Heuer's 5 rushing TDs leads Red Devils to 37-19 win over Portage in home opener

LOWELL (08-28-2020) When Lowell signed up Portage for week two on the Red Devil football schedule six years ago, I didn’t assume they’d win the first two games in many seasons.

But, for the third time in six years, Class 4A Lowell is 2-0 after facing two Class 6A schools. Starting the season with two of northern Indiana’s largest schools has been a challenge, but it has not yet been the mismatch it appears to be enrollment-wise.

The Devils improved over week one with a 37-19 win over Portage and they cleared a hurdle they set up at the start of each football season.

“They (CP and Portage) both compliment what we look for in our team,” said coach Keith Kilmer. “Crown Point is usually big and physical. Portage wasn’t that big this year. Last year they were a lot bigger. But they have a lot of speed. They’re athletic.”

Lowell won in ‘old school’ Lowell fashion with big plays on defense and special teams plus a running attack that turned first downs into touchdowns. Lowell gained 291 yards and five TDs rushing on 47 carries. And the Devils got two big turnovers that produced TDs in the first and fourth quarter.

And they may have answered a question that the Devils carried into this season. Midway through 2019, the Lowell coaches took a sophomore safety named Joe Heuer and put him at running back, even though he was all of 5-foot-6 and 171 pounds. Heuer was a surprise. ‘Little Joe’ gained 412 yards and scored nine touchdowns on 68 carries as a runner and he returned eight kickoffs for a 41-yard average and two more TDs.

But the tougher part of Lowell’s schedule was the early games against CP, Portage and Morton. Heuer didn’t average six yards a carry against those guys. Last week against Portage from the big school Duneland Athletic Conference (DAC) on an 80-degree night, Heuer carried 31 times for 232 yards and scored a touchdown in every quarter.
 
“He’s just a Red Devil football player,” said Kilmer. “He’s a tough kid. The kids’ been on our sidelines since fourth grade as a ball boy. He’s lived it. So he’s been out here and he’s ready to take his turn as one of those backs that have traditionally put this team’s offense in his back.”

Lowell started with a boom as a big hit by Spencer Barta forced a fumble recovered by Lowell’s Kyle Simmons at the Portage 21-yard line. Five plays later, Heuer (5-7, 170) scored on a 3-yard run and Lowell had a 6-0 lead early in the first quarter. Portage punted the first two times they had the ball and Heuer, who gained 53 yards on 19 carries at Crown Point in the season opener, broke loose on a 42-yard run to give the Devils a 13-0 lead with 3:53 still left in the first quarter.
 
Lowell linebacker Caleb Miranda recovered a Portage fumble at the 38-yard line and Heuer scored on an 11-yard run to make it 19-0 early in the second quarter.

Portage rallied late in the second quarter as QB Tylee Swopes began to find top receiver Devan Howard. Howard grabbed a 42-yard TD pass to make it 19-6 with 3:53 left in the half and after a Lowell punt, Howard caught passes of 41 and 22 yards to set up Swopes for a one-yard TD with just six seconds left in the half.

After an exchange of punts at the start of the third quarter, Lowell drove 37 yards to score. Heuer carried on five consecutive plays including a 15-yard TD run that made the score 25-13. Nothing fancy. Just letting the Lowell junior pick his way through the line.

Then a play that left a bad taste in the mouth of Portage folks as they headed back to Porter County. The Indians (1-1) drove deep into Lowell territory and seemed set to score when Swopes hit Howard with a short pass just as Howard was smacked in the back by Lowell cornerback Sean Lamping, knocking the ball out of Howard’s hands. It appeared to be an incomplete pass but the referees let the play go on. Lowell’s sophomore linebacker Riley Bank scooped up the ball and raced 80 yards for Lowell’s fifth TD of the game with 47 seconds left in the third quarter.

Kilmer was glad that Bank (5-10, 180), who had a pass interception in the win at Crown Point, didn’t stop playing.

“If you watch me on film,” said Kilmer, “you‘ll see I didn’t move (when Bank ran for the TD). I thought sure it was coming back. I’d have been screaming and yelling if I was them (the Indians) too.”

That play killed any Portage comeback hopes. It was 31-19 when Heuer scored on the final play of the game on a 41-yard run. Kilmer said that he’d have preferred if Joe had stopped short of the end zone as time ran out and he apologized to Portage coach Terry Chestovich after the game.

Lowell didn’t make a big deal out of beating two 6A schools, probably because they have state-ranked Hobart and Andrean (plus undefeated Kankakee Valley) down the road. Also, because Lowell hasn’t had their complete team yet.

Lowell has more than one player sitting due to the Covid-19 situation. They have no positive tests but the Devils do have players who were in contact with a positive test recipient. Boys who miss practice because they must be quarantined must then practice a certain amount of times before they can play again.

“Our roster’s going to change about 15 different times this year,” said Keith Kilmer.

DEVIL NOTES: Lowell is 2-0 for the first time since 2017 when they went 8-0 on the regular season. Since the start of the 2017 season, Lowell is now 17-2 at home.

Since Lowell renewed their series with Portage in 2015, the Devils and Indians have now split six games. Since the start of the 2015 season, Lowell is now 54-15. The Devils are rated 11th in the Indiana Football Coaches Association (IFCA) poll.

The crowd at Lowell was about 750 fans, lower than a usual home game, certainly due to the Covid-19 virus situation. Lowell has five home games this year including a first-time ever meeting with Wheeler this coming Friday, September 4 and the rematch with defending 4A regional champ Hobart on September 18.

Lowell’s Joe Heuer now has 14 career rushing touchdowns on 118 carries and he has running back skills that many backs do not have. Heuer is unusually good at ‘reading’ his blockers, almost hiding behind lineman until he’s set to make his move. Despite being just 5-foot-6, Joe almost always initiates contact with the defender, most times with his right shoulder. Heuer also bends down lower than the tackler and thrusts forward on contact so he can break tackles in stride and run away. He says its just his natural running style but few running backs at this level actually do these things.

Joe Heuer’s days as a safety may be over, except maybe late in a game in an emergency. Any position preference?

“I like ‘em both,” he said.