A USA-365.com Special Report By Mark Smith
History: The all-time series is tied 8-8. There is no true rivalry between these schools. Chesterton beat CP twice last year, but Crown Point stopped the Trojans 35-21 two weeks ago.
Chesterton's 2002 season summary:
8-23-2002
Chesterton 34-3 over Highland (4-5)
8-30-2002
Chesterton 17-6 over Mishawka (5-4)
9-6-2002
Chesterton 42-0 over Michigan City (2-7)
9-13-2002
Chesterton 21-20 (OT) win at LaPorte (6-3)
9-20-2002
Chesterton 10-17 loss at Valparaiso (8-1)
9-27-2002
Chesterton 42-40 over Portage (6-3)
10-4-2002
Chesterton 33-13 win at Hobart (2-7)
10-11-2002
Chesterton 21-35 loss at Crown Point (7-2)
10-18-2002
Chesterton 12-36 loss at Merrillville (4-5)
CHESTERTON UPDATE: There are a lot of questions here. It wasn't a big surprise that the Bulldogs beat Chesterton two weeks ago but the 36-12 Merrillville victory over the Trojans last week was a shock. Chesterton was not competitive in that game and they gave up both 236 yards rushing and 208 yards passing. The Trojans have allowed over 700 yards in the last two weeks and the defense may be in shock.
A quote in the Times newspaper from Chesterton coach John Snyder is ominous. He said, "We never recovered from the loss last week (at CP). We’re a young team and that definitely compounds that."
Quarterback Ryan Kelley, an excellent option runner, has been held to just 2-of-17 passing for 26 yards the last two weeks. In games in which Chesterton scored first, they are 6-0. In games in which the opposition has scored first, they are 0-3.
The Trojans, who rushed for 2,006
yards in their first seven games, rushed for just 289 yards in the final two
games. If the option can’t get 200 yards, Chesterton can't win.
The key threats for Chesterton are Jim Sosnoski (5-11, 190), a junior fullback, Nick Johnson (6-1, 200) a power tailback and David Novotney (6-1, 185), a senior pass catcher. What was lost in the game two weeks ago where Bobby Rutherford ran two kickoffs back for TDs is that Chesterton's 145-pound junior E.J. Neier also ran a kickoff back for a TD. Neier sat out last week's game against Merrillville for reasons that were not made public. Unless he has a season-ending injury, I would think he'll be back this week.
Senior Steve
Joyce, who hasn't gotten any chances recently, is still a good field goal
kicker. He was 6-of-6 on extra points in the 42-40 upset of Portage last month
and he kicked a 42-yard field goal in a 17-6 win over Mishawaka in August.
BULLDOG UPDATE: Crown Point has won their last three games and expects a big crowd to cheer them on Friday. Look for Matt Cowan (84 of 155, 11 TDs, 3 INTS), who was held out of CP's 41-13 win at Michigan City last week, to return to action. It would also appear that power tailback Dave Swenson (6-2, 220), who has battled leg problems all year, will return to action.
The Dogs will certainly employ
the same 6-l-4 defense they used to confront the Chesterton option on Oct. 11.
Chesterton needs to throw over that set but the Bulldogs will dare them to do
that. Swenson will be a key pass rusher.
Rutherford did not run from scrimmage against Chesterton two weeks ago. Swenson carried 18 times for 60 yards. I'd look for Rutherford out of the backfield this time but I think Bobby will line up in several different places. CP may bring Division I tight end Sean O'Drobinak in motion to cause more problems in the Chesterton secondary.
I also see
Chris Kutanovski coming out of the backfield to grab a pass or two. Cowan has
thrown almost 20 times a game this year and, with the weather slated to be dry,
there’s no reason he shouldn't try some tosses Friday. Look at the CP
offensive line where junior Riste Jakimoski (6-2, 215) and sophomore Steve
Ellingsen (6-3, 245) both left last week's game with injuries. Ellingsen
suffered a concussion so, if the doctor releases him, he’ll play. Jakimoski
has a knee problem and he is less certain.
It's
promising that the week before a big game, Swenson and Cowan, who were both
healthy and smiling on the sidelines at Michigan City, didn’t take any more
hits. Cowan has taken enough punishment in two seasons and Swenson is a
collision-style runner.
DOG NOTES: The game two weeks ago drew 3,800 paid fans and 4,300 total, the biggest crowd at CP in several years. The temperature will be about 20 degrees colder Friday so that type of crowd (CP only seats about 3,OO0) may not be duplicated. But spirit is high at CP for the football playoffs and an overflow crowd is expected. The winner of Friday night's game will almost certainly play at Portage on the night of Friday, Nov. 1. As of Wednesday, Friday's game will not be on TV or radio. Indications are that, if CP wins, they will be on both TV and radio on Nov. 1.
Crown Point's last playoff
victory was a 48-6 win over Lew Wallace on Oct. 24, 1997. They lost 21-O to
Valparaiso the next week and lost in the sectional quarterfinals in '98,'99,
2000 and 2OOl. Since the start of the l999 season Chesterton is 27-14.
BULLDOG
STAT SHEET
Rushing
Matt Cowan (QB)
95-419, 4.4 per carry, 5 TDs
Bobby
Rutherford (WR-HB) 59-413, 7.0 per carry, 3 TDs
Dave Swenson
(TB) 52-178, 3.4 per carry, 4 TDs
Jordan
Struebig (TB) 12-80, 6.7 per carry, 1 TD
Passing
Matt Cowan (QB)
84 of 155, 1,131 yards, 11 TDs, 3 INTs (54.2%)
Matt Jansen (QB)
8 of 12, 211 yards, 2 TDs, 0 INTs (66.7%)
Receiving
Bobby
Rutherford (WR-TB) 31-552, 6 TDs, 17.8 per catch
Sean
O'Drobinak (TE) 29-396, 4 TDs, 13.7 per catch
Chris Sprehe
(WR) 6-92, 0 TDs, 15.3 per catch
Aaron Miller
(WR) 5-90, 1 TD, 18.0 per catch
Chris
Kutanovski (FB) 6-71, 1 TD, 11.8 per catch
Adam Miller (WR)
8-59, 0 TDs, 7.4 per catch
Kickoff
Returns
Bobby
Rutherford - 9-344 (38.2 per runback) 2 TDs
Steve Etter -
10-195 (19.5 per runback) 0 TDs
Punt
Returns
Bobby
Rutherford - 4-76 (19.0 per runback)
Matt Cowan -
5-25 (5.0 per runback)
Kicking
Chris
Kutanovski - 30-34 (extra points)
2 of 5 field
goals (made 37, 37) (Missed (37, 44, 47)
Kickoffs: 42
- 46.5 yards avg.
Punts: 38 -
36.5 yards avg.