Lowell's Goetz scores 5 TDs as Red Devils rout Munster 36-7

A USA-365.com Special Report By Mark Smith

10-2-2004

Friday, Oct. 1, 2004,  68 degrees, occasional light rain in Lowell

1st Q: LOWELL (7-0) Toby Goetz, 4-yard run (17^th TD). 66 yards drive, 12 plays. Matt Seidel kick. 1:29 left.

2nd Q:  LOWELL (9-0) SAFETY – Jeff Clemens blocked Jon Funston's punt out of the end zone. 5:49 left.

LOWELL (16-0) Toby Goetz, 3-yard run (18^th TD). 57-yard drive, 8 plays. Matt Seidel kick 1:25 left.
3rd Q: LOWELL (23-0) Toby Goetz, 51-yard run (19^th TD). 64-yard drive, 5 plays. Matt Seidel kick, 7:48 left.

LOWELL (30-0) Toby Goetz, 6-yard run (20^th TD). 16-yard drive, 3 plays. Matt Seidel kick. 4:02 left.

4th Q:  LOWELL (36-0) Toby Goetz, 14-yard run (21^st TD). 79-yard drive, 8 plays. Kick short. 7:20 left.

MUNSTER (36-7) Chris Selent, 25-yard pass from Jake Ernd (3rd TD pass), 65-yard drive, 9 plays. Jon Funston kick. 3:45 left.

Game Statistics

LOWELL (10-1-2004) There is a feeling in Lowell that the Red Devils should be 7-0 after seven weeks. There's a lot of talk about how they should have won that 35-28 loss at Andrean and that 21-20 loss at Griffith.

After Friday night's homecoming game against Munster, there wasn't any talk about what might have been. The Devils (5-2, 3-2 LAC) took advantage of the injury-riddled Mustangs, scored early and often running away to a 36-7 victory in front of about 2,000 fans. Lowell stayed undefeated at home in front of next Friday's anticipated invasion of 4A No. 10 Hobart (6-1, 5-0), which carries a six-game winning streak but as a light rain started to fall on the field afterwards, Lowell seemed in no hurry to get to the next game.

“Everything's good,” said senior lineman Larin Childress after Lowell's first-ever home regular season win over Munster. “It's all pretty sweet right now.”

Lowell's win Friday was the Devils' fifth win by 10 points or more, their third consecutive victory over a long-time nemesis and coach Kirk Kennedy's 100^th career win in 14 seasons.

“I think that means I'm getting old,” said Kennedy, who was dunked with the contents of the team water bucket, the traditional 'big win' football celebration. “We got off to a good start and we really never let them get back into the game.”

Senior tailback Toby Goetz (5-11, 216), the focus of Munster's 5-3 defense, still gained 165 yards on 24 carries and scored five touchdowns, including a 51-yard third quarter run that put the game out of reach. QB Scott Schulz hit 5-out-of-5 passes and again handled the offense without a fumble. Junior Jeff Clemens caught three passes, blocked two kicks and scored a safety while sophomore fullback Ethan Winel, playing with a broken left hand, gained 37 yards on six carries .

Lowell averages 37 points a game but this was the best they'd looked on both sides of the ball against a decent opponent. Lowell had two long TD drives in the first half while holding the Mustangs, who are playing without injured two-way seniors FB-LB Prince Kwateng (6-2, 210) and WR-DB Bart Banach (5-10, 172), gained only two first half first downs and did not advance beyond midfield.

The Devils, who have lost only to state-rated Griffith (6-1) and Andrean (6-1), scored TDs on their first three possessions of the second half to take a 36-0 lead before coach Kirk Kennedy flooded the field with substitutes.

The headliners again were Goetz, who scored all five touchdowns and Clemens, who blocked a Munster punt for a second quarter safety that put the home team ahead 9-0 and flew around defensively, leading Lowell's best defensive show of the season.

But the key again was the offensive line which again blocked a larger defensive front for an unofficial 240 yards rushing.

“Our line is doing a great job,” said Goetz, who is up to 1,262 yards and 21 TDs on 156 carries. “At the start of the year, the coaches said that was a question. We had only two returners in Randy (Lukasik) and Larin (Childress). But they're getting better every week. Coach just tells me it's like a boxer, you've got to punch them in the ribs and then you get the knockout blow. I think that's what happened. Our line just kept punching them and they got tired. “

The Red Devils' undersized (for Class 4A) line of Lukasik (5-9, 199), Childress (5-10, 235), either guard Kyle Mitsch (5-10,175) and Cory Curtis (5-9, 169) plus tackles Jed Travis (5-11, 239), Randy Layman (6-0, 233) and tight end Clayton Miller (6-2, 187) again won the battle up front, allowing Lowell to win their fifth war in seven engagements.

Mitsch may be the only player in Class 4A state wide who is an offensive lineman on offense and a defensive back on defense.

“That does look funny, doesn't it,” said Kennedy. “He's been a wing, a receiver, a running back and a DB. He's a strong kid and we had a need. With what we do, we preach that the offensive line is part of the football team. When you are moved to the offensive line, it's not a demotion. They look at it as a point of pride.”

“Strength training, conditioning, technique, playing hard, getting after it. That's what it's about. The great thing about high school football is that you can overcome a lot of things with heart. You've got a smaller kid out there working hard. I'll take that over a big kid giving me half of what he's got.”

Goetz scored a career high five TDs and he seemed to get stronger as the game got longer. The Lowell coaches did not play the big runner at his usual defensive end spot to try to keep him stronger. Goetz said he had a shoulder injury after the Hammond game on Sept. 24 but it didn't slow him up against the Mustangs.

Long time Munster coach Leroy Marsh agreed.

“They've got a good football team,” Marsh said. “Toby Goetz is a helluva runner. He runs hard. He's a slasher. We knew that coming in. You've got to make tackles. You just can't let him get in the open field. We wore down. Right now, we don't have enough offense to keep them off the field. “

“I think the way you have to play this team (Lowell) is that you have to play field position and keep their offense off the field. Punt them inside the 10 and make them go 90 yards. We're not able to do that right now.”

Lowell had touchdown drives of 66, 57, 64, and 79 yards. Munster's only TD, a 25-yard pass from junior QB Jake Ernd to senior receiver Chris Selent, came against Lowell's second string defense with 3:45 to play. If a blocked punt that doesn't cross the line of scrimmage is a turnover, Munster turned the ball over only twice. This was not a game that the Mustangs lost with blunders. They were overpowered.

It's unlikely that Lowell can overpower the next foe Hobart (6-1), the former Duneland Athletic Conference (DAC) power that is in the midst of a reawakening in the small Lake Athletic Conference. The Brickies bring in the biggest offensive line in the league, led by junior tackle Adam Bailey (6-4, 340).

“I haven't really thought about it much,” said Larin Childress. “We pretty much concentrated on Munster They've got Bailey. That's a good challenge. They led us at halftime (in both games) last year. 7-0 and 3-0. It's a tough game. Bailey is massive. I'll do what I can. Try to use my speed.”

“At the start of the year, we thought the defense would be our strength,” said defensive coordinator Brad Stewart. “That really hasn't been the case most of the time. From my point of view, the big thing tonight is that our first string defense didn't allow 100 points. But we've been able to run the ball.”

Goetz said, “Crown Point had a big line too. Our line has got a lot of speed over anyone in the area. Kyle Mitsch is a defensive back. He runs a 4.7 at left guard. Larin runs a 5-flat. We're quick. It'll be a good game.”

Truthfully, the Hobart game seemed a long way off immediately after Friday night's win.

The boys seemed to enjoy the relatively easy win over a team that Lowell had never beaten in the regular season until last year.

They also enjoyed dunking coach Kennedy with the water bucket to celebrate his coaching milestone. Goetz admitted he and Randy Lukasik had their coach cornered.

“We got three of the captains together,” Toby said. “He was standing and talking to the ref, so that was good. But he turned around at the last minute so we just had to go for it.”

“The 100^th win. That was great,” Larin Childress added. “A lot of people worked for it. We just go to enjoy it.”

DEVIL NOTES:  Toby Goetz is occasionally accused of not necessarily trying to avoid contact with the opposition. On Toby's 51-yard third quarter TD run, Munster junior Tim Lukoshus (6-1, 175) confronted Goetz (5-11, 216) in front of the Lowell bench. Toby said that in a perfect world, he'd have made some fancy moves and scored untouched.

“But there's guys coming from the inside,” he said. “There's a sideline. It was the only option. Sometimes you do what you've got to do.”

Goetz lowered his head and met Lukoshus shoulder to shoulder, knocking the smaller defender out of the way and continuing down the sidelines for another touchdown.

Munster coach Leroy Marsh said that FB-LB Prince Kwateng and WR-DB Brett Banach will both be back by the state tournament. He hoped Banach would return by next week but he didn't want to harp on the loss of two players.

“We 're not using that as an excuse,” Marsh said. “We just didn't play well tonight. And we did last week (a 33-21 win over Morton). I don't know what it was tonight.”

Jeff Clemens' blocked punt that turned into a safety was credited to Toby Goetz, in the next days' newspapers. Since no one regained possession, the points are either a team safety (there is no scoring rule that says that every point must be scored by someone) or it should be credited to Clemens.

The state tournament draw will be announced Monday. Lowell was 11-2 last year losing to then top-ranked and undefeated East Noble 20-13 in the regional title game. It's not talked about a lot but Red Devil football people are aware that East Noble is again undefeated and again, appears to block the path of the Class 4A section nine champion at the regional level. East Noble improved to 7-0 Friday night with a dominating 63-13 win over Columbia City in Kendallville, in faraway Noble County.

Munster brought less than 100 fans to Lowell for Friday's game, a disappointment to all concerned. The Oct. 8 foe Hobart, is expected to bring 10 times that crowd as the Brickies and Devils meet for just the fifth time in 15 years. There is a parking concern. Even though the parking lot behind the school has been completed in Lowell's three-year renovation, there is still construction in front of the building and, even if everything was perfect, the Lowell complex is small for a major game with lots of fans. Lowell may park cars on the grass behind the visitors stands, as they did last season.

Lowell's Ethan Winel broke his hand two weeks ago but he keeps playing. The sophomore fullback carried the ball six times for 37 yards even though he could not tuck the ball in with his bandaged left hand. “He's a very tough kid,” said coach Brad Stewart. “Very tough and quiet. We wouldn't have known it was broken if he hadn't come and told us.”

Lowell had never defeated Munster during the regular season until last year's 22-20 win at Munster. The Devils have now won three in a row overall from the Mustangs.

Senior QB Scott Schulz is gaining confidence as a mid-range passer. Schulz was 3-of-3 for 70 yards and a TD two weeks ago against Hammond. Against Munster, he was 5-for-5 for 88 yards. For the year, Schulz is 18-of-32 for 298 yards, four TDs and no interceptions. While someone certainly has done it in the long history of Lowell football, no Red Devil QB in recent years has gone through the entire season without a pass interception.

Lake Athletic Conference - Black Division

1. Griffith 7-1, 5-0

2. Hobart 6-1, 5-0

3. ANDREAN 6-1, 4-1

4. LOWELL 5-2, 3-2

5. Highland 3-4 2-3

6. Munster 3-4, 1-3

7. Hammond 2-5, 0-5

8. Morton 2-5, 0-5

Week 8 Schedule - Friday, Oct. 8, 2004

Andrean (6-1) at Griffith (6-1)

Hammond (2-5) at Munster (3-4)

Morton (2-5) at Highland (3-4)

Hobart (6-1) at Lowell (5-2)

Lowell 36, Munster 7

TOTAL YARDS: 

Munster -– 138 (27 - 1^st half) ; LOWELL -- 333

RUSHING YARDS: 

LOWELL – 39-245 yards, 5 TDs

Toby Goetz (L) 24-165 yards, 5 TDs; Ethan Winel (L) 6-37 yards; Scott Schulz (L) 4-26 yards; 

Scott Gray (L) 3-12 yards; Jeff Clemens (L) 1-2 yards; Jon Cap (L) 1-3 yards

MUNSTER - 29-105 yards

Ken Florek (M) 20-79 yards; Bill Stuart (M) 2-8 yards; Rich Meyers (M) 4-3 yards;

Tom Mambourg (M) 1- 4 yards; John Bugajski (M) 1-2 yards

PASSING YARDS: 

LOWELL - Scott Schulz (L) 5-5, 88 yards

MUNSTER - Jake Ernd (M) 4-8 56 yards, TD

RECEIVING: 

Chris Selent (M) 2-41 yards' Joe Wingis (M) 1-4 yards; Ken Florek (M) 1- 8 yards; 

Corey McKinney (L) 1-38; Jeff Clemens (L) 3-37 yards; Clayton Miller (M) 1-13 yards.

TURNOVERS: 

LOWELL – 0; Munster – 2

FIRST DOWNS: 

LOWELL – 11; MUNSTER - 7

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Revised: October 02, 2004 .