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Griffith Panthers (2-1) atLowell Red Devils (1-2) |
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Week 4 - Football Game of the Week Preview
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Griffith Panthers (2-1) atLowell Red Devils (1-2) |
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9-6-2011
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| The Inferno: Home of the Lowell Red Devils High School Football Team. |
When:
7:00 p.m., CDT on Friday, September 9, 2011
Where: Lowell High School, Route 2, Lowell, IN (3 miles west of I-65)
Tickets: $6
TV/Radio/Internet: WKIF (92.7) FM; WTMK (88.5) FM. Also listen to WLPR (89.1) for updates
on all local games all night.
Weather: Much better than last week, obviously. Long range forecasts have high
temperatures in the 70s Friday which means upper 60s by the second half. We have
not had a good night yet. Football is supposed to be played in upper 50s or low
60s tempertaures. Maybe someday.
Parking: I’m guessing that Panther fans will show in big numbers for this old rivals game. It was almost torture to go to last week’s game in the heat and I would guess that many stayed home. Griffith fans will be directed behind the visitors’ grandstand. If you get there late, there should be room for you in front of the school. A big crowd is expected.
Standings: Northwest Crossroads Conference
1. Griffith 1-0, 2-1
2. LOWELL 1-0, 1-2
3. Munster 1-0, 1-2
4. ANDREAN 0-0 3-0
5. Hobart 0-1, 1-2
6. Highland 0-1, 1-2
7. Kankakee Valley 0-1, 0-3
What’s at stake: The winner of this game will claim the first major victory in
league play. Both teams have Munster and Andrean to play but those four are the
contenders this year. All others seem to be pretenders. Plus Griffith plays
Lowell at every level of youth football. There’s a rivalry here.
Lowell Red Devils
Coach Keith Kilmer (7-6, year 2)
2010: 6-4, 2009: 13-2
Sectional titles (11): 1992, 1994, 1999, 2003-2009
Regionals (6): 1994, 1999, 2005, 2007, 2008 and 09
Semistates (3): 2005, ‘07, ‘09
State titles (1): 2005
Aug. 19 (L) 6-27 Crown Point (2-1)
Aug. 27 (L) 6-13 at Morton (3-0)
Sept. 2 (W) 36-14 at KV (0-3)
Sept. 9 Griffith (2-1)
Sept. 16 Highland (1-2)
Sept. 23 at Hobart (1-2)
Sept. 30 Hammond (3-0)
Oct. 7 at Munster (1-2)
Oct. 14 Andrean (3-0)
Class 4A Sectional 10
with (SB) Washington, Riley, Clay, Hobart, KV, New Prairie and Mishawaka.
Griffithn
Panthers
Coach Russ Radtke
(168-29, year 20)
2010: 6-4, 2009: 6-5
Sectional titles (15) last in
2006, 2007 and 2008
Regionals (5) last in 2005- 2006
Semistates (1) 1997
State titles (1) 1997
Aug. 19 (L) 14-21 Morton (3-0)
Aug. 26 (W) 6-13 at New Pr. (1-2)
Sep. 2 (W) 21-13 Hobart (1-2)
Sep. 9 at Lowell (1-2)
Sep. 16 Kankakee Valley (0-3)Sep. 23 Munster (1-2)
Sep. 30 at Highland (1-2)
Oct. 7 at Andrean (3-0)
Oct. 14 East Chicago (1-2)
Class 4A Sectional 9
with Gary Roosevelt, West Side and East Chicago, Hammond, Clark, Highland and
Morton.
All-time series: Griffith leads 50-27-3
Lowell won 35-19 at Lowell in 2009, but Griffith won 17-10 at Griffith last season.
The Griffith town name has to do with the railroad. In the 1800s, there were so
many railroads crossing in town there was a need for some organization.
A surveyor for the Grand Trunk Railroad who kept things in order signed his maps
of the mid-Lake County area where all the railroads crossed. That man’s name was
Ben Griffith so when folks looked at the maps they began calling the area
“Griffith section.”
In the late 1800s, Griffith was known for having the most railroad tracks
intersect within the town. At one time, 180 trains were said to pass through
Griffith every day. The Canadian National Railroad, which is a direct descendent
of the Grand Trunk Railroad, still runs through Griffith.
Griffith is also known for its oldest grocery store. Ernie Strack opened the
Royal Blue grocery in Griffith in 1930. The Strack and Van Til grocery chain
exists in Northwest Indiana to this day.
Like Lowell, Griffith is a conservative bedroom community, and like Lowell,
they’ve taken to football. Griffith boys have won 14 sectional football titles.
Coach Les Thornton began Griffith’s success in the 1960s. But coach Russ Ratdke
became a legend in Griffith after the 1997 state title. His teams are known for
physical play and the triple-option attack.
The Panthers and Lowell have met every year (77 years) Griffith has played
varsity football. This is the second longest continuous series between Northwest
Indiana schools.
Griffith’s history and makeup sounds a lot like Lowell’s, so it’s no surprise
that it’s always rough and rowdy when the two teams meet.
Stop the run:
This isn’t New England against the Colts. You don’t have to worry about your
five defensive back package.
Griffith runs a very deceptive triple option where the QB Austin Brown (6-1,
170) and fullback Tyler Yost (5-11, 205) hold the ball simultaneously while the
quarterback reads the defense and either hands off or makes his move.
Yost is questionable after some heat-related problems last week, but assume he’ll
play. You have to tackle the QB and the fullback out on every play, but it's a lot
easier said than done.
Make them stop you:
The Devils have helped other teams with turnovers. It's important that they avoid
that here because these are usually short games. Both teams run the ball. The
clock keeps running and it's over by 8:30 p.m. I would be very conservative here
and make Griffith go 80-90 yards to score.
Look forward to the important returns:
No. It’s not election night. I’m talking about punt returns. If this game is
typical of Griffith vs. Lowell both sides will punt at least six times. Lowell’s
Nick Hamilton and Zac Wolfe need to catch ‘em on the fly and give it a try. A
punt return could easily decide this game.
I think we’re set up for one of the classic Lowell-Griffith games.
The Devils will come out of the KV game feeling confident and they score first
here on a run by Nick Hamilton.
But the Panther defense can stop the run and they won’t get steam-rollered late
like Kankakee Valley did.
Griffith’s Austin Brown only threw four passes in the 49-7 win over New Prairie,
but they’ll tie the game late in the second quarter on a little swing pass from
Brown to little junior halfback Brett Brinkley.
The Devils mount a long third quarter drive, but it get stalled near the goal
line and Hamilton boots a short field goal for a 10-7 Lowell lead.
The Devils fumble problems return and a turnover sets up Griffith a for a
scoring drive. But the Panthers, like Lowell, don’t throw well, and they stall
out near the goal line and Maciek Szczepkowski boots a short field goal to tie
the game 10-10 heading into the fourth quarter.
After an exchange of punts, Lowell gears up a long run-dominated drive down near the goal line where Bryan Thomas scores on a QB keeper. It won't be a big numbers win, but it will be a big victory. This is a must game because the next three Lowell opponents are very beatable. The Devils squeak by.
LOWELL 17, Griffith 10