Lowell rushes for 500+ yards and 8 TDs en route to 60-23 Sectional Championship victory over Concord

RUSHING:
CONCORD (26 carries, 150 yards, 2 TDs) TeShon Sanders (HB) 11-107 yards; LaRone Smith (HB) 5-47 yards; Anthony Yoder (QB) 8 (minus-3 yards) 3 sacks - minus 24 yards.

LOWELL (57 carries, 504 yards, 8 TDs) Nate Cleveland (FB) 6-62 yards; Cole Midgett (WR) 3-39 yards, TD; Jordan Juarez (FB) 9-127 yards, TD;
Brandon Grubbe (HB) 27 carries, 247 yards, 4 TDs; Ray Skamay (QB) 3-15 yards, TD; Zach Wolfe (HB) 2-10 yards; Nic Hamilton (HB) 3 (minus-1);
Nick Tokarz (FB) 1-7 yards; Jason Parker (QB) 2 (minus-2); Danny Carter (HB) 1-0 yards.

PASSING:
CONCORD (9-25, 197 yards) Anthony Yoder (QB) 9-for -23, 197 yards, one TD, one interception; Seth Huxford (QB) 0-for-2;
LOWELL: Ray Skamay (QB) 1-for-2, 12 yards, TD.

RECEIVING:
CONCORD: Kyle Gavin (WR) 2-40 yards; LaRone Smith (HB) 4-90 yards; Logan Draus (WR) 3-67 yards;
LOWELL: Joe Bell (TE) 1-12 yards, TD.


TOTAL YARDS:
CONCORD 347 total yards, 10 first downs, 2 turnovers;
LOWELL: 516 total yards, 20 first downs, 0 turnovers.
 

LOWELL (11-06-2009) Very few things in high school sports are truly unbelievable.  There isn't very much that's actually amazing.  Then there's Lowell football these days.  In 2005, the Red Devils began the season with a 1-4 record and then posted 10 consecutive victories, the last three come-from-behind wins, to take the 2005 state championship.

Unbelievable.

Then in 2007, the Devils had to win consecutive road games at Plymouth, at Concord and then at arch-rival Griffith, plus then defeat top-ranked Bishop Dwenger in Lowell to reach the state finals.  And they did that.  Amazing.

So what's this that's going on now?  Confronted with prospect of having to beat four Top-10 teams plus the state's top touchdown passer in five weeks to reach the 2009 state finals, are they doing it again?  With 16 rookie starters beginning this season?  Really?

Stay tuned.  After defeating No. 6 Plymouth 14-6 and ninth-rated South Bend Washington 24-7, Lowell faced Concord's Anthony Yoder in the Class 4A Sectional 10 championship game Friday night.  Yoder had 31 touchdown passes in 11 games and, after he tossed a 17-yard TD to Logan Draus with 9:33 left in the first half, Yoder had 32 TDs passes and Lowell trailed 17-14.  In the next 25 minutes, Lowell (11-1) scored an incredible 46 points and ran away with the school's seventh consecutive sectional championship by the amazing score of 60-23.

If you're looking at me for an explanation, keep looking.  I just keep watching and shaking my head in disbelief.

"I'm proud of these kids," said coach Kirk Kennedy, who seemed humbled by the seven consecutive titles, the second longest Northwest Indiana streak in the 37 years of the Indiana state playoffs.

"Its quite an achievement, isn't it?," he said.

"It's nice to step up and leave things better than we found them," said Zach Norcutt.  "Keeping the sectional streak alive.  If you lose the sectional, you wouldn't want to show your face around here.  We really want to go to state."

"We didn't want to let the past down," said defensive back Stephen Garton, who had an interception.  "That really motivated us.  We didn't want to let everyone in town down."

"Over the summer, I'd be talking to TJ," said QB Ray Skamay of 2008 grad TJ Lukasik.  "He'd talk to me and he'd mess with us and say, 'How's it going to feel to be the first team to lose the sectional?'  I'm so glad that didn't happen."

Lowell didn't let anything down Friday except for Concord's spirits.

Trailing 17-14, the Devils drove 56 yards in five plays alternating Jordan Juarez and Brandon Grubbe.  Grubbe's 9-yard touchdown gave Lowell a 21-17 lead.

After a quick Concord punt, which Grubbe ran back to the Concord 22-yard-line, Lowell scored on a roll-out 12-yard pass from quarterback Ray Skamay to tight end Joe Bell with 5:29 remaining in the second quarter.

Concord QB Anthony Yoder led his team down the field 67 yards in seven plays and LaRone Smith scored on a 1-yard run with 2:09 left before halftime to cut the Devils' lead to 28-23.  But the Minutemen, who had a couple of key linemen going both ways, were wearing down.

Lowell drive 63 yards in the final two minutes to take a 36-23 lead as Grubbe (6-1, 195) broke loose for 37 yards to start the drive before the Lowell rushing star scored on a five yard sweep play with 27 seconds left before halftime.

The game featured a return of a dominating Lowell offense, which was last seen in September.  Lowell seemed to have success when they 'stretched' the line with pitchouts or sweeps and forced Concord's defensive front, led by big boys Jacob Stover (6-3, 275) and Eddie Warr (6-4, 315) to move laterally.  As the game went on, The Minutemen could not stay with Lowell's quicker offensive blockers led by senior guards Anthony DeMario (6-1, 194) and Chad Ulanowski (5-10, 215).  It didn't matter whether Grubbe (27 carries, 247 yards) Jordan Juarez (9 carries, 127 yards) or Nate Cleveland (6 carries, 62 yards) was carrying the ball.

"We've found that a lot of people have been stepping up," said quarterback Ray Skamay, who led a 500-yard attack that made it a chilly night for the visitors from Elkhart County. "In the huddle, a lot of guys are speaking up.  I think it's helping a lot.  Everything's on the line.  That's what we need.  We need everybody to step up."

Lowell boys were very happy to continue the sectional streak.  Many think about other goals when it comes to Lowell football.  But some of the boys mentioned that they did not want to be part of the team that lost in sectional play, ending Lowell's seven year streak of success.  The burden of great expectations has been lifted from them after the big win over Concord and there was a celebration after the victory that dwarfed anything that was seen after Lowell defeated Plymouth (9-2) and South Bend Washington (8-3) in previous weeks.

But there was concern early as Concord rolled up 300 first half yards.  Lowell senior lineman Chad Ulanowski said that Yoder, who escaped Lowell's pass rush several times for big first quarter plays, did get him worried when he led the Minutemen to a 17-14 lead in the second quarter.

"I got nervous at first," he admitted.  "But the defense stepped up and slowed them down.  Offensively, they ran their routes correctly and they were more precise than Washington (which used five wide receivers on almost every play).  They weren't really the same."

"It was scary in the first half," Garton admitted.  "I think they started getting frustrated and we relaxed.  I was covering number 15.  He's a good athlete.  We know we have to improve, but the more passing teams we play, the better we get.  That helps a lot."

"We know we can come form behind," said Skamay.  "That's part of this program.  We've been in so many tight games.  It's second nature to us now."

Concord scored the first three times they had the ball, using a four wide receiver formation with running back LaRone Smith, who caught a 57-yard pass in the first quarter or TeShon Sanders, who had a 57-yard run in the first quarter.  But Lowell altered their pass rush to keep the quick-footed Yoder (5-11, 160), a past track state finalist, from rolling out and his effectiveness diminished.


"In the first half, Concord did a great job to account for the extra people we were bringing (blitzing)," said Lowell defensive coordinator Brad Stewart.  "Washington could not account for them.  We had to contain the QB and not letting him get outside of our contain.  A lot of it having to do with Jordan Juarez making some very good reads and some good hits."


"He (Yoder) was a the quickest kid on their team," said Norcutt.  "That's the only thing we really talked about at halftime was angles.  I knew it was going to be an offensive game.  But I didn't know anything about 60 points."

The achievement question the last couple of years for Lowell has been "What's harder?" To go to the state finals and win (as they did inn 2005) or to win six or seven sectionals in a row.

"There's a lot of consistency there," said Kennedy, considering the question.  "A lot of consistent effort from the players and coaches.  What's lost is how few starters we had coming back this year.  Now, we're starting to play our best football.  We're hitting our stride at the right time."

DEVIL NOTES:  Lowell defeated Morton 35-26 in Hammond on August 28.  Playing without Brandon Grubbe (who had a concussion), the Devils trailed 13-0 before rallying.  Ray Skamay scored two touchdowns to lead the Lowell comeback.  The last time Concord allowed 60 points was Sept. 22, 1962 when the Minutemen lost 60-0 at Plymouth.  Concord lost 66-0 at Rochester on Oct. 29, 1971.

Brandon Grubbe's unofficial 247 yards on 27 carries give him 1,905 yards on 305 carries this season and 5,411 yards on 902 career carries.  That larger total puts the Lowell senior 24th all-time in the state of Indiana.  Grubbe needs 95 yards next week at Morton to become Lowell's third 2,000-yard rusher.

Michael Pickett, who is now the offensive coordinator at Hobart, gained 2,256 yards on 339 carries in 1994 and Scott Gray, who now plays for undefeated Butler University in Indianapolis, gained 2,336 yards in 2005.  Gray's total is the all-time single-season record for Northwest Indiana.

As usual, there is confusion about what happens if Lowell defeats Morton next Friday.  The consensus is:  If Bishop Dwenger wins at home against Delta next Friday and Lowell wins at Morton, Dwenger comes to Lowell the night of November 20 for the semistate playoff game.

But, if Delta (12-0) pulls off an upset win at Bishop Dwenger (12-0) next week (Nov. 13), the Lowell-Morton winner would travel to Delta, which is 3-1/2 hours away from Lake County in the Muncie area for the 4A Northern Semistate Championship.

Dwenger, which defeated Lowell 38-22 in the 4A Northern Semistate title game last season and lost 10-7 at Lowell in the 2007 Class 4A Northern Semistate, will be a heavy favorite over Delta.

With dry weather most of the week (and a lot of work by Lowell officials), the Red Devils' playing field was in good shape.  Most of the grass was gone from the center of the field, but the bare dirt was solid and easy to run on.

Lowell has to be careful with senior quarterback Ray Skamay, who injured an ankle against Plymouth on October 24.  Lowell doesn't have a real backup QB right now.  Both sophomore Jeremy Crocker (who is out for the season) and junior Chris Sekuloski (6-3, 175) were unavailable Friday.  Junior wide receiver Jason Parker played QB at the end of Friday's blowout because there are no other quarterbacks on Lowell's roster.

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Revised: November 09, 2009 .