Lowell defense holds on for 18-13 win over rival Griffith

A USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith

9-10-2011

Friday, September 9, 2011,  63 degrees & light rain, Northwest Crossroads Conference at LOWELL, IN

1st Qtr: LOWELL (6-0) Nick Kijurna, 63-yard pass from Bryan Thomas. 80-yard drive, 6 plays. Kick failed. 5:34 left.
LOWELL (12-0) Nick Hamilton, 62-yasrd run with fumble., Kick wide. 2:31 left.
2nd Qtr: GRIFFITH (12-6) Troy Yarnelle, 27-yard pass from Austin Brown. 43-yard drive, 3 plays. Kick wide. 12:15 left.
LOWELL (18-6) Tyler Hamm, 23-yard halfback pass from Jeremy Crocker. 91 yards drive, 16 plays. 0:02 left.
3rd Qtr:  No scoring.
4th Qtr: GRIFFITH (18-13) Brett Brinkley, 8-yard run. 17-yard drive, 4 plays after Austin Brown's interception run back to the Lowell 17. 6:23 left.
 

RUSHING:
GRIFFITH (35 carries, 215 yards, TD) Tyler Yost (FB) 14 carries, 68 yards, Troy Yarnelle (HB) 1-6 yards, fumble; Brett Brinkley (WR) 4-43 yards, TD; Austin Brown (QB) 16-98 yards;
LOWELL (50 carries, 176 yards, TD, fumble) Nick Hamilton (HB) 28 carries, 93 yards; Bryan Thomas (QB) 11-37 yards; George Fields (HB) 6-17 yards; Nick Mikesell (HB) 2-10 yards; Zach Wolfe (HB) 2-15 yards; Austin Magley (FB) 1-4 yards.

PASSING:
GRIFFITH: Austin Brown (QB) 4-8, 78 yards, one TD, 2 interceptions;
LOWELL: Bryan Thomas (QB) 1-3, 67 yards, TD, interception; Jeremy Crocker (FB) 1-1, 23 yards, TD.

RECEIVING:
GRIFFITH: Troy Yarnelle (HB) 1-27 yards, TD; Brett Brinkley (WR) 2-34 yards; Joey Golub (TE) 1-17 yards;
LOWELL: Tyler Hamm (WR) 1-23 yards, TD; Nick Kijurna (TE) 1-67 yards, TD.

TOTAL YARDS:
GRIFFITH: 293 total yards, 12 first downs, 2 turnovers;
LOWELL: 266 total yards, 10 first downs, 2 turnovers.

LOWELL (9-09-2011) It wasn't a great performance for Lowell. They made more key turnovers and penalties. But this time they won. The score: 18-13. Flawed. Unusual.
That's where both of these teams are right now, especially the victorious Devils.

"We did alright," said coach Keith Kilmer, who was pleased but clearly not thrilled. "We're trying to close out games. It's a great win. We're happy for the program. But we're not 'there' yet."

Lowell's defense may be "there."

Twice they stopped Griffith on downs inside the Lowell 5-yard line and they also stopped Panther star fullback Tyler Yost for no gain on a fake punt in the fourth quarter. The Devils' two senior defensive tackles, Luke Mitrisin (6-3, 308) and Jake Hayden (5-11, 266) were run stoppers between the tackles, forcing Griffith to go outside, or at least, on an angle, for much of their yardage. The Devil defenders all get credit for this win.
 

Especially ends Nick Kijurna and Tyler Wright in front of linebackers Jeremy Crocker, Anthony Mauer, Tyler Kristoff and Austin Magley. They teamed to stop Panther QB Austin Brown (6-1, 195) on 4th-and-goal from the 1-yard-line with 1:39 to go in the first quarter with Lowell leading 12-0. The Devils also stopped Brown again on 4th-and-5 from the Lowell 6-yard-line with the score 12-6 and 6:16 left in the half. Without those stops, Lowell is 1-3 and there is no talk of a conference championship.

"We have our goals set," said Magley, who is healthy for football for the first time in his four years at Lowell. "But we're still taking it one game at a time. We're good in our conference right now. But we've got lot of work to do if we want to win the conference."

It was a sloppy, defensive game played in a steady rain, on a muddy field and under a misty, moody September sky. In its own messy, mushy way, it was a classic very much in the tradition of two old Northwest Indiana high schools that have met every single year since 1934.

"Griffith week," said Magley (5-9, 185), a running back and linebacker who experienced it as a player for the first time. "It's the best week there is. We don't like them. They don't like us. We respect them. They respect us. Some of the hardest hitting you're ever going to have is Griffith week from eighth grade to now."
 

Lowell, a team which usually completes long sustained drives, hit three long range TDs in the rain on this night to stay tied with Andrean at the to of their league.
 

In the first quarter, on a 3rd-and-14 from the Lowell 33-yard line, junior quarterback Bryan Thomas rolled out and found tight end Nick Kijurna (6-3, 226) 10-15 yards down field. Kijurna, a varsity basketball player, slipped two tackles and ran away from the defense for a 67-yard touchdown and a 6-0 lead with 5:34 left in the first quarter.
 

Minutes later Griffith handed Lowell the key TD of the night. On a sweep play by Troy Yarnelle, the wet football popped loose and Nick Hamilton, the Devils two-way senior halfback, picked it up and raced 62 yards for another TD to make the score 12-0.

Griffith scored in the second quarter after a short punt left the ball at the Lowell 43. Yost (5-9, 210) gained 13 yards on the first run, and one play later QB Austin Brown faked a handoff and tossed a lob pass down the middle of the field to a wide open Yarnelle for an easy 27-yard TD with 12:15 left until halftime.
 

Everybody missed extra points so the score should have been 12-6 at halftime. But Lowell stole a third TD just before halftime.
 

Griffith drove down inside the Lowell 10-yard line only to have Brown stopped on a fourth down option play by linebackers Austin Magley and Mitch Leckrone at the 7-yard line with 6:16 left in the second quarter.
 

Lowell then mounted a drive which was meant, in some respects, just to run out the clock. But Hamilton broke off a 13-yard gain. Thomas gained 17 yards on an option run. Finally, at the Griffith 23-yard-line, on a 3rd-and-3, Thomas pitched out to fullback Jeremy Crocker, who is Lowell's backup QB. Crocker threw a wobbly pass down the home sidelines that was tipped by a Griffith defender.
 

Senior Tyler Hamm, the intended receiver, poked his feet down in bounds in the front corner of the end zone and grabbed the ball for the Devils' third TD.
 

Lowell didn't come out and say this, but the Devils had to win this game. They know it wasn't a great performance, but they also know it wasn't a loss.
 

"Every win is a big win," said Kilmer, who wasn't celebrating.
 

Kilmer is clearly frustrated over his boys' inability to hold onto the ball.
 

"Our defense. I don't know if it's 'bend but don't break' or what," he said. "But when you turn the ball over 2 times, you're lucky to win."
 

Lowell came into the game with 11 turnovers in three games and they added to the total with a fumble by Nick Hamilton in the second quarter and an interception thrown by QB Bryan Thomas in the fourth quarter.
 

"That's 11 turnovers we've lost," reminds Kilmer. "That doesn't count all the fumbles we've recovered that's killed drives."
 

You could hear the Lowell coach preaching 'ball security" to his boys throughout the second half as Lowell played with a lead.
 

The Devils' defense has allowed two TDs a game so far. That's not an average. That's the total. They gave up two to CP, two to Morton, two at Kankakee Valley and two again to Griffith. Offensive mistakes have set up most of the TDs and there is a feeling that if the offense played a turnover-free game, the Devils might win some games decisively. But Lowell did contain Griffith's triple option running game, especially after halftime.
 

"We've each got a man," said Magley. "We have responsibilities and we have to hit our man every play. I had the quarterback. Our D-tackles and middle linebacker get the quarterback."
 

"We play assignments," said Kilmer. "Somebody's got the fullback. Somebody's got the quarterback and somebody's got the halfback. They try to widen us out to the point where we can't get to them. We didn't stop them but we did all right. Their quarterback is very good. He's a problem and he's just a junior."

The Devils struggled with blocking Griffith's eight-man front. After halftime and there was a lot of frustration on the Lowell sideline that they could not score one more TD, which would have clinched a key game at home.
 

A interception by Griffith's Brown with 8:26 to go led to a TD run by Troy Yarnelle with 6:33 left that made the game closer than it should have been. Lowell had 18 points by halftime and they had to punt four times in the second half.

"It's hard when they blow our splits up. It's hard to have a 6-foot-4, 300-pound guy when they throw a little guy at his ankles," said Kilmer, a former offensive lineman himself. "Right now, I'm not happy with them, but I have to watch the tape. Y'all know I'm a film guy."

"It felt different at halftime because we were ahead," said Magley, noting that this was the first night Lowell had the lead after two quarters. "But after that, it's zero-zero. It's a new ballgame."

Lowell has to play better. The Devils are having major problems on offense and they know it. They committed two more turnovers against Griffith, giving them an uncomfortable total of 13 for the year. The Devils are very lucky to be 2-2 with 13 turnovers in four games.
 

But look at the schedule. The future is now for this team with Highland (1-3), Hobart (1-3), Hammond (4-0) and Munster (1-3) lined up in the next four weeks. If the Devils win all four, they get to play undefeated Andrean (4-0) for the Northwest Crossroads Conference championship at home on Oct. 14. Kilmer most certainly did not say that. He's still trying to figure out the antidote for the turnover plague that has hit his team.
 

"They're all must games," he said of the next phase in the schedule. We can build on this. We know that hard work and playing with heart pays off. We're playing hard. We just don't understand how important these little mistakes are. To play a great program like Griffith and beat them means a lot to our program."

DEVIL NOTES: Griffith had a very small crowd make the trip down to the south end of Lake County in the rain. It did not appear as if there were more than 100 fans on the visitors side.
Rain early in the day may have convinced many to stay home. Lowell suffered no new injuries Friday and they expect to have center Wroe King (5-11, 190) and defensive tackle Brandon Reed (5-7, 226) back available for duty. Both were projected starters this fall but neither has played as of yet. The two seniors will expand the rotation on the lines for Lowell where several boys play both offense and defense.
 

The Devils' offensive frustrations are epitomized by their attempts to kick extra points. Lowell has not successfully kicked an extra point all season. It was raining and muddy, but they missed three more times against Griffith. The reasons were different. Bad hold. Bad kick. Whatever. Lowell is 0-for-7 this year on point after touchdown (PAT) kicks. They have made some two-point conversion runs so far this year, but no extra point kicks have been successful.
 

"I'm stubborn." said Kilmer. "I'm going to keep kicking it until we make it. I've got coaches in my ear telling me to go for two. The snap. The kick. The hold. Something goes wrong every time. But we're going to keep doing it till we get it right. No. 55 (sophomore Sebastian Zagarena) is going to be the reason we win a sectional game."

Tonight it wasn't him.