Kickoff:
7 or 7:30 p.m. (It's been 7 p.m. all year but the IHSAA says 7:30 p.m.) Tickets:
$5 (up from $4 during the regular season)
History:
There is no record of Gary Roosevelt and Lowell meeting in football in, at
least, 20 years. But these two schools are so old that odds are they probably
met (or Lowell met one of the schools that became Roosevelt) at one time or
another.
Weather:
Upper 40s and light rain at kickoff.
Parking:
Plenty. Gary Roosevelt does not have very many football fans and the Panthers
haw never won a state tournament game.
Gary
Roosevelt’s 2002 season summary:
8-23-2002:
Roosevelt 24-48 loss at Michigan City (2-7)
8-30-2002:
Roosevelt 0-55 loss at Valparaiso (8-1)
9-6-2002:
Roosevelt 14-20 loss at (South Bend) Riley (2-7)
9-13-2002:
Roosevelt 68-14 over Horace Mann (0-9)
9-20-2002:
Roosevelt 18-14 win at Wirt (4-5)
9-27-2002:
Roosevelt 18-22 loss at Lew Wallace (4-4)
10-4-2002:
Roosevelt 0-45 loss to Clark (4-5)
10-11-2002:
Roosevelt 47-14 over Gary West Side (4-4)
10-18-2002:
Roosevelt 21-42 loss at Munster (7-2)
ROOSEVELT
UPDATE:
The Panthers have not had a good season, even by their relatively low standards.
Roosevelt just tries to dominate Gary and they failed in that effort, losing
22-18 at Lew Wallace last month. The Panthers' three wins are all against Gary
schools, none of which had a winning record this season.
The 68-14
victory over Horace Mann must be taken in the context that Mann was outscored
474-52 in nine games. Late in the year, Roosevelt switched to a sophomore
quarterback named Michael Rankin, who threw for three TD passes in his last two
games. Even that is suspect, though. Rankin threw two TD passes in the fourth
quarter last week (Oct. 18) in the 42-21 loss to Munster but the truth is,
Munster led 42-0 in that game in the third period before Roosevelt scored.
Munster coach
Leroy Marsh is well known for helping fellow schools and coaches. It's likely he
substituted down to freshmen in an effort to let Roosevelt get on the board and
salvage some pride. The last three Roosevelt TDs are meaningless.
The rushing
numbers against Roosevelt do not bode well for this match with Lowell. Michigan
City (417 yards), Riley (304), Clark (364) and Munster (277) all ran very well
on the Panthers despite the presence of 6-3, 320-pound defensive tackle Quentin
Allen.
Roosevelt has a balanced offense. Halfback Raymond Wilson carried 21 times for 105 yards in the 18-14 victory over Wirt. Robert Madison, a 215-pound senior, who was the starting QB at the start of the year, is also Roosevelt's punter and punt returner. He raced 63 yards for a punt return TD against Horace Mann and threw 5 TDs early in the season.
Probably
Roosevelt's top weapon is halfback Anthony Lilliard, who ran two kickoffs back
for touchdowns against Michigan City. Lilliard also caught an 18-yard TD toss
against Munster and scored two TDs against Horace Mann. The Panthers are
notoriously weak in the lines, though, and they must be able to gain 10-15 first
downs to keep Lowell's 1,000-yard rusher Justin Henley on the bench, or at least
on the other side of the ball.
LOWELL
UPDATE:
Successive losses 3l-0 at Munster and 3l-7 to Andrean have virtually no bearing
on this game. The Devils trailed Munster 14-0 at the half and Andrean 14-7 after
two quarters. Playing shorthanded, Lowell wore down in both games. I think the
Devils are very much ready for this game and, they should not be discouraged by
the losses, which were expected.
I would
expect junior OB Chuck Thompson to return this week, although fullback Toby
Goetz may not. Sophomore QB Scott Schulz did a fine job hitting 3-of-7 passes
for 40 yards and rushing 10 times for 31 yards in his first varsity start. The
Red Devils may find other positions and uses for Schulz in the weeks and years
to come. He is too fast to not be playing on the offensive side of the ball.
One other
change last week was Lovell moving lineman Chris Marzotto (6-1, 220) to tight
end and sliding tight end Jim Jeffries (6-2, 195) to wide receiver. That is a
very interesting move for a run-oriented team. The Lowell line against Andrean
included Mike Marszalek (5-11, 195) at center, Brian Jones (5-8, 182) and Eric
Raszewski (5-10, 186) at guards and Adam Holley (6-0, 238) and CJ Hall (6-3,
235) at tackles. To me that indicates that Marzotto can be a decent pass
receiver and that Jeffries can be more effective split off the line where a
linebacker cannot follow.
If this was
not a one-time experiment, the Devils get, in effect, 6 offensive linemen on the
field in front of their running backs, plus splitting a significant pass-and-run
threat in Jeffries off the line where he cannot be ‘jammed’ or held up early
in a play. While it makes the center of Lowell's line a little smaller, the move
of Marzotto to tight end could be a move that improves the running game and
opens up the pass attack. Watch who plays where on offense for the Devils
against Roosevelt because Lowell certainly is preparing for a Nov. 1 match-up
with Highland or Morton.
WHAT
WILL HAPPEN?
I don’t see
Roosevelt being able to move the ball on the ground in the early going while
Lowell will come out fired up and running the football. The Devils will run
Henley but watch for soph fullback Chris Garza (5-3, 190), who gained 30 yards
on seven carries last week. If Toby Goetz is held out of action another week,
Garza could have a very big night. The rain obviously favors Lowell, which is
stronger on the ground. The Devils fumble frequently but they'd need six or
seven fumbles to lose this game.
I like the
Lowell offense scoring twice early before Roosevelt replies, possibly on a
kickoff return. The Devils will wear down the visitors in the 45-degree weather
and the Panthers will break down, giving up six or seven rushing scores. Rankin
will throw the ball 20-25 times and Roosevelt will score late in the game but
Lowell will total 400 yards rushing and win easily.
DEVIL
NOTES:
Justin Henley is up to 1,090 yards on 180 carries (6.1 yards per carry) after
nine games and he will be a featured player Friday night. Roosevelt scored 36
points against Griffith in a sectional quarterfinal game last year.
Lowell's
freshman team ends their season Thursday right at Andrean so it is unlikely
that any of those boys will be playing very much Friday night against Gary
Roosevelt. You cannot play in two football games in a week's time. It's against
IHSAA rules. But you do get five quarters a week, so a freshman could play one
period Friday. If Lowell advances to the sectional semifinals, all freshman will
be available and that is significant. Then-freshman Toby Goetz played the entire
sectional championship game against Griffith last year on defense.