Crown Point Bulldogs go 4-0 after holding off Brickies 4th Qtr push, win 21-20
A USA-365.com Special Report By Mark Smith

Friday, Sept. 13, 2002   

Scoring Summary:

1st Q: CP (7-0)  Matt Cowan, 2-yard run (3rd TD).   Chris Kutanovski kick  -   5:59 left. 2 yards, 1 play after Eric Gulbrandsen ran back an interception 36 yards to the Hobart 2-yard-line.
CP (14-0)  Matt Cowan, 13-yard run (4th TD).  Chris Kutanovski kick -  :55 left. 54 yards, 8 plays.

2nd Q: Hobart (14-3)  Michael Binder, 38-yard field goal. 7:43 left. 5 yards, 3 plays after Chris Sprehe fumbled a punt at the CP 20.
Hobart (14-11)  Kyle Meanovich, 2-yard run.  Meanovich, option run for 2-pts. 2:32 left. 73 yards, 8 plays.
3rd Q: Hobart (14-18)  Bryan Fuller, 36-yard pass from Kyle Meanovich.
6:55 left. 75 yards. 8 plays.   

4th Q: CP (21-18)  Chris Kutanovski, 2-yard run. Chris Kutanovski kick.
8:37 left. 48 yards - 7 plays.
Hobart (21-20)  Punter Chris Kutanovski took an intentional safety - 4:26 left.


CROWN POINT  (9-13-2002)  They don't ask how. They ask how many. And Crown Point has now won their first four games for the first time in 15 years. In a game that neither team is going to remember too fondly, Crown Point did enough to win and Hobart did enough to lose a 21-20 battle in front of a sellout crowd on a perfect night in the shadow of the courthouse in Crown Point.

Crown Point (4-0) takes the win and moves on to meet Portage (4-0), a 27-14 winner over Merrillville on this night. Hobart goes away with a 1-3 record and the knowledge that they should've won in the final minute.

It was game that brought back the excitement and roller-coaster thrill-ride aspect of high school football that had been lacking at Crown Point home games for a couple of years.

Both coaches were somewhat displeased with the excellence of their team's execution but none of the fans asked for their money back.

After coach Chip Pettit sent the word for CP punter Chris Kutanovski to take an intentional safety on a 4th-and 8 play from the Bulldog 4-yard-line to make the score 21-20 with 4:26 left in the game, the CP defense forced a Hobart punt, finally controlling Hobart's rollout quarterback Kyle Meanovich (10 of 26, 153 yards, TD). The Bulldog offense got two key first downs in two plays and forced Hobart to use all their time outs but the Bulldogs eventually had to punt from their own 47 with 42 seconds to play.

All-area punter Chris Kutanovski, who hit a 56-yard punt in the third quarter, popped up this final punt for a distance of just two yards. Hobart then hit the play that should've won the game. Meanovich hit a 38-yard pass to senior Alex Bliss down the middle of the field to the Bulldog 17 yard line with 18 seconds left.

But Hobart coach Charlie Boston wanted to get closer to the goal line, even though the Brickies had no time outs and kicker Michael Bircher had already easily made a 33-yard field goal. Meanovich tossed a pass toward the visitors (east) sideline on which Bryan Fuller made a diving catch at the Crown Point 10-yard line.

But with no time outs, Meanovich, who could've spiked the ball with five seconds to play, attempted a rollout toss into the end zone. The pass was weak and batted down by two Crown Point defenders to end the game.  The wild final quarter was all anybody talked about afterwards.

"We ran a play and we wanted the receiver (Fuller) to get out of bounds," Hobart's Boston explained later, "and he didn't. "Then we wanted the QB to down the ball and he didn't. We should've won but that's no consolation. It's not a consolation to those fans up in the stands and it's not a consolation to us."

Despite consecutive crazy games (last week, CP rallied from deficits of 13-0, and 27-13 for an OT win at Merrillville), CP coach Pettit was calm.

"I'll let the Hobart coaches talk about what Hobart should've done," Pettit said when asked about the final minute. " We took the safety and stopped them and got two first downs. But we got first downs on first down (10-yard gains) and we couldn't run out the clock. He (Kutanovski) missed the punt but there's nothing you can say about that. Chris was a junior all-state punter last year and he'd been booming them all night."

On that big pass play, our kid (safety Matt Cowan) was right there and he didn't touch it. Were we lucky to win. Yes. But I'm not going to give it back. "

A lot of Crown Point's problem may have been that they're new to this situation.

For the first time in maybe four years, CP was favored to win on their home field over a competitive Duneland Conference team. CPHS jumped to a quick 14-0 lead. But when things began to go the other way, after a fumbled punt by senior Chris Sprehe led to 11 Hobart second quarter points, the game turned around  and Crown Point got nervous, running into each other on offense and dropping passes.

"We had a lot of trouble with execution on offense," said Pettit, "and we were unable to run the ball for the second week in a row."

Crown Point's first two touchdowns were easy after Eric Gulbrandsen's second interception of the year and a short Hobart punt. But the Bulldogs did not get another first down until the final period. Halfback-receiver Bobby Rutherford and tailback Dave Swenson were both unable to find running room against a Brickie line, led by senior Josh Coons (6-2, 220). The key gains in the final TD drive were option runs by Cowan (20 carries, 88 yards, two TDs). Kutanovski, who took over for fullback Troy Bush when Bush suffered a concussion and was withheld from play in the second half, made three short runs including the final 2-yard TD for a 21-18 lead with 8:37 left in the game.

Unofficially, Hobart outgained CP 254-159 and Cowan, who threw four TDs against Merrillville, was just 2-of-7 for 13 yards. Crown Point did not complete a pass after the first quarter. Gulbrandsen and Chris Sprehe had interceptions, for Sprehe, his fourth of the year.

The Bulldogs beat Hobart for only the seventh time in history. Hobart still leads the series 45-7-2. CP is tied with Valparaiso (3-1, 2-0), Portage (4-0, 2-0) and Chesterton (4-0, 2-0) at the top of the Duneland Conference. They have yet to play any of those teams, all of whom won Friday night.

GRID GRADES

OFFENSE  (D)

This is still a young team and that's starting to show. Give the Bulldogs credit for that 51-yard drive in the fourth quarter for the go-ahead 21-18 touchdown. But, only six first downs all night? 143 yards rushing and 2-of-7 passing?  It's amazing Crown Point won with numbers like that. There are some basic execution problems on running plays that need to be corrected or the next two games (Portage and Valparaiso) will be blowout losses.  As the season goes on you can't fool people, you have to step quickly and knock them off the ball. Crown Point is 4-0 but offensively and they have should a lot of competitiveness in consecutive come-from-behind wins. But they need to establish somebody other than Bobby Rutherford (who isn't built to take 14 weeks of high speed pounding at halfback) at tailback and reestablish tight end Sean O'Drobinak as a receiver.

DEFENSE  (B-)  

I thought that this was a good defensive game for Crown Point, considering the lack of first downs from the Bulldog offense.  CP's weakness is in the secondary and everybody attacks that. Hobart threw the ball 26 times and Portage and Valparaiso will throw 20-30 times as well.

The CP deep defenders got beat for two big plays but linebackers Kutanovski, Brad Wilson, and Gulbrandsen helped lineman like Riste Jakimoski, Sean O'drobinak and Dave Swenson hold the line against the run. That'll be key in the next two weeks because CP can't shout out Valpo and Portage through the air. They have to stop the run, rush the passer, intercept a couple and hope for the best.

Chris Kutanovski had a great night punting except for the last two-yard pop-up and the Bulldogs intercepted two more passes, giving them eight air thefts in four games.