"The Renegade"

High School Top-10 Football Poll

A USA-365.com Special Report By Mark Smith

CROWN POINT (10-13-2003) Portage and Chesterton are far and away the two best. LaPorte has reached their potential. It's hard to argue that Andrean is better than Griffith, and Lowell may be the top 4A team in northwest Indiana but Munster is close. Highland had to rally to beat Morton (2-6) so Hobart (3-5) is probably closer to the top-10 than Highland (4-4) is.

As always, 'The Renegade', with no allegiance to any school or any sponsors (not yet, anyway) can tell it like it is about local prep football. All schools in the six county Northwest Indiana region count and records are irrelevant. These are the BEST teams.

1.) Portage (8-0)

Antoine Brown (153 carries, 1,260 yards) scored two more TDs to give him 22 this season and Jake Huston (70-126, 1,198, 9 TDS, 0 INTs) is 27 of 47 for 511 yards in his last 2 games.

Huston is the key against LaPorte because the Slicers defense will target him to confuse him. Friday's game may be the test of whether Portage is truly a regional and semistate contender. The premier teams have to handle the unorthodox and that's what they'll see from LaPorte.

2.) Chesterton (6-2)

If anybody still thinks that Andrean is better than Chesterton, they need to come down on the field. The Trojans rejected Crown Point 33-14 last week with another 378 yards total offense. Does anybody realize that no one has held the Trojans under 290 yards all season? QB Casey Martin (138 carries, 582 yards) had another 100 yard game against the Bulldogs and the Trojans have outscored the opposition 89-28 in the fourth quarter. Junior Zach Werner (6-2, 175) grabbed six passes for 110 yards in place of injured Logan Newkirk (19 catches, 173 yards). The Trojans have lost only on the road at Andrean (7-0) and Portage (7-0) and they beat Andrean now.

3.) LaPorte (5-3)

LaPorte is running wild, allowing only 14 points in the last four games. After a 1-3 start, the Slicers return to where they were in this poll at the start of the season. They may have the region's top defense. Nick Ford (6 FGs) is the DAC's best place-kicker and Kyle Cepeda (6-0, 253) is the top fullback. Soph QB Lance Juergensen faces a severe test this week against undefeated Portage. Juergensen threw for 2 TDs last week, but he was only 3-of-14. For a team that has two future college WRs, that's nowhere near good enough. LaPorte needs to beat Portage because they play Elkhart Memorial (8-0) in 2 weeks and Penn (7-1) in 4 weeks. Close isn't good enough.

4.) ANDREAN (8-0)

Andrean rallied to win for the second week in a row, overcoming deficits of 14-7 and 21-14 to beat Griffith 28-27 in a controversial finish. The 59ers would have been better off losing this game because it is a virtual certainty these two teams will meet again on Nov. 1 and the Panthers, who feel the officials robbed them last week, will be psyched to the skies that night. Andrean has won 23 LAC games in a row but they are winning on reputation and intimidation now. The wide variety of offensive weapons they have almost forced Griffith to go for two points when the score was 28-27 in overtime last week.

Tommy Finn was a solid 14 of 29 for 187 yards and 2 TDs and Nick Stockwell (26 catches, 334 yards) leads the best receiving core outside the DAC. But the 59ers were run over on the ground (Griffith rushed for 347 yards) last week and they've got four weeks to correct that. Andrean's season starts in November. These games don't matter. They know that.

5.) LOWELL (7-1)

Lowell was stopped on offense, gaining just 156 total yards against Hobart. The Red Devils trailed at the half for only the second time all season before beating the Brickies 21-7. Lowell switched QB Chuck Thompson with safety Scott Schulz. It won't make them a passing team but Schulz is another breakaway threat in the back field. They needed a dangerous third rushing option. The Devils have some minor injuries so they also needed the 'easy' game against Lew Wallace in the Section 9 quarterfinals on Oct. 24.

6.) Griffith (4-4)

Remember, with two overtime losses to Munster and Andrean, the Panthers are truly 4-2-2. In three of their four losses, Griffith led with five minutes to play. They're almost 7-1. The Panthers have six 300-yard rushing games. The Panthers are an angry team after 115 yards on nine penalties cost them last week's 28-27 loss to Andrean. Defensively, the Panther secondary is improved over the start of the year. No fumbles for the second week in a row. Griffith is sixth but they probably beat LaPorte, Andrean and Lowell if you play the game at Griffith tomorrow.

7.) CROWN POINT (4-4)

There's nothing wrong with Crown Point. They just headed into the tough part of their schedule. Nobody around here wins at Portage (8-0) and at Chesterton (6-2). CP was within 19-14 in the final quarter at Chesterton last week before losing 33-14, even though they had just 42 offensive plays to 64 for Chesterton. The Bulldogs rushed for 109 yards against a tough Trojan defense, an improvement on previous weeks. But CP is a passing team and they only want to run enough to get the opposition out of 5 and 6 back defenses. The draw of Portage in the sectional quarterfinals was not good but a season finale with Michigan City (3-5) can be a confidence builder.

8.) MERRILLVILLE (4-4)

The Pirates limited LC to just 51 yards rushing last week which was a return to norm after giving up 600 yards in the previous 2 weeks. A 30-yard wide receiver run and a 79-yard punt return rallied Merrillville from a 10-0 deficit to a 17-10 win. The Pirates should be lifted by a good draw which has them traveling back to LC (1-7) in the quarterfinals and hosting Chesterton (6-2) in the semifinals. QB Jimmy Reitz came back off a shoulder injury last week for part-time duty and Brandon Mosely (119 carries, 727 yards) gained 101 yards on 21 carries.

9.) Munster (7-1)

Munster hasn't paid the cost to be the boss. Weak nonconference games and a lucky overtime verdict over Griffith. The Mustangs are a quality team with a multiple offense. They just haven't come up big in any game yet. Watch this week to see if the ponies can run the ball against an Andrean defense that Griffith dominated. The passing of Wally Cirafesi (65 of 121, 1,078 yards, 16 TDs, 5 INTs) and the catching of Bart Banach (14 TD catches) will keep them close against anybody, but the lack of strong run defense (351 yards allowed vs. Lowell, 303 vs. Griffith) is very rare for this defense-based program.

10.) Valparaiso (3-5)

The five VHS losses are to LaPorte (5-3), Crown Point (4-4) and powers Chesterton (6-2), Penn (7-1) and Portage (8-0). The Valpo loss to CP was in OT so the record is really 3-4-1. Jon Moon (69-138, 1,048 yards, 9 TDs, 10 INTs) is a coming star. Valparaiso lost 34-17 at Portage, but Valpo got a good draw in East Chicago (4-4). That means they should be headed to Portage on Oct. 31 for a rematch. The Vikes have a good team coming but it won't be here that soon.

JUDGMENT Day is coming....

for Merrillville (4-4)

The Pirates have had some injuries, but they also led CP and Valparaiso with two minutes left before losing. Merrillville hosts Chesterton in the season finale this Friday (Oct. 17) and they will also host them on Oct. 31 as the favorites to win in the 5A Section one quarterfinals. Merrillville is far better than they've shown but the time to show it is running out. The Pirates allowed 300 yards rushing to LaPorte and Valparaiso in back to back weeks. But elite athletes like Brandon Mosely, Jerry Williams and Jhrome Tuggle plus up and comers like Lloyd McClendon's son Bo give the Pirates a chance against anybody if the lines can come together late.