The RENEGADE 2010 NW Indiana High School Top-10, Week-1 Football Poll

A USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith

8-23-2010

MERRILLVILLE (8-27-2010) I've always thought that making a Top-10 poll before the season begins is like driving at night with your lights off. You can't see where to go or what to do and you're headed for a crash.

The 'crash' was Lowell, mistakenly rated No. 1 in several NW Indiana polls, losing by 31 points against Crown Point. First of all, local newspapers rate Lowell ahead of Merrillville because Lowell is a better story. The small school, short roster team that overcomes bigger schools. Merrillville is supposed to win.

I didn't know Crown Point would defeat Lowell 37-6, but I did know that Merrillville would not defeat Warren Central in Indianapolis. They never have.

I would warn against reading too much into the 1st week's results. They are often misleading.

I thought the big upset in week one was North Newton's upset win over arch-rival South Newton, a team that had defeated the Spartans four years in a row.

Gary West Side almost pulled off the upset of the century losing just 35-31 at Hobart. I don't know if Gary West Side has ever defeated Hobart. West Side's Marquis Wells was a stunning 22 of 40 passing for 327 yards and the Brickies have to clean that up immediately with the schedule they have.

And if anyone had dreams of winning the Class 2A title, they might want to try to do it in a sport other than football. Defending state 2A champion Bishop Luers stomped on Class 5A No. 10 Snider 34-13, a crushing defeat for a 5A school against a 2A foe. Barring an epidemic of injuries, Luers should be 8-0 when they face 4A superpower Bishop Dwenger in the ninth week of the season.

The key in the poll is not to be knee-jerk and overreact to one week. Games in August are a notoriously poor barometer of football seasons.

1.) 5A Merrillville (0-1)

2009 (12-2), 2008 (8-5), 2007 (12-2), 2006 (7-5), 2005 (11-3)

MERRILLVILLE: The Pirates opened the season with a 49-16 loss to Warren Central. The 2009 season. They opened the 2010 season with a 49-14 loss at Warren Central, ranked No. 1 in the state. Merrillville won 12 games in a row after last year's opening night loss. Don't write them off in any way. Denzel Pierce (226 carries, 1,341 yards, 27 TDs in 2009 ) gained just 37 yards in 13 carries, but caught three passes for 117 yards and a TD at WC. Quarterback Zach Raspopovich (148 of 255, 1,877 yards, 10 TDs in 2009) was 10 of 26 for 203 yards) and they apparently survived the game without injury. There reportedly are a lot of good rookies here. Let's withhold ALL judgement on Merrillville until they face someone who is not nationally ranked.

2.) 5A Chesterton (1-0)
2009 (7-4), 2008 (9-3), 2007 (6-4), 2006 (5-6)

CHESTERTON: The Trojans rolled over out-manned South Bend Adams 35-7 in week one, gaining 338 yards on 58 carries. Fullback Sam Lindquist (6-3, 190) gained 131 yards on 19 carries and returning QB Jon Watson scored two TDs. I think this is an 'undercover' team in 2010. They are built for the DAC. The right tackle Nate Brock is 6-7, 325 and defensive end Danny Dellumo is 6-4 and 245. Junior kicker Kyle Schmidt is good from 55 yards in and that's no exaggeration. They are doing you a favor when they throw the ball, although sometimes they don't realize that.

3.) 5A CROWN POINT (1-0)
2009 (3-7), 2008 (3-7), 2007 (8-3), 2006 (12-1), 2005 (11-1)

CROWN POINT: The Bulldogs finally beat Lowell, winning 37-6 behind QB Joe Hopman who passed for 233 yards and two TDs. An unnoticed note in this game. CP did not punt, did not turn the ball over and did not commit a penalty. They played very well. Folks have short memories. CP was 31-5 from 2005 to 2007. They have a good program and (what they lacked the last 2 years) an experienced QB and senior-laden team. I'm not sure they'll beat Merrillville, but this will be a winning season.

4.) 5A Portage (1-0)
2009 (6-6), 2008 (6-4), 2007 (5-5), 2006 (6-5)

PORTAGE: Portage shut down the offense of a good South Bend Marian team 2-2 in the season opener. Senior Jake Dixon gained 102 yards on 12 carries while new receiver Alvin Best scored on TD runs of 24 and 36 yards. Transfer Rashad Coleman from McCutcheon caught a 16-yard TD pass from senior QB Jake Huston. This team has a lot of offense but they'll need to find some defense before they get to Chicago superpower St. Rita this Saturday (Aug. 28) night.

5.) 4A Lowell (0-1)
2009 (13-2), 2008 (13-1), 2007 (13-2), 2006 (7-6), 2005 (11-4)

LOWELL: The Devils got stomped by a Crown Point team that was totally mistake-free. Lowell traditionally struggles on offense in the opening game. I've had a tough time in recent years convincing people that Lowell teams beating Concord and Bishop Dwenger every year are major, major upsets. The 31-point loss to Crown Point last week wasn't a miracle. The miracle is that Lowell is 39-4 in the last three years. But you can't have magic every week. The Devils need to settle on a quarterback and jack up the urgency level a notch. I wouldn't want to be Morton, the foe this week in Lowell's home opener. This is a good Lowell team with a strong offensive line. That didn't change last week. As Crown Point continues to win, Lowell fans will realize that last week's 37-6 game wasn't ALL their doing.

6.) 3A Andrean (1-0)
2009 (9-4), 2008 (6-7), 2007 (9-4), 2006 (8-3), 2005 (8-2)

MERRILLVILLE: The 59ers ran up 61 first half points in a 68-25 track meet against Bishop Noll in a game where Noll out-gained Andrean 356-335 in yardage. The score was 42-0 after one quarter as Noll was totally overmatched. Andrean has the core of a good team, but they do not have much depth. It will be interesting to see the 3A 59ers face Class 5A teams the next three weeks. It will also be interesting to see senior QB Demetri Blanco, who ran for four TDs vs. Noll, on the artificial turf at Merrillville. Might not be the best night to face the Pirates, though.

7.) 5A Valparaiso (1-0)
2009 (5-5), 2008 (9-2), 2007 (6-5), 2006 (3-6), 2005 (5-5)

VALPARAISO: Seventh is a pretty low slot for a team that just won at Penn, but the Vikings were somewhat outplayed in that game and won 10-7 with 10 points in the fourth quarter. VHS QB Paul Andrie was 9-of-25 for just 80 yards. The Vikings held Penn to just 40 yards rushing, but that may say more about Penn than it does Valpo. Let's wait and see what Valpo does on the road at Griffith this week before we evaluate the Penn win.

8.) 5A LaPorte (1-0)
2009 (6-4), 2008 (3-9), 2007 (3-7), 2006 (10-4)

LaPORTE: LaPorte dominated New Prairie 27-0 as 1,000-yard rusher Nick Latchford scored four TDs. The Slicers held NP to 89 yards rushing and just seven first downs. That's a good sign, but it may be a little misleading. It's going to be tough for the small Slicers to stop some of the power offenses in the DAC. But if new QB Kyle Hartson (6-0, 170) never gets too far away from Latchford (5-1, 170), LaPorte will be able to score a lot of points.

9.) 5A Munster (1-0)
2009 (7-3), 2008 (7-4), 2007 (3-7), 2006 (5-5), 2005 (3-7)

MUNSTER: The Mustangs took advantage of three turnovers to stop Lake Central 17-7 in the 2010 season opener. Munster's going to have to keep the score down because they aren't going to score a lot on good teams. Munster QB Mark Strbjak was a decent 11-of-18 for 103 yards in his debut. This team doesn't play a grueling schedule so they can duplicate last year's record.

10.) 5A Michigan City (1-0)
2009 (6-4), 2008 (4-6), 2007 (2-8), 2006 (1-9), 2005 (6-5)

MICHIGAN CITY: Okay, it comes down to whether you think Michigan City would beat Morton, Lake Central and Rensselaer. I think they would. I'm leaning towards MC because of the returning QB Rodney Washington (6-3, 222), who scored two TDs in MC's season opening walk over Gary Roosevelt last Friday. And because MC is DAC-sized all over with big guys like running back Giorgio Karalis (6-2, 210) and cornerback Arthur Williams (6-2, 190) and tackle Dylan Justice (6-2, 255). MC has to prove themselves this week in South Bend against Washington.