Lowell beats Hobart at Brickie Bowl, 14-7
	A USA-365.com Special Report By Mark Smith 10-8-2005

Friday, Oct. 7, 2005,  52 degrees, rain sprinkles - LAC Black at Hobart

1st Qtr:  LOWELL  (7-0)  Steffan Peck, 73-yard run. 75-yard drive, 2 plays. Doug Lang kick. 7:35 left.
HOBART (7-7) Bobby James, 9-yard pass from Josh Miracle. 60-yard drive, 6 plays. Mike Whit kick. 5:52 left.

2nd Qtr:  No scoring.
3rd Qtr:  LOWELL (14-7)  Scott Gray, 11-yard run. 66 yard drive, 9 plays. Doug Lang kick. 5:26 left.

4th Qtr:  No scoring.

TOTAL YARDS: 

LOWELL (267),  HOBART (218)

FIRST DOWNS:  

LOWELL (12),  HOBART (14)

TURNOVERS:  

LOWELL (2), HOBART (2) 

PENALTIES:  

LOWELL 8-65 yards,  HOBART 5-30 yards

RUSHING: 

(Lowell - 46-216 yards, 2 TDs)  Scott Gray (L) 40 carries, 132 yards; Steffan Peck (L) 2 carries, 75 yards;  Jeff Clemens (L) 2 carries, 5 yards, Jimmy Ritter (L) 2 carries, 4 yards.

(Hobart -  20-61 yards, fumble)  Josh MIracle (H) 1 -0 yards; Andrew  Jackson (H) 19 carries, 60 yards.

PASSING:  

Jimmy Ritter (L) 4-of-11, 51 yards, 2 INTs
Josh Miracle (H) 17-of-39, 158 yards, one TD, one INT

RECEIVING:  

Michael Brown (H) 8-95 yards, Bobby James (H) 7-64 yards, TD;
Danny Schultz (H) 1-4 yards; Jeremy Coons (H) 1 (-4 yards)
Jeff Clemens (L) 3-33 yards;  Scott Gray (L) 1-18 yards

HOBART (10-7-2005) - When Hobart and Lowell get together on November 4 for the Sectional nine championship (as hopefully they will) nobody who shows up will be able to say they didn't know what to expect. Friday night, in Hobart's World War II era Brickie Bowl, Lowell's Red Devils battled Hobart for the fifth time in 25 months and nobody was surprised. It was another hard-hitting, low-scoring show, ultimately decided by two fourth quarter turnovers which left Lowell with a much-need 14-7 victory.

Neither team established any dominance over the other, but Lowell did win for the third straight week. If these are the teams the other must get by to win the upcoming Class 4A sectional nine championship game, Hobart (4-4, 3-3 LAC) certainly proved they could win. But Lowell, beating Hobart for the fourth time in five tries, indicated they should win.

"We have the heart to win," said senior Jeff Clemens, whose interception ended the Brickies' final threat in the final 10 seconds of the fourth quarter.  "We've just got to put it all together minus mental mistakes. Our defense is picking up. We're doing pretty well now."

"It wasn't pretty," said coach Kirk Kennedy. "We weren't the smartest team at times tonight. But we were able to get out with a win. We were able to survive." 

RB Scott Gray #6 take hand-off from QB Jimmy Ritter #7 in Lowell's 14-7 win over Hobart, 10-7-2005.

This was an odd game, but typical of this series. In 2004, Hobart beat Lowell 9-6 in week eight and lost to them 13-10 in week 11.

On Friday, it was 7-7 after seven minutes but it was also 7-7 at the half. Lowell mounted what proved to be the game winning drive on their first possession of the second half. Senior halfback Scott Gray broke a 22-yard run to the Hobart 44-yard-line and three plays later, Gray caught an 18-yard pass on 4th-and-15  at the Hobart 22.

Three more runs by Gray (5-8, 176), the last one a tackle-breaking 11-yard sweep put Lowell ahead 14-7 with 5:26 left in the third quarter.  From that point on, it was Lowell's undersized defense, which has allowed only 13 points per game, zipping around and stopping everything Hobart attempted.

Jeff Barker recovered Andrew Jackson's fumble at the Hobart 36 with 9:33 left in the game. Hobart junior quarterback Josh Miracle, who threw 39 times, missed three in a row from the Lowell 45, turning the ball over with 3:47 to play.

And Clemens, who dropped two earlier interceptions, grabbed the game-ending pickoff at the Lowell 10-yard-line in the final minute.

For Hobart, it was a very frustrating loss. Miracle, a rookie starter, clearly missed some open receivers that could have changed the outcome of this contest. Big sophomore Hobart halfback Andrew Jackson (6-0, 220) who gained 200 yards rushing a week earlier against Morton, was held to 60 yards on 19 carries, largely because Lowell stacked the line after halftime to stop him.

The move left single coverage on dangerous receivers Bobby James (7 catches - 74 yards) and Michael Brown (8 catches - 95 yards) with little help.  But Miracle who, to be fair, is playing with a foot injury, could not connect often enough to change the final score. 

While Lowell left the 60-year-old Brickie Bowl  boosted by a road win over a tough team, there should be no doubt that Hobart feels they should have won.

"That's exactly right," said Brickie coach Wally McCormack. "We couldn't run the ball so we had to throw. They played the exact same defense that Andrean played against us. They covered up all our linemen and they said, you're not going to move us and you're not going to be able to run."

Red Devils linebacker Josh Kuiper said that Lowell changed their defensive strategy after Jackson gained 46 yards on 12 first half carries. 

"We got a different scheme. Everyone matched up. (We) pretty much had everyone manned up. That worked for us." 

Kuiper, a quarterback and promising baseball catcher, didn't expect to be dragging down 220-pound ball caries this fall.  "I just wanted to be on the field somewhere," he said. "Linebacker is fun. This is a huge win. This was our first (since the 1-4 start) big test." 

Neither coach wanted to comment publicly, but both sides felt that there should have been more pass interference calls than there were. Lowell's cornerbacks, 5-foot-6 Steffan Peck and 5-foot-8  Scott Gray are more like small, fast linebackers and Hobart threw 39 times trying to break a big one with the 5-foot-10 Brown and the 6-foot-1 James. Many pass plays were hand-fighting battles between the taller Brickies and the smaller Devils. Lowell was not called for pass interference at all. But they felt the Hobart boys were pushing off and that was called just once, although that one call negated a 43-yard TD pass from Miracle to Brown late in the second quarter.

Lowell's RB Steffan POeck #31 turned a trap playt into a 73-yd TD run and 7-0 early lead over Hobart, 10-7-2005. (Photos by Mark Smith)

Lowell got off to a great start. After the Brickie defense stopped Gray four times in a row in the first two possessions, the Devils called a misdirection play with Peck, who zipped through the line, changed direction twice and outran star Hobart linebacker Richard Mitchell to the goal line for a 73-yard TD and a 7-0 lead.

"He's been a key member of our team this year," said Kennedy. "He filled a big void (with the injury to fullback Ethan Winel). He's had some breakaway runs. It was great to see him finish one off."

Hobart struck back immediately with a 60-yard drive in six plays. Miracle was 4-of-6 for all 60 yards including a nine-yard pass to a wide open James for the TD. Hobart should have scored after Shaun Zoladz intercepted a pass by Lowell's Jimmy Ritter at the Red Devil 34-yard-line. After Jackson, a future star runner, ran for two first downs, Miracle zipped a nine-yard pass to Brown at the Lowell three yard line. But on a 4th-and-one play from the three yard line, Hobart tried a quarterback sneak and the center of the Lowell line buried the 165-pound QB for a loss.

With the 220-pound Jackson and 340-pound Adam Bailey in the line, McCormack didn't want a sneak.  

"There was a missed communication on that play," he said. "I don't want to say anything else. There was a miscommunication on that play."

Red Devils' QB Jimmy Ritter attempts pass as Hobart's DB Dan Ruff defends, 10-7-2005.

Lowell's third quarter TD drive found an 18-yard pass from Ritter to Gray as a key play. On the 11-yard TD, Gray broke two tackles and ran to the flag. Hobart had four more possessions including a 52-yard, 12 play drive in the final 1:52 which ended when a 4th-and-6 pass from Miracle was intercepted by Clemens at the Lowell 5-yard-line after the Lowell star defender had dropped a ball that was thrown directly to him several plays earlier.

Lowell could have iced the game with 2:54 to play but a 52-yard TD pas from Ritter to Clemens was called back on an illegal formation penalty.

"We're our own worst enemy sometimes, but that really tests us when we have to overcome not only the opposition but ourselves. I told them that somebody's going to make plays to win the game but sometimes the mental effort was lacking. This shows we can play with them and play good enough football to beat a quality opponent."

Lowell is 4-4 but this is the first time the Devils have beaten a team with a record of .500 or above. No offense to Calumet (3-5), Munster (3-5) and Hammond (0-8) but Hobart is a much more formidable opponent.  And Kennedy is tired of hearing that Lowell can be forgiven for losing to Griffith (8-0), Crown Point (8-0) and Andrean (7-1) because those teams are state-ranked.

"Our popular excuse this year is that we've played a tough schedule," Kennedy said. "But we used to be a part of other team's tough schedules. We're not going to accept that. We're going to play Griffith, Andrean and Crown Point every year and we're going to beat them."

"Tonight, they made mistakes, we made mistakes. We came out and scored with some ease (in both halves). Do you suppose we eased up? That's what it looked like, but certainly that can't be what happened. Coming out of the game, we have a greater learning curve for the next game (against Hobart). I would have hoped we could have established some dominance. All things being equal, I feel good about it, but it's going to be tough."

LOWELL NOTES:  If Lowell and Hobart win their first two playoff games as expected, Lowell will host Hobart in the Class 4A Sectional nine championship game on Nov. 4.

Hobart coach Wally McCormack wouldn't mind that because it would mean two playoff wins.    

"I hope we can keep up our end of the bargain," he said. "We lost because of two players, No. 2 (Clemens) and No. 6 (Gray) on defense and on offense."

The state tournament pairings appear to have Lowell, if they win on the road at Gary Roosevelt on Oct. 21, at home for the sectional semifinals against Kankakee Valley or Munster and for the sectional title game against probably Hobart or Highland. In Sectional 10, undefeated Plymouth (8-0) is in the same position in the bracket as Lowell is in Sectional nine.  If the Pilgrims win at Northridge on Oct. 21, they would host a semifinals and finals. The point is, a Plymouth-Lowell game on Nov. 11 would appear to be located in Plymouth, which is 60 miles east of Merrillville on Route 30.

It is not inconceivable that Lowell would be home the night of Nov. 18 for a semistate game against Logansport (8-0), which is led by the former Lake Central coach Elmer Britton. Roosevelt was shut out 20-0 by Gary West Side Friday night.

Jeff Clemens pointed out that Lowell is on another streak. "We beat Munster (Oct. 7) on their homecoming. We beat Hobart on their homecoming. Next week is our homecoming. Hopefully, we can make it three in a row."

Lowell linebacker/fullback Ethan Winel did not play for the fifth consecutive game.

It was hoped he could return on this night. Winel has a broken bone in his leg and it would not be surprising now to see him sit out against Highland (4-4) in the regular season finale and Roosevelt (3-5) in the sectional quarterfinals. That would give the junior wrestling star almost two months off from the time he was injured against Griffith on Sept. 2.

Nobody talks about it, but a lot of playing Hobart is a fear factor. It's easy to stand on the sidelines and say what the boys should be doing against Hobart senior lineman Adam Bailey (6-4, 340) and hard-hitting linebacker Richard Mitchell (6-2, 215) but its a lot harder to get out there and do it.  Especially for guys like Lowell junior Josh Kuiper, who is all of 170 pounds. 

"Actually 160," said Kuiper, the Lowell backup QB who has moved in at linebacker this year. "I don't know. I'm not scared. I've played all year. You just have to have a little confidence."

Clemens agreed that you can't worry about the size factor. "We're in our meeting," he said. "And we've got to run at Bailey no matter what. We've got to tire him out. They're going to stop us sometimes, but we're still going to run it at them."

Clemens is not 100% recovered from the rib injury he suffered in August. The 6-foot-2, 175-pound multi-purpose player who did not play in Lowell's 32-13 loss at Morton, looks a little pained at times on the field, but he says he's okay.

"I'm doing a lot better," he said. "I'm breathing a lot better.  But I'm always on the field. I'm good to go."

The homecoming crowd at the Brickie Bowl in 50-degree weather was about 2,000 with about 200 people from Lowell. You can get a good argument on the sidelines about whether the Brickies should stay in the Brickie Bowl for football games after Hobart finishes building a new high school in 2008. The high-rising concrete stands on the home side need repair but locals want Friday football to stay in the bowl, where it's always been though Hobart's great success and state championship seasons.

Logic suggests that you don't spend $84 million dollars (the approved cost) on a new high school complex and then play football a mile away at the oldest stadium in NW Indiana. The final decision has not been made, at least publicly.
    
Lowell changed some positions in the offensive line at the start of this winning streak. No one says that's the reason the Devils are winning, but Lowell moved tackle Ryan King to center. Eric McGee (5-11, 227) and Jed Travis (5-11, 250) appeared to be at guard on most plays Friday with Randy Laymen (6-1, 235) and junior Mike Staniewicz (6-5, 253) at tackles.

With an unofficial 40 carries for 132 yards, Scott Gray has gained 1,140 yards on 179 carries. If Lowell plays five more games and Gray averages 175 yards a game (a lot to ask, but not impossible with Gary Roosevelt being one of the foes) the Red Devil sprinter would become the second Lowell player to gain 2,000 yards rushing in a single season.

Present-day Hobart offensive coordinator Michael Pickett gained 2,256 yards on 339 carries in 13 games for Lowell in 1994.

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Revised: October 12, 2005 .