Minutemen over-power Lowell 44-13 in sectional opener at Concord

A USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith

10-24-2010

Friday, October 22, 2010,  55 degrees, dry - Class 4A, Sectional 10 Quarterfinal at ELKHART, IN

1st Qtr: CONCORD (7-0) Anthony Yoder, 5-yard run. One play after a 63-yard punt return by Alex Sith. Nick Wysong kick. 10:14 left.
CONCORD (14-0) DuWhan Alford, 24-yard run. 55-yard drive, 2 plays. Nick Wysong kick. 7:47 left.
2nd Qtr: CONCORD (17-0) Nick Wysong, 25-yard field goal. 11:54 left.
CONCORD (24-0) DuWhan Alford, 22-yard run. 69-yard drive, 9 plays. Nick Wysong kick. 8:15 left.
LOWELL (24-7) Jordan Juarez, 5-yard run. 77-yard drive, 8 plays. Cole Midgett kick. 4:24 left.
CONCORD (31-7) Alex Sith, 51-yard TD pass from Anthony Yoder. 75-yard drive, 3 plays after Mitch Claxton recovered Chris Sekuloski's fumble at the Concord 25-yard-line. Nick Wysong kick. 0:40 left.
3rd Qtr: CONCORD (37-7) Alex Sith, 64-yard pass from Anthony Yoder. 64-yard drive, 3 plays after the second half kickoff. Kick blocked by Cole Midgett. 10:30 left.
CONCORD (44-7) Alex Sith 51-yard interception return. Nick Wysong kick. 4:04 left.
4th Qtr:  LOWELL (13-44) Bryan Thomas, 5-yard run. 78-yard drive, 10 plays. 2-pt. Run failed. 5:20 left.

RUSHING:
LOWELL (40 caries, 194 yards, 2 TDs, 3 fumbles) Cole Midget (HB) 17 carries, 91 yards; Jordan Juarez (FB) 8 carries, 42 yards, Chris Sekuloski (QB) 5 carries, 7 yards (3 sacks/minus-29 yards); Zach Wolfe (HB) 6 carries, 39 yards; Andrew Raidrich (WR) 1 carry, 4 yards; Bryan Thomas (QB) 3 carries, 9 yards;

CONCORD (25 carries, 103 yards, 3 TDs) DuWhan Alford (FB) 11 carries, 74 yards, 2 TDs; Anthony Yoder (QB) 7 carries, 1 yards (2 sacks/minus-10); Dion Pet (WR) 1 carry, 31 yards; Trevor Olenczauk (HB) 3 carries, (minus-3); Jackson Marlow (HB) 1 carry, 4 yards; Ryan McKibbin (QB) 2 carries, minus-4 (one sack/minus-8).

PASSING:
LOWELL: Chris Sekuloski (QB) 7-of-15, 114 yards, 3 interceptions; Cole Midgett (QB) 0-for-3;
CONCORD: Anthony Yoder (QB) 10-of-14, 209 yards, 2 TDs.

RECEIVING:
LOWELL: Jeremy Crocker (FB) 1-15 yards; Jason Parker (WR) 1-23 yards; Cole Midgett WR) 2-30 yards; Jordan Juarez (FB) 3-39 yards; John Hilbrich (WR) 1-7 yards.
CONCORD: Alex Sith (WR) 4 catches, 137 yards, TD; Logan Druas (WR) 2-30 yards; Dion Peet (WR) 1-14 yards; Joe Adams (WR) 1-12 yards; Franko House (TE) 1-10 yards; DuWhan Alford (RB) 1-6 yards.

TOTAL YARDS:
LOWELL (308 total yards, 11 first downs, six turnovers);
CONCORD (312 total yards) 10 first downs, no turnovers).

ELKHART, IN (10-22-2010)  Those of us who follow Lowell football have been spoiled. We've seen Lowell go on the road and take down ranked teams fairly regularly in the last half dozen years. There even got to be the thought that the Devils could beat the same teams again and again, ending season after season for good football schools and there would never be a judgment day.

Friday night, almost 100 miles form home, Class 4A Sectional 10 finally got the best of the Red Devils.

One year after Concord lost 60-23 at Lowell, the undefeated Minutemen were waiting with an ambush for the Devils, rolling to a 31-7 halftime lead and winning 44-13 in a 4A Sectional Ten quarterfinal. The blowout loss, Lowell's first sectional quarterfinal defeat in 10 years, ended the Devils' 21-game sectional winning streak and cut their string of seven consecutive sectional championships, the second longest streak (Hobart won 19 in a row from 1979 to 1997) in Northwest Indiana high school football history.

On a near-perfect 55-degree football night, the Minutemen (10-0), who had long since tired of losing to Lowell, led 7-0 after 102 seconds and 14-0 after four minutes and 13 seconds and 17-0 on the first play of the second period. Lowell never got back within 10 points and the better team won.

"They didn't do anything differently on offense," said a disappointed Lowell coach Keith Kilmer, ending his debut season with a 6-4 record. It's all about number four (quarterback Anthony Yoder). But on defense, I was impressed. We thought we could run on them. But they shut us down. How many turnovers did we have? Six. You can't win with six turnovers."

The game was redemption for 4A No. 4 Concord and they played like it. Coach Tim Dawson was asked if the 37-point defeat at Lowell 12 months earlier contributed to his boys' hard-hitting, quick striking effort on this night.

"Well," he said with a smile. "When you look up at that scoreboard and they scored 60 points, that motivates you. That chapter is closed and we can move on."

Concord, the undefeated champion of the Northern Lakes Conference, acted like they had waited 12 months for this night. Lowell, which started slowly all season took the opening kickoff and gained one yard on three plays. Cole Midgett's punt was grabbed by Concord all-state candidate Alex Sith, who raced 61 yards down the home sidelines to the Lowell 5-yard-line. On the next play, Yoder (6-0, 170), a state qualifier in track, raced into the end zone out of the shot gun set and the home team led 7-0 in front of a capacity crowd of about 3,500.

Lowell gained eight yards on the next three plays and Sith ran Midgett's punt back 20 yards to the Concord 45. On the next play senior Dion Peet (6-2, 175) took a wide receiver reverse 31 yards deep into Lowell territory before he was even touched. On the next play. Yoder handed the ball to big sophomore running back DuJuan Alford (6-2, 230), who raced around left end untouched and sprinted 24 yards for the 14-0 TD.

Two plays after the next kickoff, Sith, who set a school-record with his ninth and 10th interceptions of the season, picked off a pass from Lowell QB Chris Sekuloski. The Lowell defense forced a punt, but the Devils again gained no yards on three plays. Concord drove the ball deep into Lowell territory again and Nick Wysong's eighth field goal of the year made it 17-0 on the first play of the second quarter.

On the next play, Sekuloski faked to Midgett and broke a QB keeper 38 yards into Concord territory, but the Minutemen stripped him of the footbal and Shane Jackson recovered at the Concord 41. The Minutemen quickly moved downfield 59 yards in 10 plays and Alford scored again, easily fooling the Devils on a 22-yard run for a 24-0 lead with 8:15 still left in the first half.

Concord didn't physically kill the visitors. They just zipped by the tentative Devils from their spread (4 wide receiver) attack. The same offense Lowell eventually stopped in the 2009 game.

"We started like that all year," said Kilmer. "I don't know what that is. I don't know if they didn't have faith in the game plan or in us as coaches. But when we finally realized we could play with them, we moved the ball right down the field. But we were 24 points behind before we did that."

Down by more than three touchdowns, Sekuloski (6-3, 175) rallied the Devils, completing four consecutive passes for 83 yards around a 12-yard loss (QB sack). Jordan Juarez' 5-yard-run cut the Concord lead to 24-7 with 4:21 left in the second quarter.

Then came Lowell's only chance to get back in the game. Juarez sacked Yoder, forcing a punt which was sliced out of bounds at the Concord 23-yard-line. One play later, Juarez raced 13 yards to the Concord 8-yard-line. But lineman Coty Brown (6-7, 265) was injured and had to be helped off the field. The delay took 15 minutes. On the next play, a roll-out pass by Sekuloski, Concord's defensive end Joey Wycoff ran the Lowell QB down from behind and forced another fumble, which Mitch Claxton recovered at the Concord 25 yard line. Yoder then completed three consecutive passes for a total of 75 yards, including a 51-yard TD to Sith (6-3, 190) for an insurmountable 31-7 halftime lead.

"When we had the ball down there right before the half, if we could have scored there and cut the lead to 10, then it's a ballgame," said Kilmer. "But then we fumbled and they went right down the field and scored. That one broke our guy's hearts right there."

This was not Navy bombing Notre Dame. Concord is 64-18 over the last seven years. They are a dominant team. No one has scored more than 14 points against the Minutemen all season. This was the third consecutive year that Lowell had faced an undefeated Top-5 team in the sectional. It's just the first time they've lost.

As they walked off the field, Lowell found it difficult to accept that they'd had a good season, defeating 3A No. 9 Andrean and 4A No. 9 Morton. It just wasn't any good by Lowell standards.

"The expectations here are huge," said Kilmer of his first year, "but that's what we have here. I liked it. There were a lot of firsts this year. Their first time with me and my first time with them. They all knew me but they all knew me as an assistant. Not the guy in charge. Now, all that's over. Next year, nothing will be new."

"I'll never forget the seniors in this class. My first class. I appreciate everything they did. I told the boys that something ended tonight and now it's time to build something new."

DEVIL NOTES: There was no happiness for the 'Lowell family' all weekend. Ex-Devils coach Kirk Kennedy saw his debut season at Bloomington South end at 2-8 with a 37-14 loss on the road at Whiteland (8-2). Kennedy's first season at Lowell ended with a 1-9 record. Lowell coach Keith Kilmer's wife Kim Kilmer and her Red Devil varsity girls volleyball team lost the 4A Sectional 1 semifinal to Munster in four games Saturday morning.

Lowell began and ended the season with 31-point losses on the road. Crown Point topped Lowell 37-6 to start the year.

The Devils had just 13 seniors on the playoff roster and they will have to replace key performers on the offensive side of the ball. But Lowell returns nine players who started at least one game on defense if you count injured defensive end Tyler Wright (6-4, 245). Lowell also has three experienced senior offensive line candidates in Wright, Luke Mitrisin and Jake Hayden and a squadron of fast 150-160 pound boys like Nick Hamilton, Zach Wolfe and Joey Gruszkowski who can run the ball.

But Lowell may have to re-sell its boys on football, as ridiculous as that sounds. Conventional logic says that all boys at Lowell want to be football players, but the Devils finished the season with just 47 players on the playoff roster and only 40 non-injured players in uniform. You won't win many three-week Class 4A sectional tournaments with 40 players.

The oddity was that there were 14 football-playing boys in the junior class. On the 2009 state finals team, there were 24 sophomores. No one is certain why those boys did not come out for football in 2010.

"I did not see that coming," said Kilmer. "Maybe it was the change in coaches. Maybe they thought things were going to be tough. I don't know. But next year everybody will know exactly what to expect. Kirk went through the same thing down at Bloomington South."

It may be wishful thinking, but some on the Lowell sidelines expect the Devils to return to Class 4A Sectional 9 in 2009, ending the 60-to-100-mile sectional road trips to Plymouth, South Bend and Concord. The IHSAA realigns teams according to enrollment every two years. New alignments will be announced next spring and several 4A Sectional 9 schools like Griffith (958), Lew Wallace (890) and Roosevelt (890) are very close to being 3A. Norwell (879), for example, is 3A now. All other things being equal, if one or both of the Gary schools dropped below Norwell in enrollment, Norwell would then be 4A, but the Fort Wayne area school would be in sectional 11 or 12.

The shuffling of the teams would slide two Sectional 11 teams back into Sectional 10 and two sectional 10 teams back into sectional nine to re-create the eight-team bracket. The westernmost teams in Sectional 10, by about 50 miles each, are Kankakee Valley and Lowell. KV and Lowell were both in sectional 9 prior to 2007. It seems inevitable they will return. It's just a matter of when.

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Revised: October 25, 2010 .