USA-365's Week-13 NW Indiana High School Football Poll

MERRILLVILLE (11-15-2005) It was a big week for Northwest Indiana in the state playoffs, maybe the best ever. Four teams in the six county area (Lake, Porter, LaPorte, Starke, Jasper and Newton) we call Northwest Indiana had to travel two hours or more to play and three of them came away winners.

Anyone who's still playing at this point could conceivably win the state title. But the wins by Lowell, Griffith and Merrillville, all by seven points or more, were high moments in program history for all three. The victories may also have been victories for traditional style. We are in an era of multiple wide receiver passing attacks that are perhaps mimicking pro football. But last week, run-oriented Griffith gave up lost of yards, yet ran away from pass-happy Hamilton Heights. Run-oriented Lowell got the best of pass-happy Concord. Truthfully, Merrillville beat Penn in a match of two teams that run 80% of the time.

As the weather changes, 50-50 pass-run offenses are a luxury. The final six teams in the 3A, 4A and 5A brackets in northern Indiana are all run-first squads, a good thing, since the weather forecast for Friday night is bleak.

While many have gone on to basketball at this point, this semistate week is the greatest week of the year for football. This is the only week of the season when the stakes are this high. Teams that lose a state final game still got there. It's not that big a loss. Teams that lose one week before the state title game, frankly, disappear into history. It is a crushing defeat that players carry all their lives. So you see the best games.

Five teams will go down in school history as state finalists. Five others will simply be the best losers. What do you think? You can let us know at USA-365.com Sports.

The Pirates' kick returner Chad Dawson #26 is tripped up by the Bulldogs' Chris Wilson #25 as Nick Ciochina #35 closes in for the tackle before a sold-out Demaree Stadium crowd of nearly 8,000 fans in the Class 5A, Sectional 1 championship game won by Merrillville 16-13 on 11-4-2005. (Photo by Mark Smith)

MERRILLVILLE - Merrillville got an early TD run from Evan Parker and were very conservative in a 7-0 win at Penn, giving the Pirates the school's fourth regional title.

Playing with a freshman QB due to injury, Penn was held to just two first downs and less than 100 yards as the Pirate defense posted a fifth shutout in 13 games. The better team won.

It's funny, those who contacted this poll a month ago claiming that it was unfair that Merrillville was ranked number one with two losses have fallen strangely silent as the Pirates have won eight in a row and closed to within two wins of the state championship. Eleven wins is an all-time school record for Merrillville which will host the semistate for the first time in history. I think the Pirates expected to face No.1 Snider but the Greyhounds lost to Hamilton Southeastern. I cannot explain Southeastern, which has a loss to Noblesville (3-7) on their record and has been eliminated by Carmel in each of the past four seasons. This looks like a match of defense-oriented teams that is tough to predict.

The Bulldogs' Matt Ernest #15 goes up into the air to pull down a Matt Jansen pass as Ryan Forney #12 runs a counter pass pattern against Valparaiso in CP's 45-20 win 10-21-2005.

CROWN POINT - The Bulldogs may feel better about their 11-1 record as they watch Merrillville advance in the state tournament. Eleven wins is an all-time high for the school. Donny Keiser's 16 field goals and 1,000-yards rushing are landmarks. CP, which will probably (depending on what Merrillville does) finish the 2005 season with the No. 1 Class 5A scoring defense (9.3 allowed) state wide, returns most of their offense in 2006 when the Bulldogs could easily again be playing on the first week of November.

Crown Point returns seven starters on offense, not counting QBs Blake Mascarello (27-56, 458 yards in 6 games) and Marcus Shrewsbury, who will vie for the signal caller role.

Game breakers Jon Sertich (135-805 yards), Matt Ernest (17-313 yards-6 games) and Ryan Forney (26 catches, 472 yards) all return. It's hard for CP to look at it this way, but they did defeat two teams that can advance to the state finals this Friday.

GRIFFITH - You've got to give Griffith a lot of credit traveling 2 hours to suburban Indianapolis and coming away with a strong 43-14 win. That was very much a game I thought they'd lose. Truthfully, the Panthers are deceptive at times. If you saw them against Lowell, you would not say they were state caliber. But with Lowell now one game from the state finals, you have to reevaluate that 21-0 Griffith win over Lowell in early September. The Panthers are still the only NW Indiana team averaging over 50 points and 400 yards a game and Drew Rogowski, playing with a cast on his left hand, still has 32 TDs. I can't see any chance that Northwood (7-6) beats Griffith. The (Northwood) Panthers have a freshman QB, they average 20 points a game and one of their wins was in overtime. Their REAL record is 6-6-1. Unless the Griffith bus gets lost in Amish Country, that game is not just a lock, it's a 'Master Lock.'

I think the Panthers have serious pass defense problems (they gave up 300 passing yards last week). But the reality is, none of the four remaining teams in the 3A bracket are good passing teams. Pass defense may not be an issue. I would suggest to Griffith people that they talk a little less publicly about what they're going to do. They can read the papers down at Bishop Chatard, who is 7-0 in state finals games.

LaPORTE - Nine wins is an all-time high for LaPorte football, but they dropped out after a mediocre 24-14 loss to Elkhart Memorial, which later got smoked 35-21 by Penn. The Slicers' season-long problem, an inability to stop the run, cost them here as Memorial rushed for 210 yards and controlled the game in the second half. LaPorte did not score in the second half despite a 2,000-yard passer (Lance Juergensen, 124-215, 2,081 yards, 26 TDs, 13 INTs), a 1,000-yard rusher (Airrence Shark, 224 carries, 1,258 yards) and a 1,000-yard pass receiver (Kris Staats, 49 catches, 1,036 yards).

I don't know why the usually tough LaPorte defense was so soft (allowed 191 yards per game) this year but if you can't stop the run in August and September, you can't stop it in October and you're probably not playing in November. Shark returns next season and so do some linemen so the Slicers will be back. Again, could Valparaiso, Lowell or Andrean beat LaPorte? You'd have to agree the answer is 'no.'

Valparaiso's Hollis Ballard #23, who had over 1,100 yards rushing this season, returns for the Vikings as a senior running back in 2006.

VALPARAISO - Valparaiso's 5-5 season is validated as No. 10 Merrillville, No. 7 Penn and No. 2 Crown Point, teams that handed Valpo four of their five losses (the other was to No. 9 LaPorte) advanced to sectional championships.

The Vikings did get 1,100 yards rushing from junior Hollis Ballard (186-1,031 yards, 8 TDs) who will return in 2006. The Vikings averaged 302 yards a game and they found an excellent place-kicker in Colin Krupchak. VHS loses fullback Aaron Biggs (107-788 yards) and star lineman Paul Kasperan (6-5, 280) plus QB Carl Hoefler (54-115, 733 yards, 3 TDs). But Valpo returns a full compliment of receivers, a young QB prospect in Alex Sarkasian (6-1, 163) and about half of their linemen. This will be looked back on as a good year even though the Vikings don't think that way now. Two of the Vikes losses were to sectional champions and one (or two) will be to a regional champ.

Would Valparaiso beat Andrean (8-2), Lowell (9-4) or Morton (8-4)? Lowell might argue, but the answer is probably 'yes.'

Dustin Warren #88, Daniel Remboski #42, Scott Gray #6, Steffan Peck #31, Eric McGee #78 and the rest of the Lowell Red Devils enter the 'Inferno' for their Class 4A Sectional 9 semifinal game at home versus Kankakee Valley. The Devils won big-time 41-6, 10-28-2005.

LOWELL - Lowell got a six-yard TD run from a hobbling Jeff Clemens with 52 seconds left to upset Concord (9-4) and win a 4A regional title on the road. This just goes to show you something about high school football. Few at Lowell would argue that last year's Devils' with all-stater Toby Goetz and linebacker Randy Lukasik, all-area star Larin Childress and sack-happy defensive end Clayton Miller (plus everybody they have now except for the sophomores) was a more talented team than this 2005 version. But you don't know when you'll be able to put it all together and Lowell has hit an eight-game winning streak that has them thinking state finals.

Lowell halfback Scott Gray (289 carries, 2,069 yards, 26 TDs) gained 198 yards on 30 carries to become the eighth NW Indiana back to gain 2,000 yards in one season. Lowell's front eight, led by Chris Lampa, Jeff Barker, Ryan King and others, havw been remarkably quick and adept in containing running games.

They will get the ultimate test this week in the 'Game of the Decade' for the Devils. Lowell has never reached the state finals but to advance Friday, they must stop the two 1,000-yard rushers Deontrai Campbell and William Scott of Fort Wayne South.

Michigan City's QB Kevin Collyard #18 takes snap from shotgun formation against CP, where he was 11 of 17 for 175 yards passing. But bad snaps and sacks resulted in 6 carries for minus 45 yards in their 47-7 loss to CP on 10-14-2005.

MICHIGAN CITY - Michigan City was within 14-6 in the third quarter but they got rolled over by Merrillville 49-12 and their season ended. MC needs to look at it like Valparaiso should. MC lost to No. 2 Crown Point, No. 9 LaPorte and No. 10 Merrillville twice. Ryan Fics gained 223 yards on 28 carries and he finishes the season with an unofficial 2,040 yards on 237 carries, making him the third runner (Antoine Brown-2003, James Aldridge-2004) ever to gain 2,000 yards playing a Duneland Athletic Conference (DAC) schedule. The immediate future might be a little rough in 2006. MC loses Fics and some good linemen plus QB Kevin Collyard to graduation. But if they can keep producing big, strong linemen, the Wolves' day in the DAC sun is on the horizon. I've done a top-10 poll for 15 years and this is the first time I've even had a Michigan City team in the final Top 10.
And they make it easily. They'd beat Chesterton. They're better than Portage and they'd run Morton (8-4) off the field. I think the size difference would be too much for Lowell (8-4) and they'd give Griffith and Andrean a battle, again due to the matchups. MC's two losses to Merrillville don't look so bad now, do they? This was a good year for Michigan City football.

Andrean's QB Jesse Repay #12 throws pass in direction of John Kennedy #11 in 7-0 win over Lowell, 9-16-2005.

MERRILLVILLE - The 59ers lost a 10-8 lead in the fourth quarter and lost in sectional play at Morton 24-10. It's the first time in five years that the 59ers have not won the sectional title.

Defensive back Chris Skinner could not play due to an injury suffered in the Griffith game on Oct. 7, but that may not have been the difference. Andrean had some major off-the-field issues (un-related to any present player) that had to upset the squad. The 59ers were not sharp in the final two games and actually should have lost to Munster on Oct. 14.

It's difficult to rank Andrean because they almost certainly had a better team than Morton, but the Governors were ready to play in week 10, and the 59ers, for whatever reason, were not. Morton's 8-4 record validates Andrean somewhat, as does Lowell's 8-4 record.

Some will consider this an off season. But actually, the 2004 state championship team also lost twice and the defeats were worse than the 2005 losses. With QB Jesse Repay (97-162, 1,248 yards, 12 TDs, 6 INTs) and receiver Ron Burton (30-377 yards) coming back in 2006, the 59er offense, which was lacking in 2005, will be much-improved.

The 59ers, who need more of a running game to control the clock, might be a better team next year, but the record might not be as good. With Highland (4-6) and Munster (3-7) and Morton (8-4) going 3-0 against Hammond schools, this was a down year in the LAC Black Division.

HAMMOND - Morton stayed close in losing to Griffith 24-21, a moral victory, but no sectional title. The Governors were not as close to beating Griffith as the score might indicate as they gave up another 300 rushing yards. But for them to be anywhere near Griffith somewhat validates the wins over Andrean (8-2) and Lowell (8-4) and excuses the loss to Highland (4-6).

I'm sure 6-foot-3 senior Andre London thinks of himself as a basketball player, but he should think again. London (47 catches, 762 yards) is a Division I wide receiver. Morton can't give up 300 yards rushing in a playoff game. It should be noted that Morton was 10-2 in 2002 and they followed it up with 5-6 and 4-7 records the next two seasons. Morton graduates most of their skill players, but a lot of the linesmen return. The Governors' program has made great strides since the 0-10 season in 1997, but that was eight years ago. The challenge now is to put together consecutive good seasons, create a good program and not just good years, and stop being 'professional underdogs.'

QB Josh Miracle #18 passes over Lowell's Jeff Barker #34 in Hobart's 14-7 loss to Lowell, 10-7-2005.

HOBART - The Brickies were 0-2 against Lowell (8-4) in 2005 (they are 1-5 in the last 3 years) and that's no shame. But the .500 mark has to be a little disappointing. Still, this is a very young team. They say goodbye to top LB Richard Mitchell (120 tackles), but the Brickies should become an offensive powerhouse with Junior QB Josh Miracle (139-282, 1,697 yards, 12 TDs, 17 INTs) and top receivers Bobby James (43 catches, 571 yards) and Michael Brown (43 catches, 547 yards).

Coach Wally McCormack had top passing teams at Andrean and that's where Hobart is headed.

I like what little I saw of Andrew Jackson (6-2, 220) at tailback and I believe half of the offensive line returns. With Lowell and Morton headed for big graduation losses, Hobart will contend for the league title in 2006... before they head down to Lowell again.

PORTAGE - There were lots of personnel problems that hid the efforts of Rhein (129 of 236, 1,918 yards, 17 TDs, 15 INTs) and WR Shane Dixon (50 catches, 896 yards), both of whom are seniors. This team averaged 21 points and gave up 25 a game. Portage averaged 360 yards gained per game and gave up about 260 per game. Those numbers alone indicate that Portage should have done better. They did lose to 5A No. 2 Crown Point, 5A No. 9 LaPorte and 5A No. 10 Merrillville as well as a St. Joseph's team that is still playing in November. But 2-8 is 2-8. You get tired of explaining why you lost.

Portage's seven-game losing streak is their longest since the Indians went 0-9 in 1955. The Indians return junior runner Nate Milligan (134-605 yards) and WR-DB Billy Doll (38 catches, 628 yards, 7 TDs plus 4 interceptions on defense). The Indians always have a QB ready, as they did in 2005. I don't think Rhein played one game before this season. Anybody who thinks Rensselaer or Whiting could beat Portage does not understand the game. The Indians are also better than Chesterton. I don't care if the Trojans beat them twice. Portage is better.

RENSSELAER - The Bombers lost with honor, missing a two-point conversion in a 21-20 loss at Jimtown, a team that's lost 18 games in 11 years. The result was as good as they could have hoped for against a team that had six consecutive shutouts. It was close but the better team won.

All-stater Jacob Kiger (181 carries for 1,186 yards rushing; 101-167, 1,864 yards, 21 TDs, 6 INTs passing) will be hard to replace as the Bombers start over next year at QB after a 30-8 run through three seasons. Corner back Addrian Frederick (13 interceptions), punt return star Eli Albrecht (14 TDs) and 900-yard rusher Ryan Kauffman are all seniors. The Bombers have had an outstanding run but it appears over.

WHITING - Whiting's schedule caught up with them again as they were bombed in the second half at West Central 45-21. You can sugar coat it, but the Oilers didn't play well the last third of the season and this loss is not a surprise. Whiting gave up 250 yards rushing so it's no secret why they lost. Local media that had them playing for the state title was slightly off, as they fall in the third round of a six-week playoff. It's not the Oilers' fault they lost to a high top-10 team after a season of playing low-riders.

Why Whiting does not play Rensselaer or North Judson (or West Central) to prepare themselves for the state tournament is beyond me. Undefeated league seasons are nice but Whiting has to understand that they play in a soft league and they need to overmatch themselves in nonconference play.

QB Matt Kobli graduates after a 2,000-yard passing season, so the Oilers face massive rebuilding. Class 1A schools can't be good every year so an opportunity here was missed. But the schedule needs to be upgraded before the next strong Whiting class gets to 12th grade.

USA-365's

Week 13: NW Indiana High School Top-10 Football Poll