Bulldogs begin playoffs with 49-0 shutout of Lake Central at 'Burial Grounds'

A USA-365.com Special Report by Dave Woodworth

10-22-2006

Friday, October 20, 2006,  49 degrees in St. John, 5A, Sectional 1 Quarterfinal

1st Qtr:  CROWN POINT (7-0)  Zach Cecich, 25-yard pass from Blake Mascarello.  96 yard drive, 12 plays.  Michael Lipton kick.  6:42 left.
CROWN POINT (14-0)  Jon Sertich, 15-yard blocked punt return.  Lipton kick.  5:01 left.
2nd Qtr:  CROWN POINT (21-0)  Ryan Forney, 52-yard punt return.  Lipton kick.  10:34 left.
CROWN POINT (28-0)  Forney, 8-yard run, following 42-yard interception return by Jon Sertich to the LC 8-yard line.  Lipton kick.  9:50 left.
CROWN POINT (35-0)  Matt Ernest, 13-yard pass from Mascarello.  69 yard drive, 3 plays.  Lipton kick.  4:55 left.
CROWN POINT (42-0)  Sertich, 11-yard run. 60-yard drive, 5 plays.  Lipton kick.  1:27 left.
3rd Qtr:  CROWN POINT (49-0)  Forney, 37-yard pass from Mascarello.  70-yard drive, 9 plays.  Lipton kick.  6:44 left.
4th Qtr:  No scoring.

GAME TOTALS

TOTAL YARDS:   CROWN POINT - 342, LAKE CENTRAL  - 185
FIRST DOWNS:  CROWN POINT - 18, LAKE CENTRAL  - 11
TURNOVERS:  CROWN POINT - 2, LAKE CENTRAL - 2

RUSHING:
CROWN POINT (27-117 yards, 2 TDs)  Jon Sertich (HB) 11-74 yards; Tommy Parks (FB) 1-1 yards, TD;  Ryan Forney (WR) 2-23 yards;
Kyle Lombarkowski (RB) 1 (-2) yards,  Evan Nikrin (RB) 2-5 yards, Nick Bruno (RB) 5-16 yards, Brandon Corning 4-16 yards. 
  LAKE CENTRAL (27-115 yards) Tony Morang (RB) 16-71 yards;  P.J. Gbur (QB) 10-5 yards, 4 sacks (-26); Anthony Moore (RB) 1-23 yards.

PASSING:
CROWN POINT (14-17, 225 yards, 3 TDS, 1 INT)  Blake Mascarello (QB) 13-16, 212 yards, 3 TDs, 1 INT; Marcus Shrewsbury (QB) 1-1, 13 yards.
LAKE CENTRAL (9-20, 70 yards)  P.J. Gbur (QB) 9-20, 70 yards.

RECEIVING:
CROWN POINT:  Matt Ernest (WR) 4-55, TD; 
Zach Cecich (TE) 4-65 yards, TD; Ryan Forney (WR) 3-81 yards; Joey Maginot (TE) 1-13 yards.
LAKE CENTRAL:  Joe Wingis (WR) 6-52 yards; Austen Macak (WR) 1-(-3) yards, Joe Lauerman (WR) 1-17 yards, Bill Bork (TE) 1-4 yards.

ST. JOHN, IN (10-20-2006) -  The Crown Point Bulldogs came into the Burial Grounds of Lake Central High School Friday night riding an 18-game regular season winning streak, and managed to put the offense, defense and special teams play together for an impressive 49-0 shutout of the Indians in the opening round of the Class 5A, Sectional 1 playoffs.

The Bulldogs, who have now won 21 of their last 22 games, got off to a good start.  After holding LC to a couple of first downs on the game's opening drive, they started a drive from their own 4-yard line and 12 plays later junior left-handed quarterback Blake Mascarello connected with junior tight end Zach Cecich on a 25-yard touchdown pass over the middle of the field, and Mike Lipton's point after touchdown gave CP a 7-0 lead with 6:42 left in the first quarter.

The Bulldogs held the Indians to a three-and-out and on 4th and 13 from their own 32-yard line resulted in a blocked punt, which was scooped up by defensive back Jon Sertich and returned 15-yards for a touchdown, and a 14-0 lead with 5:01 left in the first quarter.

Lake Central had their best shot at a comeback at this point in the game.  The Indians' Austen Macak returned the ensuing kick-off across mid-field to the CP 44-yard line, but LC was again forced in to a three downs and out, punting to the CP 25-yard line.  The Bulldogs then mounted another drive that ate up the remainder of the first quarter and then on the first play of the second quarter on 1st and 10 from the LC 34-yard line, Mascarello's pass was intercepted by Macak at the LC 9-yard line to end the scoring threat.  But the Bulldogs defense was relentless in the first half and LC was again forced into a 3-downs and out situation, as quarterback P.J. Gbur was sacked at least four times on the night for a loss of yardage.  LC then had to punt on a 4th-and-2 from their own 15-yard line.  Ryan Forney fielded the punt at his own 48-yard line and raced 52-yards to the end zone for the first of what would be three touchdowns scored on the night by the senior wide receiver/cornerback.  Mike Lipton's extra point (he was 7 for 7 on extra point kicks for the night) made the score CP 21-0, with 10:34 left in the second quarter.

The ensuring kick-off to Lake Central set up the Indians at their own 24 yard line, where on 2nd-and-10, P.J. Gbur dropped back for a long downfield pass that was intercepted by CP's Jon Sertich at about the 50-yard line and returned 42-yards to the LC 8-yard line.  On the very next play, Ryan Forney scored his second touchdown of the night on an end-around play, taking the hand-off from the quarterback as he was running from left to right, and proceeded into the right corner of the end zone for a 28-0 lead with 9:50 left in the second quarter.

Lake Central mounted a six-play drive from their own 35-yard line and reached the Crown Point 31-yard line, falling just short of a first down on a 4th-and-9 play.  That's where the Bulldogs took over again with 6:27 left on the second quarter clock and scored just three plays and 1:32 minutes later on a 13-yard pass from Mascarello to Matt Ernest for a 35-0 lead.

The Indians took over the ball following the kickoff at their own 9-yard line with 4:37 left in the held and the CP defense held them for three downs and no gain.  The 4th-down and 10 punt from the LC 9-yard line was downed at the CP 40-yard line, with 3:23 left.  5-plays and 60-yards later Jon Sertich as celebrating his 11-yard TD run with 1:27 left, making the score 42-0, which proved to be the halftime score.

In the third quarter, Crown Point took the kick-off and started a drive from their own 30-yard line, which was capped off 9 plays later on a Mascarello to Forney 37-yard touchdown pass with 6:44 left in the third quarter.  Lipton's PAT made the score 49-0, which held up as the final score of the game.

The remainder of the game saw many of Crown Point's second and third team members get into the game and back-up sophomore quarterback Marcus Shrewsbury (5-11, 205) played the entire 4th quarter and completed his only pass attempt, a 13-yarder to junior tight end Joey Maginot (6-2, 205) to keep a 4th quarter drive alive.  The Bulldogs managed to wind down the clock by running the ball through most of the second half, with sophomore running backs Evan Nikrin (5-10, 190) and Nick Bruno (5-6, 140) seeing some action, as well as junior running back Brandon Corning (6-0, 180). 

Dog Tales:  Crown Point (10-0) advances to the Class 5A, Sectional 1 semifinals on Friday, October 27, and will host Portage (6-4), a 28-14 quarterfinal winner at Valparaiso last week.

If Crown Point wins, The Bulldogs would also host the Sectional Championship game Friday, November 3 against the winner of this week's Merrillville (6-4) vs. Chesterton (5-5) game.  Crown Point would also be host the Regional Championship game if the Bulldogs continue their winning ways, and would presumably host Penn (8-2) out of Sectional 2 on Friday, November 10.  If so, that would be the first-ever meeting of Penn and Crown Point.

WWLO, 89.1 FM and Internet Radio (www.Indiana-Sports.com and www.USA-365.com) will continue to cover the Bulldogs throughout the playoffs as long as Crown Point remains in the running. The pregame show starts Friday night at 6:30 p.m., CDT and the kick-off is at 7:00 p.m., CDT.

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Revised: October 22, 2006 .