The Out of Town Scoreboard

A USA-365.com Special Report By Mark Smith

(12-13-2005)

FORT WAYNE (12-12-2005) - I guess it's just a championship year when it comes to Lowell and football. Lowell grad Cody Van Duersen (6-1, 212), a junior linebacker at St. Francis College in Fort Wayne. St. Francis (13-0) will head south play for the 50th NAIA National championship against unbeaten and top-ranked Carroll College (13-0) this Saturday, Dec. 17 at high noon in Hardin County, Tennessee in a nationally televised cable TV matchup.

Van Duersen, a former all-NW Indiana defensive back at Lowell, has 72 tackles, 3-1/2 sacks, an interception and a fumble recovery this season for the undefeated Cougars in 13 games. The former Red Devil recorded five tackles on Dec. 3 as St. Francis rolled over undefeated No. 3 Morningside College 42-14 in the national semifinals. St. Francis is ranked No. 2 nationally and they have beaten four top-20 teams in the last five weeks. The Cougars lost the national championship game 15-13 to Carroll last season.

Hobart grad Marc Drobac (2005) a first team all-area player last year, has moved into a starting role as a linebacker and has 40 tackles in 10 games. Valparaiso wide receiver Colin McShane (2005) and East Chicago star Sam Daniels (2005) are freshman reserves on the squad. St. Francis has completed four consecutive undefeated regular seasons.

Crown Point alum Cassie Pruzin (2005) was averaging 6.9 points and 3.8 rebounds per game after eight games in her freshman season at Division III DePauw University in Greencastle, IN. The Tigers remained 12th in the USA Today/ESPN Division III Poll and moved up two spots to 15th in the latest D3hoops.com Top 25 Poll. DePauw (7-1), was rated in the top-20 nationally to start the month and Pruzin, an Indiana all-star at Crown Point last season, was playing 18 minutes a game and had 12 assists, 14 turnovers and 13 steals coming off the bench.

Merrillville grad Marshay Jolly (2004) is averaging 11 minutes and 3.7 points a game after 11 games for Southern Indiana University. Merrillville grad Julie DeMuth (2004) is averaging 14 points and nine rebounds in 26 minutes a game after seven games as a sophomore for Ball State University (6-1). DeMuth, a 5-10 forward who is shooting 45% from the floor and 72% from the foul line, quickly moved into the starting lineup for fourth year coach Tracy Roller, a 1989 grad of Crown Point.

Boone Grove grad Karissa Walter (2005) is starting but he Division II Oakland City team is not doing as well. Oakland City (1-5) lost to Missouri-St. Louis on Dec.6 with Walter playing 25 minutes in a starting role. The 5-4 guard scored seven points but also made seven turnovers before fouling out of an 82-74 overtime loss. High turnover numbers are not unusual for a freshman point guard.

Boone grad Kim Sliwa (2003) scored seven points in 11 minutes against Missouri-St. Louis.

Valpo star Cassie Kerns (2005) is playing less than four minutes a game for Division I superpower Connecticut (6-1), but that was expected. Nobody walks in and plays major minutes as a freshman at UConn. It just isn't done. The truth is is that Kerns will probably have to pay dues for two years before she gets a chance to start.

Crown Point grad Justin Sprehe (2005) spent most of his time on the junior varsity, getting in an making one tackle for DePauw University (7-2). Sprehe, a freshman defensive end, figures to play much more in 2006.

Butler University sophomore Chris Marzotto (6-1, 230), a Lowell graduate (2004) was named the defensive Most Valuable Player for Butler University in awards announced on Dec. 4. The defensive end, who was seventh on the Butler squad in tackles (46), was
the only Butler player selected to the Pioneer Football League (PFL) all-star team. Chris Marzotto was Lowell's MVP in 2003 when he had 86 tackles and 10 QB sacks. Chris Marzotto also won Butler's "Tenacity Award," at the team banquet this month, something that was well-earned by all Bulldogs since Butler was 0-11 this season.

Linebacker Mike Marzotto (2003), Chris's brother, led Butler in tackles with 109 in his first season after transferring from Eastern Kentucky. Mike Marzotto had 101 tackles at Lowell when he was named an all-area player in 2002.

Valparaiso's Jeff Samardzija (2005) waited his turn (and through a coaching change) and it paid off for this year at Notre Dame.
Samardzija, a 6-5 wide receiver, caught 71 passes for 1,190 yards this year for coach Charlie Weis and the Fighting Irish. Samardzija, a former all-state player for coach Mark Hoffman, was a little lucky. Not only did the young man ahead of him on the depth chart, Rhema McKnight, suffer a season-ending injury in the second game of the year, but fellow junior Maurice Stovall (6-5, 225) caught 60
passes for 1,070 yards on the other side of the field. With no chance of getting double-teamed (tight end Mark Fasano caught 45 passes
for 564 yards), Samardzija had as good a year as a college receiver can have. Notre Dame (9-2) heads down to Arizona to take on superpower Ohio State (9-2) in the Fiesta Bowl on Monday, Jan. 2.

Hebron's Lauren Bechtold (2002) played all 40 minutes last weekend for Valparaiso University in the Crusaders' battle at Purdue (6-2.) Bechtold scored 11 points with five assists, three steals and just two turnovers but the Boilermakers rallied in the late going to win 70-55.
Bechtold started the first eight games for VU (4-4) averaging 33 minutes, 5.4 points and turnovers for VU coach Keith Freeman.

Andrean graduate Jamie Gutowski (2002) is averaging 23 minutes but just 4.2 points for VU. She is reportedly still being bothered by knee problems that have dogged her throughout her career.

CP grad Alex Webster (2003) has played only 30 minutes in seven games for Wisconsin-Green Bay after transferring from Mississippi State. Webster is coming off knee surgery last year but she has reportedly fully recovered. But Green Bay (5-3) has five starters playing over 25 minutes a game and there's not much bench time for anybody.

William Walker (2005) of Michigan City is off to a big start for Bethel College in Mishawaka. Walker, a 6-5 small forward, scored 10 with nine rebounds Saturday as Bethel (7-6) rejected Trinity International 65-55. Walker is playing 15-20 minutes a game as a freshman.