Crown Point dominates East Chicago 3 quarters, wins big, 49-21
A USA-365.com Special Report By Mark Smith

Friday, Aug. 30, 2002   72 degrees ( in East Chicago )

Scoring Summary:

1st Q: CROWN POINT (7-0)  Bobby Rutherford, 65-yard run (2nd TD).  Chris Kutanovski kick. 1st CP play from scrimmage.
CROWN POINT (14-0) Sean O'Drobinak (2nd TD) , 15-yard pass from Matt Cowan (2nd TD pass). Chris Kutanovski kick.
CROWN POINT (21-0) Bobby Rutherford (3rd TD, 1st TD catch), 18-yard pass from Matt Cowan (3rd TD pass). Chris Kutanovski kick.
CROWN POINT (28-0) Matt Cowan (1st TD), 31-yard run.  Chris Kutanovski kick.

2nd Q: CROWN POINT (35-0)  Adam Hilliard fumble recovery (1st career TD) in end zone.  Chris Kutanovski kick.
CROWN POINT (42-0) Bobby Rutherford, 62-yard run (4th career TD) . Chris Kutanovski kick.

3rd Q: CROWN POINT (49-0)  Troy Bush, 2-yard run. Chris Kutanovski kick.
4th Q: EAST CHICAGO (49-7) Jamaal Garret, 11-yard pass from Willie Frazier. Ken Beckett kick.
EAST CHICAGO (49-14) Jamaal Garrett, 50-yard pass from Willie Frazier. Conversion run failed>
EAST CHICAGO (49-21) Willie Frazier, 1-yard run.    Jeremy Kelly 2-pt. run.
(End scoring)

EAST CHICAGO  (Aug. 30, 2002): Crown Point people need to understand that neither Lowell or East Chicago play in the Duneland Athletic Conference. DAC teams aren't going to turn the ball over four or five times a game. DAC teams don't have freshman or first-time starters in the offensive and defensive lines.  And DAC teams aren't going to let Bobby Rutherford run 82 and 68 yards without hitting him.

In other words, don't get carried away with a 23-0 victory over Lowell and a 49-21 win over East Chicago.

But with that said. It sure looks good to see all those points up on the board.
Crown Point dominated the first half for the second consecutive week Friday turning a 42-0 halftime lead into a 49-21 victory over the Cardinals in East Chicago.

Senior Bobby Rutherford ran for two long touchdowns and caught a TD pass as the Bulldogs coasted to their second consecutive easy win in a row.

Let's stop right there.

This is the first time Crown Point has won consecutive games since the Bulldogs beat Lowell and Munster to begin the 1998 season. In the last four seasons, Crown Point (8-32) only won eight times. They were 1-19 over the last two years.  Okay, maybe you can get a little excited.

But let's consider the foes. Lowell had about 12 players playing their first varsity game on the road when CP beat them 23-0 on Aug. 23. East Chicago, which is starting freshmen in the lines (always a red flag if your hoping to win) fumbled twice in the first quarter to give CP touchdowns. They had little trouble with multiple (3 or 4) wide receiver sets and the concept of tackling. They will have a difficult time winning three games.

Crown Point? Let's stay with with the pre-season hope of 5-4.

Friday, the game was over after eight minutes. Bobby Rutherford opened the scoring on CP's first play, breaking off tackle untouched and sailing down the sidelines 65 yards for a score. On the play, EC star Jamaal Garrett made a very poor tackle attempt that could've easily stopped the play at the EC 30-yard line.

After a Cardinal turnover, CP junior quarterback Matt Cowan, who was much sharper than in week one, hit tight end Sean O'Drobinak, who danced through the nonexistent EC secondary coverage for his second TD of the year. After another EC fumble, Cowan tossed a short pass to Rutherford, who ran through two very weak East Chicago tackles for an 18-yard TD to make it 21-0.

Still in the first quarter, Cowan broke a QB scramble and ran away from dispirited EC defenders (with the help of a nice block by Adam Miller) to make it 28-0 after one quarter.

Anything after that (Rutherford's fourth TD in 2 weeks. Adam Hilliard's first-ever TD and a two-yard third quarter run by Troy Bush, not to mention three fourth quarter EC TDs) is beside the point. Crown Point has proven that they are very much ready to play (and effective) from the opening kickoff. That alone will keep CP in more games than they were in the last three years.

Crown Point only outgained East Chicago 314-310 but most of the Cardinals' yards came in the fourth quarter. The Bulldogs weren't perfect. They lost 102 yards on nine penalties and gained only 10 first downs.  CP's bigger offensive line is much stronger physically than last year and that's the basis of all good teams. But they are still not anywhere near as precise as they need to be to go against Valparaiso and Portage this month and LaPorte later on.

East Chicago hit 8-of-20 passes for 156 yards but Crown Point intercepted three passes.  CP did a passable job against the EC star Jamaal Garrett, who scored twice.

Keep in mind that Crown Point is supposed to beat Lowell and East Chicago. They should beat them four out of five times.  We now begin the 'big four' stretch of Merrillville, Hobart (1-1), Portage (2-0) and Valparaiso (1-1).  Since they joined the Duneland Conference, the Bulldogs have never won more than two of the four matchups with these teams.  

Saturday night, Notre Dame beat Maryland but Notre Dame is supposed to beat Maryland (and Purdue for that matter).  Bring on Michigan and Florida State and then we'll talk about how good they are.  If CP is 4-3 after the next five weeks, this will be a very successful season

It's great to dominate Lowell for a half and East Chicago for three quarters but if Crown Point played in the Lake Athletic Conference (EC is a glorified LAC team), they wouldn't have gone 1-19 the last two seasons. The jury is still out.

But the defendant is getting closer and closer to being able to see the light of day.


DOG NOTES: I have no first hand information but the late word is the senior lineman Josh Damjanovic, who was injured late in the game (and carried off the field) was not hurt seriously. The injury was a head and neck problem that seemed very similar to what Sean O'Drobinak went through in the scrimmage against Griffith. Sean played seven days later. The total of 49 points is the most for CP since they beat the old Michigan City Rogers high school 54-0 on Sept. 2, 1994.

The last player to score three TDs in a game for Crown Point was John Sum, who scored three TDs against Chesterton in a 55-28 loss at Chesterton (the last game at the old Chesterton high school) on Oct. 8, 1999.  The CP crowd in East Chicago was not very large, maybe 150 fans. Many more are expected this Friday (Sept. 6) at Merrillville.

   

GRID GRADES

CP DEFENSE  (B+)

East Chicago has the wrong person playing quarterback in Willie Frazier, it would appear. With freshman and sophomores in the offensive line, they aren't that difficult to stop. East Chicago scored 3 TDs against the Bulldog subs but that can be discounted. There were plays early in the game that indicated that a good passing team can gain significant yards on Crown Point.

Senior Chris Sprehe had a high quality performance (2 interceptions) and CP badly needs him to keep that up in September when he and his Bulldog backline buddies will face top passers and catchers. That's still the big concern, especially when you see the numbers that Portage and Valpo are rolling up through the air. I wish CP didn't have to play Matt Cowan in the secondary. That's not good down the line.

Chris Kutanovski averaged 40 yards a punt and the Bulldog kick coverage was acceptable.

CP OFFENSE (C+)

Don't be deceived by nonconference games. LaPorte, Michigan City  and Chesterton go 2-0 every year and then they usually get spanked like a misbehaving child in September and October.

Crown Point's offensive line is physically strong but I'd worried that you didn't see 300 or 400 yards rushing against Lowell and East Chicago, especially with Rutherford's long runs. Take those coast-to-coast scores away and CP's running game isn't that good yet.

Matt Cowan was much better in the second week. Sean O'Drobinak continues to show good hands and the ability gain yards after the catch. Senior Bobby Rutherford has developed himself into a dangerous double threat.  Look for CP to run him less and throw to him more. Chris Kutanovski is kicking so well he won't let Sean O'Drobinak have 'his' placekicking job back. The Bulldogs haven't run Dave Swenson as much as they will when the weather turns and they haven't tapped the fullback position's potential at all except for blocking.

There's a lot of promise here, but I'd like to see sustained drives, TDs that aren't set up by turnovers and time of possession dominance. The offense is still a work in progress.