Andrean advances to Indy with 28-17 Semi-State victory over Concordia
A USA-365.com Special Report By Mark Smith

Friday, Nov. 22, 2002  - 27 degrees, muddy in Merrillville

Scoring Summary:

1st Q: CONCORDIA (0-3)  Josh Macke, 40-yard field goal. 
38-yard drive, 10 plays including a 35-yard run by Brian Payton.  2:05 left
2ND  Q:  ANDREAN (7-3) Roco Marcinak, 2-yard run (10th TD).  Mark Edwards kick. 80 yards, 13 plays including Brett Goins' passes, 23 yards to Roco Marcinak and 19 yards to Aaron Babb.  9:24 left.
CONCORDIA (7-10)  Brian Payton, 2-yard run (17th TD). Josh Macke kick.
65-yard drive, 12 plays. Ryan Doerffler, 5-of-7, 44 yards.  3:09 left.
ANDREAN (14-10) Nick Stockwell (3rd TD catch),  60-yard pass from Brett Goins (22nd TD pass). 60 yards, one play.  3:09 left
ANDREAN (21-10) Derrell Tinner, 6-yard run (17th TD).  Mark Edwards kick. 67 yards, nine plays.  2:34 left.
3RD Q: CONCORDIA (21-17)  Jon Lapsey (13th TD), 58 yard pass from Ryan Doerffler (28th TD pass), 58 yards, one play (after the second half kickoff ) 11:50 left.
ANDREAN (28-17) Derrell Tinner, 2-yard  (18th TD).  Mark Edwards kick.
73 yards, 14 plays including a 23-yard pass from Brett Goins to Rob St. Germain. 5:01 left.
4th Q: No scoring.
 

MERRILLVILLE, IN (11-22-2002) It was meant to be. It just had to be. Five years ago, Andrean roared through the regular season, beat a Fort Wayne team (Harding) in a semistate game at home and lost by three points (27-24) to Bishop Chatard in the state finals.
Last year, Andrean roared through the regular season, beat a Fort Wayne team (New Haven) in a semistate game at home and lost by three points (3-0) to Bishop Chatard in the state.

Rarely do we have this type of symmetry. Andrean has roared through the 2002 regular season. Friday night, they beat a Fort Wayne team (Concordia) 28-17 in the Class 3A Northern semistate in front of 1500 half-frozen fans.

Concordia put up a fight but it had to be Andrean's night and the 59ers overcame deficits of 3-0 and 10-7 to advance to the 3A state championship game for the third time in six years. As they left the field, they did not know whether their 11 a.m. opponent on Saturday Nov. 30 would be Heritage Hills (13-0) or their old friends at Bishop Chatard. Those two powerhouses, the last two state champions and the teams ranked 1-2 in Class 3A, were to meet late Saturday night down at the bottom of the state.

"It doesn't have anything to do with me," said Andrean first-year coach Wally McCormack, "telling about half the truth. It's got something to do with the kids. When you have players, you win and when you don't have players, you don't win -- No matter who the coaches are."

"I was fortunate to come into a successful program with a whole lot of successful players who expected success. I can't tell anybody I deserve any credit. I don't know, I guess I'll know what it feels like when the season's over. Right now, we have to go back to work."

Andrean, which is 14-0 on the field but has a forfeit of their 67-0 win over Horace Mann on their record because of something they did not do (an unlicensed referee worked that game) found themselves trailing for the first time since a 26-23 win over Griffith in September.  Down 3-0, they drove 80 yards in 13 plays to make it 7-3.  Down 10-7, Brett Goins threw a 60-yard TD pass to Nick Stockwell to make it 14-3.  Both times they responded immediately.

"It's hard to pass when it's cold," said Goins, who tossed his 22nd TD pass. "But it's easy to pass when the line's giving me six or seven seconds. The running backs picked up the blitz and the WR's did the rest."

Goins was 12-of-20 for 258 yards in a performance marred only by two interceptions. Brett is the one you're happy for here. He was ineffective in the 3-0 loss last November in Indianapolis and he's had to live with it. Now, 2,000 passing yards, 22 TDs and just five interceptions later, Goins will go back in a  rare athletic opportunity to redeem himself.

"It feels good now," he smiled after hugging a dozen people near the home stands after the game. "But we've got to take care of business when we get there."

Concordia came in with record-setting passer Ryan Doerffler, who had completed 183 of 314 passes for 2,697 yards and 27 TDs coming in. Andrean, without safety Tommy Finn, who suffered a concussion in the second quarter, 'held' Doerffler to 12 of 34 for 210 yards. Andrean never led by more than 11 points and the game was never out of reach for the visitors from Allen County.  But Andrean's dominance in the offensive line (221 rush yards) gave them what Concordia (30 yards rushing) didn't have.

"They keep hearing about how they're too small," said Goins. "They just came out and took care of business."

A big factor in the game was Roco Marcinak, who plays an outside linebacker/safety combination in many of Andrean's defenses, dropped back to free safety after Finn's injury. Concordia's four and five wide receiver sets are designed to force inexperienced defensive backs into play. When Lapsey (6 catches - 99 yards) went by Marcinak (there was a miscommunication on the play) to score an easy 58-yard TD on the first play of the second half, there was a worry that Andrean might have to outscore the Cadets.

But the 59er pass rush (5 sacks) hurried Doerffler and the 59er deep backs tightened up. The 27-degree cold helped but Concordia had been winning playoff games in cold weather for four weeks. Andrean handled an adverse situation. Their experience and composure paid off.

"Roco used to play safety last year," said McCormack. "Because of his body type (5-10, 180) and him being as physical as he is, we made some changes this year. We moved Saint (Rob St. Germain) from linebacker to end and Roco from safety to linebacker to put Tommy in at  free safety. Tonight, Tommy got a concussion and he wasn't able to go back in. That's unfortunate for him but, when he gets his wits about him, he'll be happy that he won and he gets another chance next week."

"Roco hadn't played safety since last year," said Rob Caldwell. "He's been up in the box stopping the run. That's where he likes to play."

"Nick Stockwell got hurt in gym class playing basketball earlier this week. He coudn't walk Wednesday. So Roco had to play safety in practice this week. Fortunately, Stockwell got hurt so Roco had to take a few reps (series in practice) at safety. That worked out for tonight. We have a lot of good skill kids. They don't care. They just want to win. Some games Roco gets the ball more. Some games Derrell (Tinner) gets the ball more. The team success is the biggest thing."

And the ultimate team success is the 'next big thing'.  McCormack has refused to talk about going to the state finals all year and late Friday, he didn't have time.

"I've got to go five hours down to Liberty City (for Saturday's game). It looks like 30 miles east of Evansville.  I called coach (Tom) Dilley of Chatard."

Don't ever believe that Andrean didn't expect to be here. They demanded to return to this point. They would not be favored against Chatard, which has a state class defense, five state titles and feels the RCA Dome is a home field.  But they've done what they were required to do. They have taken care of business. Now, they get a shot to right an old wrong.

Even if they don't win, the game has to resemble the 27-24 loss in 1997, not the 3-0 embarrassment last year.

"We've got to win," said Caldwell. "I know. If I got to pick a team to play it would be Chatard. But I'm happy just to be going back and playing the game. There's only that girls softball championship (no Andrean boys team has won a state title). We've got to put a trophy there along side that one."


NINER NOTES: Andrean's five turnovers were serious but not crucial. All of them came in Concordia territory including an ill-advised halfback pass by Marcinak late in the game. Sophomore wide receiver Ty Harangody broke clear on a well-designed pass play on Andrean's first drive, only to fumble at the 5-yard-line into the Concordia end zone, where the Cadets recovered. 

Rob Caldwell agreed that his new coach was in a no-win situation through 14 games because everyone in this area assumed that Andrean would return to the state finals.

"If we'd lost," Caldwell said, "everybody would have blamed him. He's been under a lot of pressure."  Caldwell broke his hand early in the year and doctors said he could play the last six weeks but only with a cast on his left hand. That doctor's edict ran out at the end of last week's game.  "It's off," he said, leaving the field Friday. "It's going in the trash as soon as I get inside."

Several area coaches were on the sidelines including Craig Buzea of Portage and Jeff Yelton of Merrillville.  Hanover Central basketball players, including starting center Eddie Roberts were at the game rooting on Cedar Lake resident Brian Allen, the 59ers' outside linebacker.

Media representatives from CLTV in Chicago and Channel 15 in Fort Wayne sent mobile units to cover the game.  The Fort Wayne fans filled up their side of the stands and several were standing. Concordia had never been to the semistate before. Andrean did not fill up the home stands. Few can ever remember Andrean having a complete sellout for a playoff game. With the game on the road and indoors, the 59ers will have three or four times as many as the 1,000 fans they had in attendance Friday, in the RCA Dome.

No coach in region history has gone 15-0 (on the field) in his first year.
"We've had about as much success as we can have so far," said 59er first-year coach Wally McCormack.  Andrean's 13th win (officially) ties a school record. The 14 on-the-field wins breaks a school record. The 59ers have won 67 of their last 85 games and 10 of their last 11 playoff games.

In the 'state versus Fort Wayne' prep football challenge Friday, Fort Wayne won.

In 5A Snider eliminated Valparaiso 28-17. In 4A Dwenger beat (South Bend) Clay 17-14 and in 2A, Bishop Luers crushed undefeated North Judson 29-3. 
Andrean postponed their first two boys basketball games, including the traditional season opener against No. 1, 3A Gary Roosevelt, scheduled for Monday night, Nov. 25.  Brett Goins and Ty Harangody are varsity basketball players.


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Revised: July 10, 2004 .