Lowell builds early lead, hangs on to beat KV Kougers 28-22
A USA-365.com Special Report By Mark Smith

Friday, Oct. 4, 2002 - 54 degrees in Wheatfield, IN

Scoring Summary:

1st Q: KV (6-0) Travis Stansberry, 1-yard run (2nd TD).  Kick blocked by Scott Schulz. 32 yard drive, 6 plays after KV's Frank Turnpaugh recovered a fumbled handoff between Lowell's Chuck Thompson and Justin Henley at the Lowell 32-yard-line. 8:09 left.
LOWELL  (7-6)  Justin Henley, 11-yard run (10th TD, 9th TD rushing) Nick Brill kick. 65 yard drive, 9 plays including a 31-yard run by Chuck Thompson.   3:15.
2nd Q:  KV (14-7) Gentry Brown 1-yard run (3rd TD, 2nd TD rushing).  2-pt pass from Brown to Joe Monet.   77 yards drive, 8 plays including a 61-yard pass from Gentry Brown to Mike Lauraitus to the Lowell 4-yard-line.  10:40 left
LOWELL  (14-14)  Justin Henley, 3-yard run (11th TD, 10th TD rushing) Nick Brill kick. 62 yards, 12 plays including a 20-yard pass from Chuck Thompson to Nick Brill at the KV 12-yard line. Nick Brill kick - 5:30 left.
LOWELL  (21-14)  Justin Henley, 1-yard run (12th TD, 11th TD rushing) Nick Brill kick. 30 yards, 4 plays including a 24-yard pass from Chuck Thompson to Jim Jeffries at the KV 1-yard line. Nick Brill kick - 1:29 left.
LOWELL  (28-14)  Chuck Thompson, 4-yard pass  (7th TD pass) to Jim Jeffries (3rd  TD catch). Nick Brill kick. 45 yards, 4 plays after Chris Garza recovered Travis Stansberry's fumble at the KV 45 yard line.   Nick Brill kick - :21 left.
3rd Q: KV (22-28) Joe Monet, 6-yard pass (1st TD catch) from Gentry Brown (3rd TD pass). 2-pt. pass Brown to Monet.  24 yards, 7 plays after Lowell fumbled on a fake punt from the Red Devil 34.  -   1:27 left.

LOWELL  (10-4-2002)  In the parking lot after the game, Lowell cheerleader Rachel Voss said, "I have a quote," she smiled.  "Lowell football rocks!!"  That about sums it up.

And while coach Kirk Kennedy wasn't as enthusiastic in his approval of the evening, nobody in the stands at Kankakee Valley's homecoming last Friday night asked for their money back.

Forget for a minute that this wasn't a well-played game in mid-50 temperatures and 20-30 mile-an-hour winds. Forget that there were no state champion favorites on the field and  that TV and radio were up north trying to convince people that Highland losing to Munster (49-0 this year) is a rivalry.

This was a wild and windy night of high school football that will bring the fans back again next week. Lowell trailed 6-0 and 14-7, led 21-14 and 28-14, but were holding on at the end, sometimes in extreme situations.  Lowell won 28-22 in what, for now, is the final scheduled meeting of these two intra county rivals.

"The first thing you want to do is to give them (KV) a lot of credit," said Lowell coach Kirk Kennedy. "They got off to a fast start. They got some confidence and they played hard."

Lowell didn't play as hard as they could early. The Devils were not as intense as they were in the previous week's 21-20 upset at Griffith. KV, coming off consecutive 51-6 losses to North Judson and Rensselaer, clearly did not pose as much of a pre-game challenge in the minds of the talented, young Lowell squad.

"We could see this coming," said assistant coach Brad Stewart. "You would hope," said Kennedy, "that they wouldn't take this team lightly. But they're kids and you can't control what they're thinking."

KV roared out of the locker room and scored after an early Lowell fumble. But Lowell quickly drove 65 yards for a 7-6 lead on the first of three TDs by Justin Henley, an 11-yard run with 3:15 left in the opening quarter.

Then, KV got the break that almost sparked them to victory. Sophomore quarterback Gentry Brown fired a 61-yard pass that was deflected by one player on each side into the hands of senior Mike Lauraitus, who carried to the Lowell 4-yard-line.

With the Devils looking stunned, Brown, a good-looking sophomore lefthander , scored on a 1-yard keeper and tossed a two-point game-tying conversion to Joe Monet.

The Red Devils rebounded with a 62-yard drive that ended with Justin Henley's second TD run and a fumble by Brown set up Lowell's fourth TD, a 4-yard pass between junior QB Chuck Thompson and TE James Jeffries.

But Lowell had a third quarter drive choked off by a holding penalty before they tried to get fancy and failed.  A fake punt was misread by half the Lowell team (some didn't know a fake was on) and Lowell lost 10 yards on fourth down, giving the ball away at the Red Devil 24-yard-line.

KV scored in seven plays with Brown throwing a 6-yard TD pass and a two-point conversion to senior Joe Monet. Starting the fourth quarter it was 28-22 and KV, which had never beaten Lowell in varsity football, was fired up.

"We played a good second quarter," said Kennedy, "and then we thought we'd won. Our guys have to understand that they have to give 100 percent all the time.  We got that last week (against Griffith). Obviously, I'm speaking generalities. Some of our guys gave 100 percent tonight but this is the ultimate team sport. You need everybody."

'Everybody' seemed to be coming to the ball to stop the run in the final quarter. Lowell gained 20 yards in the entire fourth quarter and the Red Devil defense had to stop KV four times in the final quarter, including one moment late in the fourth quarter when time was frozen, at least in DeMotte.

On a 4th-and-7 call from midfield with 1:46 left to play, KV's Brown dropped back to pass, looking for an 11th-hour game winning toss. But as the Kougar boy cocked his left arm, the earth stood still. Every light in the Kougars' stadium went out in a split second. The crowd of about 1,000 gasped. Some cheerleaders screamed. The players all stood around shocked and stunned in the darkness.  It was an unforgettable moment.

"I thought I'd had a heart attack and died," said Lowell receiver Chad Wietbrock. "We should say we intercepted," smiled linebacker Toby Goetz, "and scored."

"I've never seen anything like this," said linebacker Mike Marzotto. "But then I've never seen KV score 22 points on us, either."

Coach Kirk Kennedy said. "One of our players said that he (the KV QB) threw the ball right to him. But, in the dark, you can say anything."

After a 15-minute delay in which everybody had a laugh and something to say, Brown's 4th-and-6 pass went deep down the sidelines and over the head of Lauraitus at the Lowell 15-yard line.

Lowell 's Scott Schulz intercepted a final KV pass four plays and two KV time outs later, and the Red Devils had survived. 

"Survived," said an unhappy lineman CJ Hall later. "That's a good way of putting it. We survived."

"We're going to need more than this next week," said Kennedy. "We need the team that beat Griffith last week."

Assistant coach Jim Carlson added, "I hope the (Lowell) team that showed up tonight doesn't show up next week. Hopefully, we can leave them here."


DEVIL NOTES:   Lowell boys were very unhappy with giving up 22 points, the most KV has ever scored against Lowell. But the Kougars gained only an unofficial 166 yards. The defense, which appeared to be pushed around at times, actually only gave up eight first downs. Justin Henley gained 119 yards on 29 carries, giving him an unofficial 889 yards on 136 carries.  It is said that KV has never beaten Lowell but the total Red Devil victories in the series is not an available statistic. The victory Friday night was the 12th in a row for Lowell in coach Kirk Kennedy's 12 years.

KV goes into the Lake Conference next season but they will play in the eight-team 'Blue' division with Gavit, Clark, Whiting, Bishop Noll, Lake Station, Calumet and new LAC member Wheeler. Lowell will stay in the 'Black' division and play with Morton, Andrean, Munster, Highland, Griffith, Hammond and new LAC member Hobart. Because football teams will be required to play the other seven members of their division, there are only two nonconference games left. Lowell wanted to play KV in week two but KV wants to play Rensselaer (another rival) that week. KV wanted to play Lowell in the season opener but the Devils won't give up their lucrative rivalry game with Crown Point. So Lowell-KV is history.

"It's not permanent," said coach Kennedy. "They can move up from the Blue Division (Morton is moving from Blue to Black next year - teams are evaluated on their records and placed reassigned for competitive balance).  "You talk about rivalries," he said. "You think about two schools and what they have in common. Same type of school. About the same size. Same type of athletic programs. Same type of community. These schools are natural rivals. I wish we could keep playing them."

KV only brought about 800-1,000 fans to the game. Lowell had about 250 but they filled up the tiny visitors bleachers in Demotte.  Lowell played without senior kicker Tim Sova who missed a practice because of illness.  Randy Lukasik, CJ Hall and Justin Henley had minor injuries but finished the game.  Toby Goetz, however, reinjured the leg that caused him to miss the Highland game, especially with the state tournament two weeks away. He is a questionable performer for the Oct.11 game at Munster (5-2).  Lowell clinched at least a .500 season. The 1998 season, when the Devils were 2-8, is the only losing season Lowell has had in the last 11 years.

GRID GRADES

OFFENSE (C-)

Lowell's offense disappeared in the second half. They could not match KV's intensity and, when fullback Toby Goetz was injured,  the Devils stopped moving the ball.  Chuck Thompson again hit Jim Jeffries for a TD and a 25-yard pass. Justin Henley got 100 yards rushing. But unlike the Griffith game, Lowell seemed to tire in the fourth quarter. To be fair, it's a little easier to play defense in a 20-30-mile-an-hour wind because you don't have to respect the pass. But Lowell gained 263 yards and scored four touchdowns with only one turnover.  The Devils weren't bad. They were just weaker as the night went on.

DEFENSE (B)

Lowell gave up three touchdowns but KV scored the first two times they had the ball and Lowell truthfully shut them off, to some extent, after that. Lowell gave KV the Kougars' third TD with the fake punt fumble at the Red Devil 24.

I thought both Marzottos, Mike and Chris, had big games. Understand that 61 of KV's yards came on a triple deflection of a pass. Chris Garza recovered another fumble and Scott Schulz intercepted another pass. Jim Jeffries blocked a pass from his defensive end spot and Justin Henley was strong in pass coverage.  Nick Brill averaged 37 yards on five punts in windy conditions.  I thought the Lowell defensive line played well after the first two series against an opponent that wanted to win more than Lowell did.