Crown Point passing attack shocks Merrillville in Overtime, 34-27
A USA-365.com Special Report By Mark Smith

Friday, Sept. 6, 2002   78 degrees (in Merrillville )

Scoring Summary:

1st Q: MERRILLVILLE (7-0)  Eric Morris, 28-yard pass (2nd TD catch of the season) from Adam Tegtman (2nd TD pass). Michael Binder kick.
MERRILLVILLE (13-0) Brandon Mosely, 5-yard run.  (2nd TD) Kick failed.
2nd Q: CROWN POINT (13-7)  Bobby Rutherford, 92-yard pass (5th TD, 2nd TD catch) from Matt Cowan (4th TD pass). Chris Kutanovski kick.
3rd Q: CROWN POINT (13-13) Matt Cowan, 36-yard run (2nd TD). Kick failed.
MERRILLVILLE (20-13) Brandon Mosely, 32-yard run. (3rd TD) Binder kick.
MERRILLVILLE (27-13)  Paul Kurczynski, 49-yard run (1st career TD) with fumble. Binder kick.
4th Q: CROWN POINT (27-20)  Bobby Rutherford, 10-yard pass (6th TD, 3rd TD catch) from Matt Cowan (5th TD pass). Chris Kutanovski kick.
CROWN POINT (27-27)  Bobby Rutherford, 43-yard pass (7th TD, 4th TD catch) from Matt Cowan (6th TD pass). Chris Kutanovski kick.  :48 left
Overtime:
CROWN POINT (34-27)  Bobby Rutherford, 26-yard pass (8th TD, 5th TD catch) from Matt Cowan (7th TD pass). Chris Kutanovski kick.

MERRILLVILLE (9-6-2002) About 10:15 Friday night, I was in a gas station at the south end of Crown Point when, all of a sudden, there was all kinds of commotion.  Police cars headed south toward the square, lights flashing, sirens blaring. In between the patrol car posse, there was four school buses, with happy smiling teenagers leaning out the window, yelling and waving.

People must've thought they'd rounded up some wild kids from one of those beach parties and were headed toward the juvenile center. But I knew better.  "The football team beat Merrillville," I told the guy behind the counter, who still wondered a little.  "They don't win that many," I explained."

Crown Point can't have a parade after every win. Eventually, they want to act like they expect victory.  But those boys can play the rest of their lives and never steal one like this. The game was over. Merrillville led 27-20 with two minutes to play but they couldn't run out the clock. Crown Point received the Pirate punt and quarterback Matt Cowan amazingly found senior sprinter Bobby Rutherford down the center of the field for a 43-yard touchdown to tie the game with just 48 seconds to play.

In overtime, after penalties pushed CP back to the 26, Cowan again found Rutherford for a touchdown to give CP a 34-27 lead. Bulldog interception leader Chris Sprehe intercepted a pass from Merrillville back-up quarterback James Reitz to end the game.

Rutherford, who may have suckered some of the Pirates into thinking that he's a running back with 315 yards on 23 carries in two weeks against lesser opponents, burned the supposedly speedy Merrillville secondary with 11 catches for (what is believed to be) a school record 255 yards.

Junior QB Matt Cowan, who hit 16 of 28 for 341 yards, became the first Bulldog to throw for 300 yards since his coach Chip Pettit completed 20-of-44 for 308 yards in a 40-28 loss at East Chicago on Oct. 11, 1991.   Matt also carried 11 times for 89 yards in a career-best performance for him.

To be honest, Merrillville should've won. The Pirates never trailed in regulation time and zapped the previously unscored upon Crown Point first string defense for 320 yards and three of the four TDs.   Brandon Mosely carried 25 times for 117 yards for the Pirates while end Eric Morris caught four passes for 115 yards. And Merrillville probably wins if starting quarterback Adam Tegtman isn't knocked out of the game early in the second half.

But it's better to be outplayed and win than to dominate and lose. This is Crown Point's first victory over Merrillville since a 20-17 overtime win in Crown Point on Sept. 5, 1997. The last CP win at Merrillville was a 34-7 sectional semifinal win on October 27, 1995.

The Bulldogs host struggling Hobart (1-2) this Friday at 7 p.m. and then they put it all on the line Sept. 20 at undefeated Portage (3-0), which hasn't allowed a point all season.  CP then travels to defending region 5A champion Valparaiso on Sept. 27.

The Crown Point police are warned to be ready on both nights.


DOG NOTES:    Chip Pettit was also the last Crown Point quarterback to throw four TD passes in one game. That happened in a 44-0 CP win over Munster in the old Lake Suburban Conference on Sept 29, 1990.  In both of those games, three of the TDs went to Scott Babjak, who later played at Wabash College.  Brad Stone caught 10 passes for 243 yards in Crown Point's infamous 63-34 state playoff loss at Lake Central on Oct. 23, 1998.  The last time CP came from 14 points behind to win was the night of October 4, 1996. Lake Central led the Bulldogs 21-7 and 27-14 before two late TD runs by Brian Parker gave the Bulldogs a 28-27 victory.  Although Crown Point football goes back to before there were cars, records before 1970 have been lost and there is no record of a Crown Point team gaining 500 yards in a game. CP totaled an unofficial 454 yards last week.

Crown Point last went 3-0 when they beat Lowell 41-19, Munster 42-7 and Merrillville 20-17 in 1997. CP lost game four 30-29 at Hobart and finished 8-3 that year, losing the 5A Sectional one semifinal 21-0 to Valparaiso.

The last time CP went 4-0 was 1987 when CP beat Merrillville 21-14, LC 21-0, Highland 20-10 and Griffith 49-9. That team, coached by present-day Highland athletic director Brad Smith, went 10-0 before losing to, ironically enough, Highland 23-21. Crown Point's 1984 team, considered by some their greatest ever, also went 10-0 before losing to Hobart 20-7 in the Brickie Bowl on Nov. 2, 1984.

GRID GRADES

OFFENSE (C+)  

The numbers are very good. 455 total yards and 16 of 28 passing with no interceptions against a quality defense.  Matt Cowan just keeps getting better and Bobby Rutherford showed himself as an all-area wide receiver.  Quiet credit must go to the offensive line for blocking for 28 pass plays, many of them late during the comeback.  But CP did give away a TD on a turnover and they fumbled five times, losing three. Crown Point has lost six fumbles in three games and that simply cannot go on.

DEFENSE (D)  

The first poor defensive game for the Bulldogs. Merrillville rolled up an unofficial 320 yards and 15 first downs, and the Pirates lost their quarterback in the third quarter. Chris Sprehe made a big interception in the end zone to end it and the Bulldogs did recover two fumbles. But the Bulldogs knew Merrillville's two biggest weapons were halfback Brandon Mosely and receiver Eric Morris and they both gained 100 yards. There are better players than Mosely and Morris in the DAC and there are bigger, stronger offensive lines. Crown Point was very lucky to win with this defensive performance. This game sounded many alarms for the Bulldog defense that hopefully won't be drowned out in the victory celebration.