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5A Crown Point (3-7) at 4A Lowell (13-1) |
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Week
1 - Football Game of the Week Preview |
5A Crown Point (3-7) at 4A Lowell (13-1) |
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8-20-2009
When:
7:00 p.m., CDT on Friday, August 21, 2009
Where: Lowell High School, Route 2, Lowell, IN
Tickets: $5 (for everybody)
TV/Radio/Internet: WWCA (1270) AM and WTMK (88.5) FM will carry this game live. Live Internet coverage on www.USA-365.com .
Weather: We're going to get a big break.
Early in the week,
the temperatures hung around in the neighborhood of 90
degrees (a miserable neighborhood), but that hot weather took
the weekend off. It'll be in the upper 60s by kickoff
time. The field may not be dry as rain is predicted
Thursday morning. Lowell has resodded, reseeded or
something because the grass was very healthy this week. The
'track' might be a little slow.
JV game: Saturday, Aug. 22 at LOWELL - 10:00 a.m.
Freshmen: Thursday, Aug. 27 at CROWN POINT - 6:00
p.m.
Numbers: Crown Point: Class 5A, enrollment 2,446;
LOWELL - 4A enrollment - 1,224.
Parking:
Since CP played at Lowell in 2007, the Devils have replaced
the visitors' stands and added a little parking space.
There won't be enough for all who are coming from CP but
longtime Bulldog fans will notice the extra room. Lowell
does not have enough parking for a game with a popular 5A
school, but there is a new parking lot behind the tennis
courts next to the baseball field. If you can get there, it's
a short walk to the field. You can still park on the
Devils' practice field behind the visitors stands. There is a lot of room in front of the school and, if
the lots are all full, you can always park in the
supermarket parking lot across Route 2. Lowell expects a
large turnout for the home opener so CP fans might want to
get there a little early.
The SERIES: I'm probably never going to find out just how many times
Lowell has played Crown Point in football. Lowell and Crown
Point is the longest running football rivalry in this part
of the state and when the Bulldogs head south to Lowell for
Friday night's 7:00 p.m. kickoff it will either be the 92nd
meeting of the two schools according to the Crown Point
football records, with CP leading 56-33, with two ties,
OR... according to the Northern Indiana Football.com web site,
which details every year of prep football for teams in the
northern third of the state, it will be the 105th meeting
with CP leading 61-41-2. I tend to believe the latter number because these
schools have met for over 100 years.
Friday's game will be the 13th consecutive year that
Lowell and CP have met to begin the season. Lowell scored a
late second quarter TD to beat Crown Point 7-0 in 2008, the
Devils' seventh win over CP in the last 10 years. I don't
think there's any chance that, short of the IHSAA approving
a 10th regular season game, that CP will open the season
with anyone but Lowell for the foreseeable future.
Lowell vs. Crown Point is the
"Leather Helmet" game, because
the rivalry goes back to the early 20th Century. This is the
oldest football rivalry in Northwest Indiana, going back to
a time when Lowell and Crown Point were the only two high
schools south of Gary and Hammond.
Lowell had a 23-year period when they did not have a winning
football team (1970-1993) including 0-10 seasons in 1978, 79
and 1983. Things changed dramatically in the last two
decades under coach Kirk Kennedy as the Red Devils have
soared into state prominence, climaxing in the 2005 state
championship, which featured a two-touchdown fourth quarter
rally against eight-time state champ Roncalli.
CP's rise is nearly as striking. The Bulldogs never won more than eight games in the first 80 years of the football program. Coach Brad Smith brought CP to the winner's circle from 1984-1991, winning 10 games each in 1984, 1987 and 1988. Smith's final winning team came in 1991 when the Bulldogs (9-3) won the Lake Suburban Conference, led on offense by QB Chip Pettit. Nine years later, Pettit took over as the Bulldogs head coach after an 0-10 season in 2000. Crown Point's record of 31-5 in the last three seasons is the best three-year mark in the long history of the school.
As I said last year, if you add up the wins and losses, however, you get 60 CP wins, 37 Lowell triumphs and the two ties, which everybody seems to agree on. The difference probably comes from the early part of the 20th Century when Lowell and Crown Point were "charter members" of Northwest Indiana high school football. It is highly unlikely that, if they fielded teams (World War I was 1914-1919), that the Bulldogs and Red Devils did not meet between 1910 and 1920. There were only about four other schools in the county back then and 100 years ago, nobody at the north end of the county could find Lowell without a search party. The only high schools south of what is now Ridge Road were Lowell and Crown Point. I would guess there were several undocumented Lowell-Crown Point games at the beginning of the 20th Century.
The best thing about this rivalry to me is that it doesn't really matter. Lowell will not see Crown Point again for 12 months no matter what happens Friday night. To my knowledge they have never met in a playoff game and, under the present format, there is no chance they can. The year Lowell won the state title, they lost to Crown Point. The Devils really don't mind if CP has success after opening night. In fact, they prefer it if they do. It reflects well on them. And, even though they truly dislike losing to the Red Devils, I believe CP secretly doesn't mind if Lowell wins 10 or 11 games every year as long as they all come AFTER opening night.
Lowell vs. Crown Point - 106 years of Competition
1900-1909: CP led series 2-1
1910-1919: no records available
1920-1929: CP led series 3-1
1930-1939: LOWELL led series 11-2-1
1940-1949: CP led series 11-9
1950-1959: CP led series 9-3-1
1960-1969: CP led series 8-2
1970-1979: CP led series 8-2
1980-1989: CP led series 9-1
1990-1999: CP led series 5-1
2000-2008: LOWELL leads series 6-3
* From 1933 to 1952, CP played Lowell twice in a home and
home series.
Lowell and CP did not meet from 1993-1996.
The earliest recorded CP-Lowell games is a 71-0 CP win on
Oct. 22, 1904.
2009 Crown Point Bulldogs
Coach: Chip Pettit, 52-36 (9th year) Duneland Athletic
Conference (DAC) games in CAPS
all games are Friday at 7 p.m.
Aug. 21 at Lowell (13-1)
Aug. 28 Hobart (9-2)
Sep. 4 MERRILLVILLE (9-4)
Sep. 11 at LAKE CENTRAL (3-7)
Sep. 18 at PORTAGE (6-4)
Sep. 25 VALPARAISO (9-2)
Oct. 2 LaPORTE (4-8)
Oct. 9 at CHESTERTON (8-3)
Oct. 16 MICHIGAN CITY (4-6)
Sectional 1
Oct. 23 (F) with Michigan City, Portage, Valparaiso,
Chesterton, Lake Central, Munster, East Chicago and
MERRILLVILLE
2009 Lowell Red Devils
(4A) LOWELL (13-1)
Coach:
Kirk Kennedy, 148-68 (19th year) 13-1 (2008), 13-2 (2007),
7-6 (2006), 11-4 (2005)
Northwest Crossroads Conference (NCC) games in CAPS -all
games begin at 7 p.m.
Aug. 21 (F) Crown Point (3-7)
Aug. 28 (F) at Morton (7-5)
Sep. 4 (F) at KANKAKEE VALLEY (3-7)
Sep. 11 (F) GRIFFITH (8-5)
Sep. 18 (F) HIGHLAND (0-10)
Sep. 25 (F) at HOBART (9-3)
Oct. 2 (F) Hammond (7-4)
Oct. 9 (F) at MUNSTER (7-4)
Oct. 16 (F) ANDREAN (6-7)
Sectional 10
Oct. 23 (F) with Concord, Plymouth, Kankakee Valley,
Logansport,
Clay, Riley and (SB) Washington
Team Profile - 2009 LOWELL (13-1 in 2009)
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| Lowell QB Ray Skamay will lead the Red Devils on offense. |
LOWELL - This resembles a typical Lowell team with a top
running back in Brandon Grubbe (6-1, 194) and two good pass
rushing defensive ends in seniors Joe Bell (6-4, 207) and
Nate Cleveland (6-4, 215).
That's probably why the coaches and players are confident,
even though the offensive line and the linebackers are new
starters.
A lot will come down to new QB Ray Skamay (5-10, 154) and
how well he can run the offense. Grubbe, who will try to
gain over 1,000 yards fro the third year in a row, will get
the ball on most Lowell running plays but Skamay, a two-time
state qualifier as a hurdler, will become a threat running
the ball himself. Cleveland is one of the fullbacks along
with Jordan Juarez (6-1, 197) and they'll mostly block for
Grubbe (315 carries, 1,828 yards in 2008), Skamay and wide
receiver Cole Midgett (5-10, 154) who may become a threat on
the reverse.
I can't tell you who'll line up blocking other than
center Anthony DeMario (6-1, 194) and the Devils may be
nervous on offense on opening night. But many Lowell
seasons begin with new offensive linemen. Lowell won 7-0
last year and didn't look that good. They went on to win 12
games in a row.
Place-kicking will also be an adventure. Midgett is giving
extra points his best shot and senior lineman Boge Pejoski
has volunteered. I wouldn't be shocked to see Lowell go for
two point conversions in bad weather or in overtime.
Defensively, this will be a good team. the fact that no
linebackers return this year is deceptive. Juarez (6-1, 197)
is expected to play very well and the coached are high on soph linebacker Jeremy Crocker (6-0, 180). DeMario and Jeff
Harbrecht (6-1, 191) could be the starters in Lowell's 4-4-3
defense.. In the secondary, Jake Payton and Cole Midgett
will ad speed and there's a chance that tall soph Tyler
Kristoff (6-32, 195) will get time chasing tall receivers.
It is unlikely that Skamay will play in the defensive
secondary and Grubbe will play offense and special teams so
the coaches don't want to use him defensively either.
Lowell has major kick return threats in Grubbe and Midgett
but I always seem to overestimate how effective the kick
return game fro the Devils will be. But again, I'll bite.
With those two fast boys running back kicks, Lowell should
return at least a half dozen kicks for TDs in 2009. Brandon
Grubbe will punt and he could be pretty good is he overcomes
the urge to run with the ball out of punt formation.
Lowell appears to have the boys to create for another
winning season. They will be favored opening night on
reputation (26-3 in the last two years) but the offensive
line is the key to all Lowell teams and we wont know much
about them until about 9 p.m. Friday night.
Team Profile - 2009 CROWN POINT (3-7)
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| CP players Travis Woosley (15), Brad Pusateri (49) and running back Chris Klein (27). (All photos by Mark Smith) |
CROWN POINT -
Crown Point is a year removed from glory. They were 31-5
from 2005-2007 but just 3-7 last year when they lost four
games by seven points or less. The Bulldogs figure to be conservative behind new soph QB
Joe Hopman (5-11, 165), who will spend much of the first half
handing off to running backs Mason Popovich (5-9, 170), Cody
Bacon (5-8, 165) and up and-coming Chris Klein (5-10, 170),
who gained 60 yards in the scrimmage last week at Highland.
CP returns two offensive linemen in Zach Brueckman (6-2,
230) and Blake Pals (6-1, 260) and they expect the line to
be MUCH better than in 2008 when they didn't gain 2000 yards
in 10 games. The line will be large, averaging over 240
pounds per man but, against the competition CP faces, that's
no big deal.
It's going to have to be. Hopson may not be much of a
runner so CP needs success with basic plays. They are not
going to be able to be very sophisticated early on. The
Bulldogs have a lot of quick looking wide receivers but
since none of them have played on the varsity, only they
might know how good they are.
If I was to pick out one to watch it might be Brian
Holloway, the baseball center fielder who has above average
speed.
An intriguing position is 'H-back', a tight end-fullback
combo that could run or catch. The candidates there are
Spencer Rapchak (5-10, 195), John Hannon (5-11, 200) and
sophomore Peter Parks (6-1, 215), who seems destined to play
somewhere soon.
Crown Point doesn't have a problem on defense. They held a
tough 10-game schedule (including regional champs Lowell and
Merrillville) to 178 points (17.8 per game) and part-time or
full-time starters in lineman Steven Strong (5-10, 260) and
Ben Cottrell (5-9, 185), linebackers Brad Pusateri (6-0,
210), Reed Stofko (5-10, 185) and defensive backs Scott
Hannon (6-1, 165) and Tommy Renn (5-6, 165). This defense
could be better than last year and last year's was pretty
good.
CP has a new place kicker in sophomore Brett Bayer (5-8,
160) and here's another position where we have to wait until
Friday night to judge him.
The Bulldogs play that 3-5-3 defense where you can never be
sure if the linebacker on the edge is rushing, run-stopping
or in pass coverage.
I don't expect anybody to run wild on CP but early in the
season, I don't expect them to pour it on anyone offensively
either.
What will happen...................
LOWELL (8-21-2009) This should be a festive night in Lowell and I expect a hard-hitting, low-scoring game in unusually cool August weather.
Since it wont be 97
degrees in the middle of
the day, people will
feel like coming to a
football game and this
one will be played in
front of a standing room
only crowd.
Early
on, the CP defense is
obviously going to bring
eight men to the line of
scrimmage to stop
Brandon Grubbe. They'll
want to see if Ray
Skamay can complete some
passes. I would guess
that the Devils' first TD
will be scored or set up
on a pass to Joe Bell,
the Devils tight end.
Crown Point may suffer through a scoreless first half, but look for Chris Klein to score the first CP TD of the fall after a Lowell turnover.
The Devils will get better running the ball as the game goes on and Grubbe will score the go-ahead TD in the third period.
There will be a lot of defensive stops near the goal line in the contest. Crown Point's Brett Bayer will connect on his first field goal of the season, but I'm guessing that Cole Midgett has a short one in him for the Lowell Red Devils.
I don't think the Bulldogs can protect the passer well enough in this game to ever get the lead in the second half. This game is always a tough match for the Bulldogs and they might win it later in the year.
But not at Lowell on opening night. Some may see this as a Lowell blowout and CP boys will wake up Friday and read the newspapers in which EVERYONE will pick Lowell to win. But the tradition of this series says it will be close in the end.
I just think that because Lowell does not take many chances with the football, CP needs three turnovers to pull an upset here and Lowell isn't going to let that happen.
LOWELL 17, CROWN POINT 9