Bulldogs' 80-yd TD pass and inspired defense stop unbeaten Merrillville, 7-3

A USA-365.com Special Report By Mark Smith

9-4-2004

Friday, Sep. 3, 2004,  76 degrees, humid at Merrillville

1st Q:  None.
2nd Q:  MERRILLVILLE (3-0) Michael Binder, 32-yard field goal. 0:28 left.
3rd Q:  CROWN POINT (3-7) Matt Ernest (3^rd TD catch), 80-yard TD pass from Matt Jansen (4^th TD pass) Donny Kaiser kick. 2:54 left.
4th Q:  None.

Game Statistics

MERRILLVILLE (9-4-2004) - You see a lot of predictions on these pages but if any of us knew how these games were really going to go, none of us would go to see them.

“I'm not going to get on you for not picking us to win,” said CP coach Chip Pettit, on his way off the field at Merrillville late Friday. “Nobody did.”

Nobody had it right. In what was expected to be a high-scoring showcase for the home team, underdog Crown Point (1-2, 1-0 DAC) got on the board in a game where they had difficulty getting on the board, reversing the course of their season with a 7-3 win over arch-rival and undefeated Merrillville.

Containing the Pirates' 215-pound all-star running back James Aldridge with a flex type of three lineman, five linebacker defense, Crown Point survived several significant scoring threats by the purple-clad Pirates (2-1, 0-1 DAC) in a surprising victory by an even more unlikely final score.

Merrillville had scored 96 points in victories over East Chicago and Chicago's Dunbar high, and Aldridge had carried 43 times for a state-leading 442 yards.

“I thought the two things we had to do,” said Pettit, who now has three consecutive victories over one of CP's biggest rivals, “One, we had to limit their big play potential. He (Aldridge) can't run 60-70 yards and score in 10 seconds. And we had to keep Neal (all-area defensive end Michael Neal) from making a fool out of our offensive tackles. I think, to a great extent, we got that done.”

This was a victory that may grow in stature as the season progresses. Players like Aldridge and Neal are among the state's best. CP outgained Merrillville 212-176, but that doesn't tell the story. The Pirates moved inside the Crown Point 30-yard line six times and never got into the end zone.

The biggest play of the game was probably the sixth play from scrimmage. Crown Point QB Matt Jansen (8-of-18, 170 yards) tried a quick pass to the slot man on the right and Merillville's all-area defensive back Bart Woodward stepped in front of the receiver and intercepted, rumbling 65 yards on a broken field run down the home sidelines for an apparent touchdown.

But the Pirates were called for clipping on the play and the ball was moved back to the Bulldogs' 26-yard line. Merrillville gave the ball to Aldridge four consecutive times but CP stopped him on a 4^th-and 1. Linebackers Vince Lewis and Jon Sertich plus defensive end Justin Sprehe were all in on the key stop with just 4:57 lost in the game.

“I just tried to hit him low and hold on,” said Sertich, who is listed as only 160 pounds. “This was just the Merrillville-Crown Point rivalry. The defense played great all around. I can't single anybody out. We knew he'd run it. We just had to make some big plays and we did.”

The one big offensive play came after Michael Binder's 32-yard field goal gave the Pirates a 3-0 halftime lead. Merrillville punted three times in the third quarter and the last punt bounced into the end zone, just missing the goal line marker for a touchback.

From the 20-yard-line Jansen and 6-foot-2 sophomore receiver Matt Ernest faked an innocent looking 10-15 yard down and out pass pattern towards the visitors sideline. But the left-handed Jansen faked the toss and Ernest made a second turn down the sidelines, running by junior defensive back Jeremy Billingsley. Jansen's pass covered about 30 yards and Ernest came back to the ball and outjumped the 5-foot-8 Billingsley for the football. The CP sophomore then outran Woodward, the senior Pirate safety down the sidelines for what would be the only TD of the game.

“You never know,” said Pettit of the low final score. “I thought we had some chances to make some big things happen offensively early in the game. But we didn't get it done.”

Neither did the Pirates. Merrillville could only wonder about the chances they missed as the Pirates had four big threats in the second half. Before CP scored, Woodward returned a punt 41 yards to the Crown Point 28-yard-line. But two quarterback sacks, the second one by Sertich, forced a Pirate punt.

After CP scored, the Pirates ignited the home fans in the crowd of about 3,000 by a 44-yard drive. From the CP 23, Aldridge, a transfer from the St. Louis area last summer, broke through the center for a big gain. But when he was hit inside the 15-yard line, the junior back spun to break the tackle and fumbled with Sertich recovering the ball at the Bulldog five yard line.

The Pirates' defense stopped Crown Point and Donny Kaiser's punt was run back 22 yards by Chad Dawson to the Bulldog 24 yard line with 7:36 left in the game.

Aldridge gained a first down at the Crown Point 14-yard-line and two plays later, the Pirates had a 3^rd-and-4 at the eight yard line. But CP stopped Aldridge for a two yard loss and a fourth down pass from QB Jimmy Reitz to Woodward was completed but lost yardage, giving the ball back to CP with just 4:20 left in the game.

Still, it was not over. Three CP running plays killed two minutes, but the Bulldogs still had to punt. Kaiser, CP's punter and halfback, who gained 48 yards on 20 carries, was injured on a second down run, so Nate Soltis, CP's 2003 punter, came in and boomed a 37-yard kick that Woodward ran back to the CP 49-yard-line. Aldridge, who gained an unofficial 109 yards on 25 carries, gained three yards on a 4^th-and-1 at the Crown Point 40-yard-line with 1:10 to play and Reitz hit senior end Sean Kinsey for a 16-yard gain on a 4th-and 10 play to the CP 22 with just 20 seconds left.

On a crucial play, a 2^nd-and-10 pass from Reitz to Kinsey gained seven yards to the Bulldog 15 but Kinsey was tackled in bounds. Merrillville lined up with Reitz in the shot gun formation and the Pirate QB immediately spiked the ball, stopping the clock. It was a crucial error. Rules says that the quarterback is allowed to intentionally ground the ball only if he takes the snap directly. To spike the ball from the shotgun formation is a penalty that cost the home team 10 yards and a loss of down.

Presented suddenly with a 4^th-and 13 instead of a 3^rd-and-3. Reitz, the 6-foot-4 basketball forward, fired a lob pass into the end zone for Woodward but four CP defenders covered the Pirate receiver and knocked the ball down to end the game.

“He just made a mistake,” Yelton said of the penalty. “But we can't blame it on that. I'm not making excuses and I won't blame my kids. But we just have to make some big plays when we have the chance.”

“If you look at our sequences in the first half, we'd make a couple of good plays and then we made a mistake. You just can't do that. We did not take them lightly and we were not looking ahead.”

Pettit, who never gets too excited, said, “I didn't get too down over the two losses and I'm not going to get too excited over this one. I think if we played Hobart again, we could beat them. Lowell, I'm not sure. That's an awfully good team defensively. The good thing about playing quality opponents right away is that you find out how good you are. The bad thing is that you could be 0-3 or 0-4. It's a two-way street.”

“We could even have survived 0-3 because we have a young team”.

The Bulldogs didn't have to survive 0-3 because of a top level defensive performance. Merrillville gained an unofficial 176 total yards.

“It was the entire defense,” said Sertich. “Everybody stepped it up. I mean, three points. Look at how many points they scored (96) in the first two games. This just proves that if we practice hard, week to week, that we can beat anybody.”

That anybody may eventually have to include Merrillville again. The Pirates are a sectional rival and are certainly formidable, even with the prospect of a game at No. 4 Portage (3-0) next week. Merrillville's gentlemanly coach Yelton walked across the field to congratulate Crown Point players and coaches a second time after the customary post-game handshake.

“Great game,” he said. “We'll see you again,”

There's a very good chance of that.

DAC NOTES:  Linebacker Chris Schillo (5-11, 195), who did not play in the first two games, was a factor defensively, adding some punch to the small CP defense.  Coach Chip Pettit said that CP's three linemen, five linebacker defense was not new.

“That's part of our package,” he said. “Lowell and Hobart played so much double tight end that we could not use it. But we like that defense. We played a little of it last week so I don't think we surprised them with it.”

The three man line, most often Justin Sprehe (6-3, 210), Nick Conway (5-10, 270) and Nick Parkinson (5-11, 195) got an even break against a Pirate front line that averaged 230 pounds.

The biggest upset Friday was LaPorte, playing with backup quarterback Eddie Dubbs, beating Valparaiso 27-21 in overtime. LaPorte reportedly made at least two changes in the offensive line after a 28-7 loss at Elkhart Central on Aug. 27. Valparaiso had serious trouble with the center-QB exchange and had several plays simply break down before they began. The Vikings lost despite 24 first downs and 17-of-26 passing from QB Jon Moon.

5A No. 4 Portage (3-0) got a big game from senior passer Jake Huston, who hit 14 of 18 for 212 yards in a 35-7 victory over Lake Central. All-state halfback Antone Brown gained 201 yards on 25 carries.

Chesterton, as expected, crushed Michigan City 48-0, gaining 457 yards. Zach Werner scored three TDs. Backup QB Kyle Yelton, the son of Merrillville coach Jeff Yelton, scored a fourth quarter TD and was 6-of-6 on extra points.

Crown Point may have inadvertently gotten an old rival going. Former DAC member Hobart (2-1), who rallied from a 17-6 deficit on Aug. 27 to beat CP 21-17, crushed Hammond 46-0 in the Lake Athletic Conference opener Friday night.

In the state's biggest games, 4A No. 1 Roncalli edged 3A No. 1 Bishop Chatard 10-7 while 5A No. 1 Warren Central nipped arch-rival and 5A No. 2 Ben Davis 31-28. Chatard, Roncalli and Warren Central are all defending state champions and Ben Davis is a 7-time state champ.

Lowell, a 25-15 winner over CP in week one, lost 21-20 at Griffith in an odd re-do of a game two years ago. In 2002, Lowell stopped a two-point Griffith conversion to win 21-20 at Griffith.  On Friday, Griffith stopped a two-point Lowell conversion with three minutes left to win by the same score.

Crown Point 7, Merrillville 3

Game Statistics

TOTAL YARDS: 

CP – 212 (42 yards rushing)

MERRILLVILLE – 188 (123 yards rushing)

PASSING:

 Jim Reitz (M) 8 of 16, 65 yards, 0 TDs, 0 INTs

Matt Jansen (CP) 8 of 18, 170 yards, TD, 2 INTs

RUSHING: 

James Aldridge (M) 25 carries, 109 yards, one fumble
Jimmy Reitz (M) 11 carries, 14 yards, one sack

Donny Kaiser (CP) 20 carries, 48 yards
Jon Sertich (CP) 1 carry 5 yards
Matt Jansen (CP) 4 carries, (minus 11 yards) 2 sacks

RECEIVING: 

Matt Ernest (CP) 3 catches, 121 yards, TD;  (season: 16 catches, 311 yards, 2 TDs)
Brian Maloney (CP) 1 catch, 25 yards (season: 9 catches, 117 yards)
Mike Smith (CP) 1 catch, 16 yards (season: 6 catches, 60 yards)
Chris Wilson (CP) 1catch, 7 yards
Nick Ciochina (CP) 1 catch, 3 yards
Jon Sertich (CP) 1 catch, minus-4 yards

Kevin Marsh (M) 2 catches, 9 yards
Bart Woodward (M) 2 catches, 9 yards
Colt Contreras (M) 1 catch, 3 yards.
Sean Kinsey (M) 2 catches, 23 yards
Dennis Howell (M) 1 catch, 11 yards

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Revised: September 04, 2004 .