The RENEGADE

2009 NW Indiana High School Top-10, Week-2 Football Poll

A USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith

8-24-2009

VALPARAISO (8-22-2009) When you picked Valparaiso and Merrillville as the top two teams in the pre-season poll you realize that both could be 0-1 after the first week.  Valpo hosted powerful Penn and Merrillville's home opener was against 5-time state champion Warren Central.  I'm going to resist the urge to say that this isn't a good year for Northwest Indiana football just yet, because I don't know exactly how good Penn and Warren Central, rated No. 3 in the preseason, are.

Penn was not in the pre-season Top-10 for what that's worth.  But a look around the state showed some big names fall.  Carmel, the pre-season 5A No. 1 team, lost 7-3 to 4A No. 1 Cathedral.  2A No. 2 Bishop Luers lost 27-13 to 5A neighbor Snider in Fort Wayne's top match up of week one.

It brings up the question: Who do you want to play to start the year?

In Northwest Indiana Hobart (West Side), Chesterton (Lew Wallace) and Michigan City (Gary Roosevelt) 'knew' they would start the year with a win.  The Gary schools have short benches (not many players) and are traditionally overmatched (although West Side has more students than Hobart does) against the football powers.

But do you want to schedule a bigger, more powerful school to start the season?

Everyone wants to win their conference and most conferences begin play the third week of the year.  The key game is probably the game prior to the start of your conference schedule.  In the Duneland Athletic Conference and the Northwest Crossroads Conference (except for Andrean), that's week two.  You can risk getting blown out to play a marquee game in week one if you have a team you can, at least, regain confidence against in week two.

So Merrillville and Valparaiso can risk a week one smack down because they have smaller schools (Andrean and Griffith) in the second week.  Not to say that those are weak foes.  But they don't have the size and depth of Penn and Warren and that's what hurts your feelings.  Warren's second string helped create that 49-16 hurt on Merrillville last Saturday.  Smaller schools like Northwood and Jimtown risk a loss in week one (Jimtown won that match up last Saturday 13-10 in overtime) even when there are far more teams they can play.

The truth about Merrillville and Valparaiso, is, if they don't take on larger schools, who will they play?  Somebody like Calumet or Gavit or up-and-comers like Bowman Academy can't play Valparaiso  because of the manpower difference.

Solutions?  I think Valparaiso should play next door neighbor Wheeler in the preseason.  Wheeler has a league that's too easy for them and they'd sell out a game with their big neighbor.

Merrillville?  They already play natural smaller neighbor Andrean and the Merrillville-East Chicago (an available independent) match ups were mismatches.  I'd like them to stay with Warren Central or someone like them.  The Illinois season does not begin until this week so Illinois teams are unavailable for the opener.

I have no injury reports, but Denzell Pierce of Merrillville and Brandon Grubbe of Lowell both left week one games with what was HOPED to be minor injuries.  Chesterton defensive star Frank Raudry missed week one with a slight concussion.

As always, teams change between week one and week two.  You may get more of a true reading this Friday so any major changes to the poll might be premature.

1.)  5A Valparaiso (0-1)

2008 (9-2), 2007 (6-5), 2006 (3-6), 2005 (5-5), 2004 (6-5)

VALPARAISO:  Valpo held Penn to just 217 total yards, but their offense was surprisingly inept, gaining an unofficial 117 yards.  The Vikings were stopped twice inside the 10-yard-line.  Three turnovers (2 on special teams) made it easier for the visitors, who led 21-0 at the half.  Valpo held the ball for 20 plays and 11 minutes in the third quarter and could not score.  QB Zach Livovich was 12 of 23 for just 76 yards.  I'm not buying it yet.  They may have some offensive line problems, but let's talk again after this week's game with Griffith.

2.)  5A Merrillville (0-1)
2008 (8-5), 2007 (12-2), 2006 (7-5), 2005 (11-3), 2004 (6-5)

MERRILLVILLE:  The Pirates trailed Warren Central 14-7 at halftime and then were run over something fierce.  A lot of folks say there isn't any difference in enrollment of high schools in football because you can only play 11 at a time.  That's a nice sports talk show line but the truth is, a 4,000-kid school like Warren is going to have a lot of good players to choose that 11 from.  Merrillville gave up 478 yards rushing, including 266 yards and four TDs on 23 carries from Warren Central halfback Shakir Bell (5-8, 185).  I saw a good offense from the Pirates.  QB Zach Raspopovich was 8-of-21 for 164 yards and two TDs.  1,000-yard halfback Denzell Pierce was injured in the first quarter and did not return.  I would guess the Pirates will hold him out of this week's game against Andrean.  Don't overreact to week one.  Merrillville lost 42-0 to Warren Central last year and they won the 5A Sectional One title.

3.)  5A Portage (1-0)
2008 (6-4), 2007 (5-5), 2006 (6-5), 2005 (2-8), 2004 (8-4)

PORTAGE:  The Indians got 143 yards rushing on 12 carries from Jake Dixon and the defense forced six punts in a 26-0 win at (Mishawaka) Marian.  It was a good win, but not great, considering the 3A opposition.  This is not supposed to be a good year for Marian.  Any evaluation here will have to wait until Portage hosts Chicago Catholic power St. Rita Saturday night.  The starting time on that game has been listed as 7:00 p.m. in some places and 6:00 p.m. in others.  I expect Portage to be strong this year but, after what happened to Merrillville and Valpo last week when they faced elite teams, I'm going to wait until I say anything more about the Indians.

4.)  4A Lowell (1-0)
2008 (13-1), 2007 (13-2), 2006 (7-6), 2005 (11-4), 2004 (9-4)
 

LOWELL:  Lowell was also good, but not great, in a 19-0 season opening win over 5A neighbor Crown Point.  Junior halfback Cole Midgett scored twice and the Red Devil defense held an inexperienced Crown Point offense to just 80 yards.  Lowell lost Brandon Grubbe to what may have been a concussion in the third quarter and he did not return.  New QB Ray Skamay only completed one pass (32 yards for a TD to Midgett), but he ran 15 yards for a TD and didn't fumble any snaps.  Lowell's special teams need to get a lot better.  They were only 1-for-3 on extra points last week and CP's longest gain came on a kickoff return.  The Devils know they need to beware of the road trip to Morton this Friday.  There is a potential upset there.

5.)  5A LaPorte (1-0)
2008 (4-8), 2007 (8-3), 2006 (12-1), 2005 (11-1), 2004 (4-7)

LaPORTE:  LaPorte rolled up a lot of yards (452) and points (41) in a 41-16 win over 3A neighbor New Prairie in week one.  The Slicers never punted and had no turnovers, an indication that New Prairie was out-manned.  QB Dustin DeMuth passed for two TDs and ran for a third.  The only downside was eight penalties for 78 yards.  There are years when New Prairie beats LaPorte so this is a good win.  And LaPorte figured to be a high-scoring team, so six TDs on offense is what you wanted to see here.  The Slicers need to be 2-0 every year because they open with Valparaiso in the DAC.

6.) 3A Andrean (1-0)
2008 (6-7), 2007 (9-4), 2006 (8-3), 2005 (8-2), 2004 (13-2)

MERRILLVILLE:  The Niners dominated Bishop Noll 63-0 to start the year.  I don't know if the statistics I read are correct (they were wildly different in both local papers), but the Niners had at least 25 first downs and 500 yards.  The Niner defense held Noll to minus yards rushing and forced eight punts.  A caution here not to get too excited just yet.  Andrean renews its series with neighbor Merrillville this week and the Pirates will we looking for someone to stomp on after they lost by 33 last week to Warren Central.  Andrean now has a near-perfect nonconference schedule in Catholic arch-rival Noll, public arch-rival Merrillville and East Chicago, the local independent squad.  If Merrillville ever stopped playing the season-opener on Saturday, they should move Andrean-Merrillville to Saturday afternoon.

7. Michigan City (1-0)
2008 (4-6), 2007 (2-8), 2006 (1-9), 2005 (6-5), 2004 (4-6)
 

MICHIGAN CITY:  Michigan City rolled over out-manned Gary Roosevelt 63-0 in week one.  Let's be honest.  MC needs another opening week foe.  They show absolutely nothing by beating a helpless team.  Roosevelt had only 31 players in uniform.  I can't be too hard on them for scheduling the weak Panthers because MC has not been a football power.  But if they hope to rise, they need to talk to someone like Plymouth into signing for a home-and-home series.  New QB Rodney Washington completed 5-of-7 passes for 136 yards.  I expect the Wolves to be much improved, but playing Gary Roosevelt in August, the way Gary football is, is like having a week off.  MC gets a much better test this week from speedy South Bend Washington (1-0), a 44-12 winner over Clay last week.

CHESTERTON:  You saw what I said about MC playing Roosevelt.  It's even worse for Chesterton playing Lew Wallace because Chesterton is somewhat of a football school.  The Gary schools should play Bowman Academy and the DAC schools should travel the state or play a next door neighbor in week one.  Chesterton defeated Lew Wallace 44-0 but LW may go winless.  They only had 23 players dressed Friday.  I'm not on the bandwagon here yet.  There is absolutely nothing you can tell about the Trojans until this week when they play on the road at New Prairie, another first time meeting.  And the way New Prairie played last week, you might not know anything in seven days.

GRIFFITH:  I believe they have a good team, but then I thought the White Sox would catch the Tigers in the American League.  Obviously, without suspended HB Ed Johnson until week six they are not all together.  The Panthers lost 20-0 to Morton and gave up 360 total yards.  Griffith is like Lowell where a speedy defense has to be helped by a conservative, ball control offense.  The Panthers could not move the ball against Morton and, playing at home, it got a little ugly.  There is concern here because the week two foe is Valparaiso, week three is against Hobart (1-0) and week four is against 4A No. 2 Lowell (1-0).  When are they going to get a chance to turn this around?

10.)  5A Lake Central (0-1)
2008 (5-7), 2007 (7-5), 2006 (4-6), 2005 (2-8), 2004 (1-9)
 

ST. JOHN:  I still think LC is better than Griffith and Morton but they fumbled three times in a 28-10 opening night loss at Munster.  The LC defense also gave up three TD passes and that's a serious worry with passing teams like Valparaiso and LaPorte ahead on the schedule.  Ryan Hennessey tossed a 13-yard TD pass to Andy Arrelano that made the score 14-10 late in the third quarter, but the home team made more big plays.  But LC is better than they showed at Munster and I think they'll rebound against East Chicago this week.  You can't fumble three times in every game, right?  It can't happen, right?


 

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Revised: August 24, 2009 .