch.  But it wasn't that entertaining to be a part of, I'll tell you that."

LaPorte's greatness is yet to be determined, but Shark's isn't, at least not at this level.  LaPorte's all-time leading rusher continually broke the tackles of a defense that had allowed just 562 yards rushing in six previous games, rolling up 281 yards on 26 carries, scoring or helping to set up all six LaPorte TDs.

The 216-pound LaPorte senior didn't always get good blocking, but he almost always got good yardage and LaPorte ran wild on Crown Point, something no one has done since 2004.  If Crown Point had not gained an unreal 394 yards on just 42 offensive plays, the Bulldogs would not have won their 16th consecutive regular season game and their 12th straight DAC contest.  There are defensive worries that the Bulldogs must address.  LaPorte was giving up almost 30 points a game coming in.  Crown Point, which was state-ranked in defense three weeks ago, now has given up 61 points and 715 yards in the last two games.

There were no illusions of how this game  was going to go.  On the first play from scrimmage, CP's junior QB Blake Mascarello fired a quick pass down the middle of the field to tight end Zach Cecich for a 26-yard gain.  Three plays later, Mascarello hit a play-action pass to Cecich for a 24-yard touchdown with 9:19 still left in the first quarter.

LaPorte began the game with five wide receivers the way Valparaiso did last week (Sept. 22 in a 35-21 CP win).  Senior QB Adam Creed completed three passes in a row and junior end Juwuan Marshall made a spectacular finger tip grab on a 21-yard pass to the Bulldog 5-yard line.  Creed then faked to Shark and ran a naked bootleg, diving over the goal line (it appeared his knee might have been down at the 1-yard line) to tie the game with 5:54 left.

Crown Point, the defending DAC champ, got a 48-yard kickoff return from Ernest and scored again in six plays.  As the rain continued to fall, Tommy Parks broke two tackles to score on a seven yard run with 2:06 left in the first quarter.

Both teams dribbled kicks down the field, possibly hoping for fumbles on kick returns in the continuous sprinkles.  But it created short fields for offenses that didn't need them.  LaPorte drove 59 yards in eight plays to tie the game 14-14 when Creed popped a five-yard roll out pass to Andrew Vaughn with 10:18 left before halftime.

Crown Point's Ryan Forney had to fall on a wet kickoff at the Bulldog  6-yard line, but CP simply went 94 yards in five plays to make it 21-14 with 7:44 left before halftime.  Sertich had runs of 16 and 40 yards and Mascarello hit Ernest for 35 yards.  The Bulldogs finally forced the game's first punt,  but a deep pass by Mascarello into coverage was intercepted by the Slicers' Mike Essling at the LaPorte 8-yard line.

LaPorte then drove 92 yards in seven plays, with Shark breaking a tackle at the line and outrunning the CP free safety Sertich to the goal line to make it 21-20.  Kicker Keegan parker missed the extra point.  CP then drove 68 yards in three plays including a 44-yard run by Sertich and a 16-yard TD to Ernest with just 41 seconds left in the second quarter.

Truthfully, the Bulldogs should have blown this game open in the third quarter, but a 1st-and-10 at the LaPorte 11 turned into a bad snap on an early third quarter field goal attempt.  Given new life, LaPorte stormed back down the field 94 yards in 12 plays.  Shark carried six times for 76 yards  through then tiring visitors, including a tackle-busting 50 yard run to the Bulldog 19.

Big LaPorte sophomore Carlton Austin (6-1, 182) scored on a 5-yard TD run and Creed's conversion bootleg tied the game 28-28 with 2:27 left in the third quarter.  But Crown Point, which never punted in this game,  got an 18-yard kickoff return from Parks and went 62 yards in six plays to regain the lead.  Sertich ran off the right side behind Kurt Wermers (6-5, 270) and Andrew Krumwied (6-5, 245) for a 39-yard gain to the LaPorte 5-yard-line and Sertich scored from three yards away two lays later with 11:11 left in the game.

But as the big home crowd cheered them on under multi-colored umbrellas, LaPorte drove 71 yards to tie the score. Shark, who gained 1,251 yards last season on 224 carries,  broke loose again between the tackles and raced 44 yards to make it 35-35 with 8:19 left.

Everybody knew the action wasn't over, especially after Parks picked up another dribble kickoff and rambled 43 yards to the LaPorte 29-yard line.  The Bulldogs reached the 19-yard line before a TD pass to Cecich was called back on offensive pass interference.  On 4th-and-23 from the 30-yard line, CP lined up four wide receivers and Parks, the starting fullback, slanted over the middle, caught Mascarello's slant pass, broke one tackle and dragged a tackler into the end zone to make it 42-35 with 4:20 left in the game.

"We ran that a couple of times in practice, but Blake always throws it to Ernie (Matt Ernest), Parks explained. "I was just running the route.  But the safety lined up over Ernie.  When I looked up and saw only linebackers, I knew it was coming to me."

There was the unsaid pressure of LaPorte's offense hanging over the 4th-and-23.  CP boys knew if they didn't make it, LaPorte was probably driving the length of the field to win the game.  Parks is a CP baseball third baseman and a ballplayer just catches the ball without thinking about it.

"On that one, I was thinking about it," he admitted.  "I knew if I just caught it I could get the first down.  I usually don't.  But I had to think about that one."

Nobody had to think about what was going to happen next.

LaPorte drove 73 yards in 11 plays including a 3rd-and-11 pass interference call against would be hero (he recovered a fumble and grabbed an interception) Michael Mohr that moved the ball to the CP 35-yard line.  After a fake to Shark, Creed tossed a 10-yard scoring pass to Mike Mizia with just 54 seconds left to make it 42-41.

LaPorte could have attempted to tie the game, but their place kicker Parker is just a sophomore and he'd already missed one extra point.  In double-overtime against Valparaiso, LaPorte went for a two-point conversion (on Sept. 1) and a pass to Mizia won it 57-56.

When coach Bob Schellinger called time out, everybody knew what was coming. You don't call time out to kick the extra point.  Creed tried the same rollout option he'd used to both run for a TD in the first quarter and pass for one in the second period.

"We didn't do anything differently than we did all night," Enright said of the final defensive stop.  "We just  said to lock 'em up man-to-man.  We just made a play when we needed one.

Ernest said, "we had an idea they were going to run that play because they'd been running it all night with the QB rolling out.  I thought he (Creed) was going to sneak in because our defense wasn't there, so I stepped up toward him.  But our pursuit was so fast, I had a chance to step back and he threw it right to me.  There was a guy on my left but I didn't even have to jump to knock it down.  Anybody could have made that play."

Amazingly, it was not over.  Parker's onside kick escaped two CP players and was recovered by LaPorte's Diondre Lewis at the Crown Point 43-yard-line.  CP linebacker Joe Patrick sacked Creed for a two-yard loss on first down. Creed then spiked the ball to stop the clock and threw an incompletion to make it 4th-and-12.  Creed's fourth down pass into triple coverage should have been caught by Mizia but he dropped it in the rain at the Crown Point 30-yard line with 24 seconds remaining in the game.

CP players celebrated while the coaches just sighed.  What it is was another close call for Crown Point in an increasingly offense-flavored DAC.  Used to be, you ran the ball until somebody stopped you.  Lately, you do whatever you want and nobody stops you.  On a night when Merrillville gave up 41 points for the second consecutive week and Chesterton scored 63, Crown Point scored almost every time they had the ball and still needed a last minute defensive stop to win.

But, those are Monday morning worries for the coaches.  If high school football is  for the players and the students, they all seemed to have fun.

"The fans were awesome," Ernest said of the LaPorte atmosphere.  "They were booing us, but it was still great.  That doesn't bother us.  They were really getting excited."

"It's all about Crown Point-LaPorte," said Sertich, who recorded his second 200-yard rushing game in LaPorte County.  "I had the offensive line tonight.  They dominated.  They were opening huge holes.  Anybody could have run for 200 with the holes we had tonight."

Enright was happy, too, even though he watched his defense give up 400 yards for the first time since the 2003 season.

"A 'W' is 'W," he said.  "This is a tough place to play.  There was a lot going on out here.  A lot of people left their heart on the field. That's what you want to see."

DOG TALES:  Despite a light rain that fell almost throughout the game, every bit of room in the old brick grandstand at LaPorte's Kiwanis Field was filled.  Four radio stations carried the game and it was taped for local (LaPorte County) cable TV.  A few dozen at field level stood for the entire game on the home side and no one left until LaPorte lost the ball on downs with 24 seconds left to play.

Matt Ernest, who played corner back all night,  didn't really get a good shot in on LaPorte's Airrence Shark, who gained 281 yards on 26 carries.

"No, I can't handle him," said Ernest.  "What am I supposed to do with that guy?  He's quick and he's big.  How many yards did he have tonight?  280?  He's a stud."

Shark says he doesn't know where he'll play in college yet.

"I thought I was trying to get it done before the season ended, " he said, "but I don't think so.  I've still got interest in Notre Dame. They had somebody here last week (when LaPorte played) against Merrillville.  I don't know.  I was just worried about winning the game tonight."

LaPorte came into Friday's game averaging 40 points per game and scored 41.  The last time CP allowed 41 or more points was a 56-0 loss at Portage on Sept. 19, 2003.

The last team to go undefeated for two years in a row in the DAC was Valparaiso, with now Notre Dame players Jeff Samardzija and Carl Giola in 2001 and 2002.  No Crown Point varsity football team has ever had two consecutive undefeated regular seasons.  The Bulldogs had back-to-back 10-win seasons under former coach and athletic director Brad Smith in 1987 and 1988.

Chesterton, CP's next foe, set a school record with junior QB Alex Beierwalter completing 25-of-35 passes for 499 yards in a 63-36 victory over Lake Central.  Portage (3-4), which hasn't lost since a 17-10 defeat at CP on Sept. 8, wore down Michigan City 35-7.

Sleeping giant Valparaiso started to stir with a 41-23 win over Merrillville at Merrillville.  The Vikings, a pre-season favorite in the DAC, intercepted four passes and led 34-3 after three quarters.  Lowell (3-4), which lost at CP 17-0 in August, rallied from a 14-6 deficit to beat Munster 15-14, the first time all season Lowell has beaten a team with a winning record.

Copyright © 2006 USA-365.com and Meyer Multimedia Services, a division of Meyer Broadcasting Corp.  All rights reserved.
Revised: September 30, 2006 .