Lowell shuts down scoring leader Wilson, beats Kankakee Valley 24-6 at Inferno

A USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith

10-21-2006

Friday, October 20, 2006, 47 degrees in  Lowell, 4A Sectional 9 Quarterfinal

1st Qtr:  No scoring.
2nd Qtr:  LOWELL (7-0) Max Znika, 43-yard run.  53 yards, 4 plays. David Lang kick. 8:22 left. 
3rd Qtr:  No scoring.
4th Qtr:  LOWELL (14-0) Steffan Peck, 50-yard punt return.  Lang kick.  9:31 left.
LOWELL (17-0) Doug Lang, 20-yard field goal.  After Ben Rigby recovered Dustin Wilson's fumble on the kickoff.  7:40 left
LOWELL (24-0)  Jeff Barker, 23-yard run.  33-yard drive, 3 plays.  Lang kick.  5:01 left.
KANKAKEE VALLEY (24-6)  Dustin Wilson, 12-yard run.  75 yard drive, 4 plays.  Pass failed.  2:54 left.

TURNOVERS:   KV (2);      LOWELL (0)
TOTAL YARDS:  KV - 170      LOWELL - 332 yards
FIRST DOWNS: KV - 7 ,  LOWELL - 15

KV RUSHING (33-98 yards, TD)  Kevin O'Neal (FB) 9-45 yards; Alex Byers (QB) 13-42 yards; Dustin Wilson (HB) 11-11 yards, TD.

LOWELL RUSHING (48-304 yards)  Max Znika (HB) 33-223 yards, TD; Steffan Peck (HB) 12-44 yards; Josh Kuiper (QB) 1-13 yards; Lukas Palmer (WR) 1-1 yard; Jeff Barker (TE) 1-23 yards, TD.

LOWELL PASSING:  Josh Kuiper (QB) 1-2, 28 yards, 0 TDs, 0 INTs   
KV PASSING: Alex Byers (QB) 6-12, 72 yards, INT; Dustin Wilson (HB) 0-1, 0 yards

RECEIVING:
KV - Dustin Wilson (HB) 5-55 yards; Ryan Boezeman (WR) 1-17 yards
LOWELL - Jeff Barker (TE) 1-28 yards

LOWELL (10-20-2006) - This present Lowell team isn't really the defending state 4A football champion like everybody says.  Those state champion boys, for the most part, have scattered to the wind.  Lowell's present starting inside linebackers Justin Juarez and David Eastling were freshmen last season and they weren't anywhere near the varsity.  Half of the 2006 Devils were junior varsity players last year.  It's hard to carry the label of champs when this team doesn't really know who they are.

But at Notre Dame, they have a sign on the wall of the runway leading to the field that says, 'Play like a champion today'.  Lowell may not be the defending state champions, but they sure played like them Friday night.  Facing neighbor and rival Kankakee Valley and NW Indiana scoring champion Dustin Wilson, Lowell's Red Devils shook down the thunder defensively, dominating KV's high-scoring offense 24-6 in a feature game on the opening night of the 34th Indiana state tournament.

Facing a team that averaged 34 points a game and a player who had scored 34 TDs (including seven last week), Lowell (5-5) held KV to a season-low six points and Wilson to a career-low 11 yards with the kind of speed and impact that KV (8-2) clearly had not seen all season en route to the championship of the small school Lake Athletic Conference (LAC) Blue Division.

Senior halfback Max Znika, making his starting playoff debut, had a career night with 223 yards on 33 carries.  The Devils did not convert on several scoring chances, but the 304 yards rushing and 15 first downs enabled Lowell, which is 16-2 against KV all-time, to hog the ball and limit the Kougars to just eight possessions.

KV stayed in the game until the middle of the fourth quarter, but they were overmatched in this game.  The Kougars, who did not have a victory over a 4A or 5A school this season, were not as fast as Lowell on defense and did not have the blocking on offense.

"We weren't scared," said Lowell's senior two-way lineman Mike Staniewicz, "but were were impressed by what we saw on film of Wilson and the quarterback (Alex) Byers.  They were running around on the option making big plays in all their games.  That was our key tonight.  We just wanted to stop the big play."

"We were running just four man fronts.  Coach (defensive coordinator Brad) Stewart's bag of tricks.  Everybody said that KV was just the LAC Blue champ but the Blue has been getting more competitive.  They lost their season opener to Munster.  But you remember how we were (a 17-0 loss at Crown Point) in our first game.  Everybody gets better."

Lowell has gotten better.  The Devils were shut out four times during the regular season, but they rose to the occasion on this night moving the ball consistently.  The Devils were stopped four times inside the KV 5-yard line on this night or the score could have been similar to last year's 41-6 playoff win over KV.

"We're competing," coach Kirk Kennedy said.  "We're getting to the point where we're not hapless.  Maybe we've had a good defense all year and we just didn't have an offense to help them out.  We leave the defense on the field all the time and they're skinny little juniors and sophomores."

Kennedy didn't think his young players would be scared of playing in a do-or-die game.

"If we addressed that at all," he said, "we just told them that it's been a while since we played in a big game.  We need to get things back on track.  We're playing a big ball game in front of a big crowd."

The tone was set on the first play of the game when Lowell junior defensive end Jeff Barker sacked KV quarterback Alex Byers for a nine-yard loss.  The Kougars came back to get a first down on that series but Wilson lost 15 yards trying to reverse his field on a pitchout and the Kougars booted the first of three first half punts before a standing room only crowd of about 3,000 in 50 degree weather.

Lowell missed a 19-yard field goal on the first play of the second quarter after a nine play, 50-yard drive.  The Devils scored on their next possession after junior TJ Lukasik made a fair catch of a punt at the Lowell 47-yard-line.

On a 1st-and-10 from the KV 43, Znika, the senior wrestler, started off right guard, cut back and zipped into the open, racing toward the south end zone.  Wilson, KV's free safety and a state track finalist in the 400 meters, could not catch Znika in time and the Devils led 7-0 with 8:22 to go in the half.

KV then drove to the Lowell 27, but a third down sack by Barker and a missed 45-yard field goal by Micah Schaefer ended that threat with 1:44 left in the half.  The Kougars could not move out of the middle of the line and the Devils' speedy perimeter players like Barker, linebackers Ben Rigby and Dean Frigo, and defensive backs Lukasik and Lukas Palmer, never let Wilson (6-0, 185) outside with out a fight.  Only on pass plays (5 catches, 55 yards) did the KV senior find any daylight.

After a third sack by the speedy Barker and an interception by Palmer stopped KV in the third quarter, a Kougar punt was grabbed by Peck, who changed direction twice and ran free to the goal line for a 50-yard TD that upped the Lowell lead to a comfortable 14-0 with 9:36 left.  Wilson fumbled the ensuing kickoff and Lowell's David Lang kicked a 20-yard field goal that iced the game with 7:40 to play.

Perception is a funny thing.  After rolling up six TDs against 2A Wheeler and seven against Class 1A Whiting many publicly said that 4A Lowell, which had been shut out four times, would not beat KV because they could not possibly stop Wilson.  But that's exactly what happened.  Even though they knew it was true, many ignored the fact that the toughness difference between Lowell's schedule and KV's schedule is like the difference between Larry Holmes and Katie Holmes.

You cannot play small schools all year and then compete in the big school playoffs.  Football doesn't work that way.  The best thing that could happen to KV is the breakup of the LAC which forces the Kougars to play Lowell, Andrean, Griffith and Hobart every year. Soon now, they won't be a punching bag for the battle-tested teams in the post-season.

"Everybody said it was the LAC Blue," said Peck, "but they were 8-1 and we're not.  They are conference champs and we're not. There was some doubt coming in.  But they were a good team and we just played well tonight."

"I don't think anybody was overlooking anyone," said Staniewicz, who has seen three consecutive sectional championships while he has been in school.  "Nobody should have been.  But the seniors need to make sure nobody's overlooking anything because we want to get our fourth sectional."

Peck's punt return was something he'd been looking forward to.  A sophomore starter on last years 11-4 squad, Peck had never run a varsity kick back for a TD.

"I thought I had one at the Highland game," Peck said of his punt return TD.  "And this guy catches me from behind at the 2-yard-line."

Kankakee Valley played poorly.  They jumped off-sides four times.  They lost double digit yards three times on bad pitchouts.  And one time it appeared that Wilson did not want to run back a kickoff with his side trailing only 17-0.  He let it roll into the end zone without making an effort to field it.

But when Lowell gave up 17 points to Crown Point (10-0) and Andrean (8-2), it was said that those teams just didn't play well.  Two weeks ago, Lowell held Hobart (9-1) to just seven points.  Again, it was said that Hobart had an off night.  This wasn't just a flat night for KV.  Lowell held the Kougars to six points.  For the second year in a row.

"Coach always keeps it on our mind that we've got a legacy to live up to," said Znika.  

It now looks like the Red Devils will keep living it up until, at least, the first week of November.  State champs or not.

"I'm actually tired of hearing that," he said.  "Obviously, we're not the team we had last year.  But we're still shooting for the sectional title.  We're still a Lowell football team."

DEVIL NOTES:  Gary Roosevelt defeated Lew Wallace 22-0 and advanced to play a sectional nine semifinal at Lowell on Oct. 27.   This was Roosevelt's first ever state tournament win.  Sectional nine favorite Hobart (9-1) struggled to win 28-17 over Munster. Lowell has eliminated Hobart from the state tournament in each of the past three seasons.  4A No.1 Concord (10-0), the team that figures to meet Hobart or Lowell at the regional on Nov. 10, routed South Bend Washington to 61-14 Friday.  Last year's 4A state finalist Roncalli lost to Cathedral 28-0 Friday.

These numbers are unofficial, but Lowell suddenly has the possibility of two 1,000 yard rushers this season.  Max Znika, who took over as half back three games ago, gained 223 yards on 33 carries Friday night lifting him to 811 yards on 133 carries.  Halfback-turned fullback Steffan Peck gained 44 yards on 12 carries Friday to total 818 yards on 169 tries.  Znika can't explain why he appears to have gotten faster since the start of the year.

"I don't know," he said.  "I have to be fast to keep up with him (pointing to Peck).  I have to keep up with him so I can get through the hole."

Znika is very aware that he is a senior player.

"I know that when the season is over, I'll probably never put on a football jersey again," noted Znika.  "He (Peck) gets to comeback and be a superstar next year.  They'll probably go to state.  They're going to have a great year next year.  I can't wait to come back and watch them.  I know I said that last week, but they are going to have a great team.  Steffan can do anything.  I can't wait to come back and watch them."

In coach Kirk Kennedy's 15 years, Lowell has had a player rush for 1,000 yards nine times but they have never had two 1,000-yard rushers in the same season.  Gary Roosevelt (4-6), which visits Lowell next Friday night, is not a strong run defense team so it is highly likely that Znika and Peck will close in on the 1,000-yard mark next week.

Lowell's schedule in 2007 will not change much.

"I don't know the order we'll play them in," said coach Kirk Kennedy.  "But we'll drop Calumet and we'll pick up KV.  All the other teams (Munster, Highland, Hobart, Andrean, Griffith, Crown Point and Morton) stay the same.  We'll still play Hammond and Morton they'll just be non conference games."

Kennedy knows that Hammond, which has lost 25 consecutive regular season games is not competitive right now, but he also knows he has four teams that were ranked in the top-10 in 2006 and will almost certainly will be there again in 2007.

"With who we're playing, we need a Hammond high on the schedule," he said.

Morton will stay on the Lowell schedule, probably in anticipation of the Governors eventually joining the new NWHC (Northwest Hoosier Conference) in 2009 as they hope to.  Unless the Devils wish to play North Judson, there is no one else in NW Indiana for them to schedule.  They don't want to play any more of the 2,000-kid DAC schools and the city schools in Gary and Hammond are not competitive.  Lowell has a natural rival in North Newton but that match up would be much worse than the Lowell-Hammond matchup right now.

Lowell's Mike Staniewicz has torn ligaments in his right hand and that's the bandage you see when he's playing.

"Mr. Wong (Lowell trainer Bobby Wong) tapes it up good every game and I just go play," he smiled. "It's fine."

Lowell has only nine seniors left on the roster and RB-LB Chris Briggs is injured and can't play.  Lowell starts eight juniors, not counting injured Kaleb Layman (out for the year) and Danny Remboski, who is working his way back in at linebacker after missing five games with a leg injury.

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Revised: October 22, 2006 .