Lowell pulls together for 24-17 win over Mustangs

LOWELL (10-08-2010) Lowell was just 4-3 before last Friday. The Devils had defeated Kankakee Valley, Hammond and Highland this season but so had almost everybody else. Lowell topped 4A No. 8 Morton in August but we don't have to lie about that game. Morton gained 20 first downs and almost 400 yards. Lowell was lucky to win.

But Friday night's 24-17 Lowell victory over Munster. Final regular season home game. Only two weeks before the post-season. Finally. Lowell looked like Lowell.

Munster (5-3) played hard all night and well at times. But Lowell looked like the team that has won seven sectional titles in a row. They held Munster to 231 total yards and just 53 yards rushing. The Devils (5-3) collected 16 first downs and rushed for 251 yards themselves.

Lowell was emotional. They hit hard. They rallied from a 14-10 halftime deficit to beat a 5A team. It was the Devils' best game of the season. After the two-hour battle on a near perfect football Friday night, more than one person on the home sideline commented: "That's Red Devil football."

"I didn't say anything at halftime" said rookie coach Keith Kilmer, who could not practice his team Tuesday and Wednesday because school was closed in the aftermath of a shooting incident at the south end of town. "Just leave it on the field. The kickoff team set the tone. We hadn't had that."

Trailing 14-10, Lowell kicked off to start the third quarter, but Munster's Kyle Wargo bobbled the ball and was run down at his own 19-yard-line. Defensive end Jay Trappani knocked down Nate Egan for a 1-yard loss and Munster was called for illegal procedure. One play later on a 3rd-and-7, junior linebacker Nate Tokarz ignored a fake by Munster QB Mark Strbjak and hit the QB at full speed, causing a fumble. Trappani recovered at the Munster 14 and Lowell took the lead three plays later on a 5-yard-run by Northwest Indiana scoring leader Cole Midgett.

Lowell never trailed after that, dominating the game until Munster mounted a late rally in the fourth quarter.

"It was a good high school football game," said Munster's 32-year coach Leroy Marsh. "We played as hard as we could. But they played as hard as they could so give them credit. They put a lot of pressure on us. Sometimes we responded. Sometimes we didn't."

Lowell's defensive front with Trappani, Jake Hayden, Jeremy Crocker and Spencer Kersey in the line in front of Tokarz, Mike Sekuloski, Clark Mikesell and Jordan Juarez changed the game by holding Munster to just one first down in the third period. That allowed the Red Devil offense to run the ball like they always want to with the Devils veteran offensive line gearing the way for another headline night by Midgett (5-8, 155), who scored all 24 of his team's points.

Lowell's senior halfback gained an unofficial 197 yards on 33 caries, making him the schools' 10th 1,000-yard rusher (148 carries, 1,139 yards) in the state tournament era. But the yards are secondary. After failing to reach the end zone in Lowell's season-opening 37-6 loss to Crown Point, Midgett has scored a stunning 170 points in his last seven games including 21 touchdowns, three field goals and 30 of 35 extra points. The small senior is Lowell's halfback, corner back, punter, place kicker and kick returner as well as occasionally being a wide receiver and backup quarterback.

"I'm a little surprised at all this," Cole admitted after his fourth 20-point game of the season. "I thought this Thursday we all came out more jacked up than we've been all season."

"The happiest I was tonight," Marsh said, "was when I looked at the roster and saw that he (Midgett) was a senior. Him and Juarez. Because I thought he was a junior. He's just a great player."

Munster, which tied Lowell for the NCC title in 2009, almost tied the game with tricks. Trailing 24-14, Strbjak fired a lateral pass to receiver Nate Eagan, who then completed a 56-yard pass to Matt Collison, who carried the ball down to the Lowell 15.

Four plays later Marsh shrewdly chose to have kicker Jake Smith boot a 30-yard field goal on 4th-and-13 with 1:27 to play so Munster could try an onside kick. Midgett tried to secure the slow bouncing ball before it had traveled 10 yards, but he fumbled to the Mustangs, with Eagan recovering at the Munster 49 with just 1:17 to go in the game.

Lowell stopped four roll-out pass plays with a heavy rush to finally end the roller-coaster contest.

"Got to have a few things," Marsh smiled. "We got 'em but we didn't get enough of them. The sack and the fumble (at the start of the third quarter) was the difference in the game. In championship type games, that's what they like."

Lowell is 2-0 since Juarez has come back from a dislocated elbow. Playing with a big pad guarding the injured area, the Lowell senior linebacker made his presence felt, especially on defense with at least four high impact hits. One time, he seemed to re-injure the elbow, but he never missed a play.

"It's just a little ding," he said. "I'm fine. I need to work a little more on range of motion, but I'm almost there. I came back last week because I didn't want my first game back to be Munster. I needed to see what I could do with it (the elbow) and get a little more confident. Tonight, I was really confident in it."

It's been well publicized in local football circles that Lowell had lost Juarez and Tyler Wright, two all-area players to injury in the second game of the season. Wright is out for the year as are defensive end prospect Nick Leckrone (6-5, 185), junior tight end-linebacker Nick Kijurna (6-3, 188) and probably junior fullback-linebacker Austin Magley (5-9, 180). On a small 46-man roster, those losses hurt the Devils physically and mentally. They didn't play with a lot of confidence in a 42-41 home loss to Hobart, the Devils first home loss in three years. But the return of Juarez on offense and defense (he gained 40 yards on six carries as a fullback) has clearly sparked Lowell just weeks before the sectional playoffs begin.

"I've called us soft (the last few weeks) but we weren't soft against Morton," said Kilmer. "We weren't soft against KV (the game where Juarez was hurt)."

"He raises the physical-ness of our team. Plus, I think when some of our young kids saw him get hurt they worried about themselves getting hurt. Now they see, that you get hurt, you come back and still play."

Lowell contained Strbjak, a very mobile QB, who is Munster's leading passer and rusher, much better after halftime. The Mustangs also handed the ball to the man in motion out of their traditional Wing-T formation at least 10 times. Lowell handled it much better after halftime.

"They started blitzing people," said Marsh, "and getting more people over the top than we could block."

"I thought we kept him contained," said Kilmer. "If he (Strbjak) gets out, he's trouble. But he kept having to cut back into the mess and that was the big thing."

Lowell won this game with just two practice days due to the school being closed as authorities looked for the gunman (who was captured early Thursday) whose shooting spree shook up the community. Everyone wondered whether or not Lowell would be ready to play.

"After the Highland game," Kilmer said, "watching all the missed tackles, we stopped watching the film on Monday. We walked through the game plan. And we did that the last two weeks. So we did get outside this past Monday. That helped. And we did have Thursday. So we were okay."

Lowell was 7-1 after losing to Munster last year and they were down 10 points to Andrean at halftime when they rallied for a 25-21 win. More than one person noticed that this season seems to be following a similar track.

"I think it's starting to hit some of our guys that this season is coming to an end," said Juarez. "We only have one more regular season game and one playoff game promised to us. I think everybody wants it a little more now."

"It's just a big win for us program-wise," said Kilmer. "We jelled as a team offensively and defensively. That was Red Devil football. We pounded the ball and we played simple, hard defense. That's what made it a better game."


DEVIL NOTES: Lowell's win gave Griffith (5-3, 5-1) at least a half share of the Northwest Crossroads Conference title as Griffith topped Andrean (6-2, 4-1) in two overtimes 20-19.
If Lowell defeats Andrean next week, Griffith, which has completed league play, wins the outright NCC title.

Lowell junior Nick Kijurna (6-3, 188) will have foot surgery and is out for the year. He hopes to return for some part of the basketball season. Defensive end-tight end Mitchell Leckrone (6-5, 177) has a broken hand and won't play again until 2011. Junior fullback-linebacker Austin Magley (5-9, 181) is probably through until basketball with a foot injury and junior MacKenzie Besse has been out for some time. Tyler Wrght was lost for the season in week three and has had knee surgery.

Of the original 46 on the roster, Juarez' return gives Lowell 41 players, a very low number for Class 4A.

Munster coach Leroy Marsh praised big quarterback Mark Strbjak (6-2, 195), who stood tall under Lowell's heavy defensive pressure.

"He's a battler," said the coach. "Sometimes he battles too long when he should get rid of the ball. But he's a great kid and a great competitor."

Lowell uses a video aid that many fans are not aware of.

"It's called huddle," he said after Friday's game. "H-U-D-L. We put our game film on it and our opponents game film. And they can watch it at home. I can put notes on it and I can tell them to watch a certain play. They log in with a code number and they watch. I can tell who's watching how much film. That's what we did Tuesday and Wednesday. It's not cheap but the boosters picked it up for us and every program in the school can use it."

Kilmer wasn't worried about the two days off.

"Maybe in week one I would have been, but at this point of the season, maybe a day off isn't the worst thing. With how many kids we had injured. What I thought might happen did. We had personnel problems. Getting the right men on the field. We had two 12-men-on the field penalties. Illegal procedure. Those are the things you take care of during the week when our personnel changes. (Jason) Parker didn't play last week. He was back this week. Those are the issues I knew we'd have problems with."

One advantage was that Munster's like us. We've played them over the years. They're not fancy. It's like preparing for us. They know the 'iso' (isolation run) is coming. We know the (wing-T sweep) sweep's coming.

Coach Kilmer excused Cole Midgett for fumbling the onside kick in the final 90 seconds, giving Munster a chance to tie the game. The ball didn't go 10 yards as it must by the rules (for onside kicks) and Munster took possession at the Munster 49-yard-line.

"He had a clear shot at it," said the coach. "If the ball's going on an angle it's eventually going to go 10. If its not, I'm yelling at him. I'd rather he take a shot than wait 'til it comes to him."

As it turns out, Midgett did not break Toby Goetz' single game rushing record against Hobart last month. Unofficial totals gave him 315 yards rushing, which would have beaten Goetz 2005 record of 302 yards. But the school's official count gave Midgett 286 yards on 27 carries so Toby's record stands.

Midgett, who plays almost every down, doesn't seem to lose any foot speed as the game goes on.

"He (Kilmer) has got me for track," says Cole, who was part of Lowell's state finalist 1,600-meter relay team, coached by Kilmer last spring. "This is nothing compared to that."

Kilmer praised Dominick Rebesco for giving Lowell more depth. Kilmer switched guard Rebesco (6-0, 250) with center Tim McInnis (5-11, 200) and ended up with a more powerful center and a quicker guard.

"What's helped (defensive tackle) Jake Hayden is that we can put Dominick in there and get Jake off the field on third downs. Give him a rest. We don't want to do that a lot, but we can do it. We're losing players (to injury) but we're developing depth."