Crown Point rushes to 23-0 half time lead, holds on to shut out Lowell
A USA-365.com Special Report By Mark Smith

Scoring Summary:

CP (7-0)   Dave Swenson, 2-yard run. 14 yards in 4 plays after interception by Eric Gulbrandsen. Chris Kutanovski kick.  8:14 left (1st Q)

CP (10-0)  Chris Kutanovski, 36-yard field goal.
52-yard drive in 12 plays after Sean O'Drobinak recovered a fumble by Lowell's Justin Henley at the CP 29.  11:53 (2nd Q)

CP (16-0)  Sean O'Drobinak, 4-yard pass from Matt Cowan.  
6-yard drive in 4 plays after Tim Sova fumbled a high punt snap on the Lowell 1-yard-line.  8:35 (2nd Q)

CP (23-0)  Bobby Rutherford, 82-yard run.
82 yards drive, 1 play.  3:40 (2nd Q)  (End of scoring)

CROWN POINT (8-23-2002)   The first half of the annual Lowell-Crown Point game last Friday indicated that Crown Point is much stronger than they were in the past three seasons, when they went 4-26 and that the visiting Red Devils are not as good as the last three seasons when they went 26-11.

The second half showed that both teams can change that impression in a moment's time. After rushing (figuratively and literally) to a 23-0 half-time lead, Crown Point became mistake-prone on offense and allowed Lowell to salvage some pride. A scoreless second half gave Lowell something to build on and Crown Point something to work on after the season's first football game.

The Bulldogs (1-0) had to win this game and they played like it. After losing to Lowell for three consecutive seasons, the Bulldogs took advantage of a  pass interception by senior linebacker Eric Gulbrandsen in the first three minutes of the game. Crown Point then gave the ball to big junior Dave Swenson (6-2, 221), who carried on four consecutive plays and scored on a 2-yard TD run with 8:14 to go in the quarter.

Lowell lost the ball again on their next possession after a 7-play drive when QB Chuck Thompson made a bad pitchout and senior Sean O'Drobinak recovered at the Crown Point 29-yard line. CP's offensive line, center Nick Hoffman, guards Sean Ellingsen (6-2, 235)  and  Riste Jakimoski 6-2, 220), tackles and Mark McInerney (6-2, 290) and Troy Bush (6-1, 215) led the Bulldogs on a 12-play drive leading to a 37-yard field goal by Chris Kutanovski.

Kutanovski was kicking in place of Sean O'Drobinak, who was injured in the scrimmage and limited in playing time last week by the coaching staff.

Lowell couldn't move the ball again, punting after three plays, and again a turnover set up a Bulldog score. The snap from center to punter Tim Sova was high and he couldn't field in cleanly. Senior Steve Etter hit Sova to push him away from the loose ball and O'Drobinak made his second fumble recovery at the Lowell 1-yard-line.

A penalty pushed Crown Point back to the six-yard-line but the Bulldogs made it 16-0 on a play-action pass from QB Matt Cowan (3-of-7, 28 yards) to O'Drobinak, who seemed to be in on every big play.  Bobby Rutherford, who took over at tailback when Swenson suffered a minor leg injury in the second quarter, made it 23-0 on an 82-yard run through the left guard-tackle hole with 3:40 left before half-time.

"Bobby ran well," said CP coach Chip Pettit. "The 82-yard run was big. But everything started with the five guys up front."

"They just beat us," said Lowell's 12th-year coach Kirk Kennedy.  "To their credit, they took advantage of all the mistakes we made. There's no excuses. How we respond to this determines if we're losers or not."

Lowell inched towards respectability in the second half when junior John Huseman recovered a fumble and grabbed a tipped pass for an interception. The Red Devils can feel good about shutting out the home team in the second half but truthfully, three second half turnovers kept CP from scoring more.      

"I think we prevented ourselves from scoring more, " said Pettit  "because we couldn't hang onto the ball."

Crown Point outgained Lowell 263-84 and the Bulldogs never punted so there's no way to say this game was close. But Crown Point should beat Lowell. They are a bigger school from a bigger conference. They will have to play much better to survive at East Chicago next Friday.

"This is just one game," said Pettit. "East Chicago handled us pretty well here last year. This is just one."

GRID GRADES

CROWN POINT OFFENSE -   Grade D

This may seem harsh but watching the tape of this game shows that the Bulldogs didn't play as well as the score might indicate. The offensive line, led by senior center Nick Hoffman, was excellent. But quarterback

Matt Cowan and running back Bobby Rutherford will have better days. Rutherford carried an unofficial 18 times for 184 yards and his 82-yard run was a show stopper but Bobby can't fumble the ball like he did (twice) in this game.  Cowan threw one pass that should've been intercepted and another that should've been. His fake on the TD pass to O'Drobinak was topflight but he could've hit his big tight end a couple of other times had he been patient. To be fair, CP's intensity lagged in the second half, but 263 total yards probably won't win any more games this season.

CROWN POINT DEFENSE -   Grade A-

Not only did the CP defenders hold a very inexperienced Lowell offense to just 94 yards, they survived three turnovers by the offense. Late in the game, when the outcome was no longer in doubt, the Bulldogs stopped Lowell anyway on two possessions. An interception by senior Mike Smith and a sack by end Adam Hilliard ended the late threats.

The reason for the minus is that CP was vulnerable to the option if Lowell had run it correctly. There was a play with nine minutes to go in the game where had Lowell's Chuck Thompson handed the ball to fullback Toby Goetz instead of keeping it, Goetz would've run away from the defense for a 63-yard TD.
Plus, Lowell didn't test Crown Point's secondary, which is presumed to be the
soft spot of the defense.

Still, some of that is maybes and possiblys. The facts are that the Bulldogs shut out a team for the first time since Crown Point beat Munster 27-0 on Aug. 28, 1998.

LOWELL OFFENSE -   Grade F+

Lowell is not as bad as they looked last week. They threw two interceptions, fumbled a pitchout and a bad punt snap and had several other plays that weren't run smoothly. The Red Devils didn't complete a pass and never got inside the Crown Point 25-yard-line.

Why do they get a plus? Lowell got 10 first downs. Fullback Toby Goetz (13 carries, 60 yards) and halfback Justin Henley (12 carries, 44 yards) ran hard and never gave up. Lowell  played like they were scared, something that is very understandable with more than half of the offense starting in a varsity game for the first time. Very few play very well in their first varsity start. That's an excuse but it's also a fact.

Bottom line, last week, Lowell could not have won with the performance they had on offense.

LOWELL DEFENSE -   Grade C+

Crown Point, with a much bigger offensive line, gained 263 yards and scored three TDs. One was set up when Lowell fumbled at the one yard line. Another came when Lowell threw an interception at the 14 yard line. The third CP TD was an 82-yard run. Crown Point never punted but they also never completed a sustained touchdown drive.  Lowell's pass coverage, a sincere source of worry after the scrimmage, was acceptable. Linebacker Mike Marzotto was a leader on the field and the Devils hit hard. The two breakdowns were on the 82-yard run and the play-action TD to O'Drobinak, which shouldn't have fooled everyone on the Lowell defense the way it did. Lowell will not see many backfields the size of Crown Points. Few Lake Athletic Conference teams have somebody like Mark McInerney (6-2, 295).  The Devils would get crushed in the Duneland Conference but they don't play in the DAC. Just for the record, the last time Crown Point beat Lowell badly (41-19 in 1997), the Devils went on to go 8-3.