Week 11 - Football Game of the Week Preview

Class 4A  Sectional 9 Semifinal Kankakee Valley (7-3) at Lowell (6-4)

A USA-365.com Special Report By Mark Smith

10-26-2005

When: Friday, October 28, 2005

Where:  Lowell High School, Route 2, Lowell, IN.

Tickets:  $5.

Kickoff:    7:00 p.m.
Radio-TV:  WWCA (1270) AM - 6:00 p.m. pregame.

Weather: Low-50s, dry. Friday and Saturday (for travel to LaPorte and state cross country in Terre Haute) are forecast to be near perfect for the week before November.

PARKING:  You're going to have to get there early. KV and Lowell have not met in three years, but they used to bring a very good crowd to Lowell. Even the 'Kougar' is coming.

RIVALRY:  Lowell and KV were league rivals for five years in the old Northwest Hoosier Conference from 1993 to 1997 which was when the Devils began their present run of strong teams.  It was formerly though that KV had never beaten Lowell, but that's not accurate.  These teams played in the 70s and 80s and KV won 19-8 in 1983 and 28-27 in 1984.

Lowell played Morocco high school (the fore-runner of what is now North Newton) in the 1950s but I can find no meetings between Lowell and DeMotte high, which became Kankakee Valley in 1970.  Lowell defeated KV 28-6 in 1977 and 21-16 in 1976 and 56-0 in 1975. KV did beat Lowell 19-8 in 1983 and 28-27 in 1984.

Lowell has won the last 10 games beginning with a 24-7 victory in 1993.  The two schools played for 10 consecutive years until KV joined Lowell in the Lake Athletic Conference (LAC).  KV dropped into the weaker Blue Division while Lowell stayed in the strong Black Division. With Lowell having Hobart and Crown Point as nonconference games they did not want to lose, the match with KV was discontinued.

One of the many benefits of the LAC breakup is that Lowell will again schedule KV.  It shows how twisted the LAC is that natural geographic rivals, next door neighbors and schools in the same enrollment classes were placed in opposite divisions. It's a crime that the KV-Lowell series was ever stopped but those days are over.

The good news is that both KV and Lowell are members of the soon to be new 7-team Hoosier Crossroads Conference which begins play in 2007. So Kougars and Devils will meet up in every sport in league play as they always should have.  KV will basically replace Hammond high on Lowell's future schedules in a move that, considering the outcome of the last few Lowell-Hammond games, will benefit the football programs at all three schools.

Hammond schools will now be able to schedule Gary schools for equal competition. Gary West Side should not be scheduling games in Chicago with Englewood and Robeson when they can schedule Hammond and Gavit.  I think a five school Hammond Division with East Chicago, Gavit, Hammond, Clark and Morton linking up with a four school Gary Division with Wirt, West Side, Roosevelt and Lew Wallace would be an exciting, high-scoring league of 3A-4A teams from urban neighborhoods.  I've even got a name. The North Lake City Conference (NLCC).  Consolidation will change the city lineup, but for the time being, everyone would be in the same enrollment boat. All the schools have the same type of athletes, finances and facilities. That's what a conference is supposed to be. That's why Lowell and KV belong in the same league.  They are two of a kind.

About 10 years ago, KV and Lowell got together and decided to come up with a trophy to be awarded to the winner of this game.  Since the Lowell and DeMotte school districts both have rural areas, I suppose that's why a large dairy style milk can was chosen.  We're talking about a three-foot high old-style container that you put the milk inside in the barn. The final score of the last eight Lowell-KV games is written on the 'Milk Can' and it's painted Lowell colors because they are in possession of it.  If Lowell wins, I'm sure the cheerleaders will repaint it anyway because nobody's touched it in three years.  No doubt the 'Milk Can' will be at the game Friday and the winning team will probably lift it up on their shoulders after the contest.

A beaten up old "Milk Can' is not the most sophisticated of trophies but KV's going to treat it like the Stanley Cup if they win Friday night.  We're talking Indiana here.  This can makes the game unique and it will be a center of attention at game time.

Perhaps the most unique moment in two decades of local prep football occurred on Oct. 4, 2002 when KV trailed Lowell 26-22 with 1:45 to play. KV QB Gentry Brown faded to pass on 4th and 7. As he threw the ball, a power failure struck the KV field knocking all lights out with the ball in the air.  I know how unbelievable that sounds, but it most definitely did happen.  I was there.  Fifteen minutes later,  power was restored. The down was replayed. Brown threw an incomplete pass and Lowell won.  Several boys later insisted they all caught the ball in the dark and ran for a touchdown but no one really believed any of them.  Nobody is actually sure what happened to the ‘dark pass.’

Three years may have changed this, but this game was a bigger deal to KV than it was to Lowell.  KV's other natural rival is Rensselaer, a team they should beat. Lowell is the 'big' school to the north.  Lowell's bigger rivals were Griffith and Crown Point and the Devils probably look at CP the way KV looks at Lowell.  If Lowell beats KV, it will be very satisfying and they move on to the sectional championship game, their season goal.  If KV wins the game, it breaks a 10-game losing streak against Lowell; it validates their 7-3 record against a weaker schedule; it puts the Kougars into a sectional championship game at home (KV has never won a sectional title) and they have eliminated the two-time sectional champs. 

In other words, this is a second round playoff game to Lowell and it's the Super Bowl to KV.  That's why the Kougars are very excited about this match up.

Class 4A Lowell 

Coach: Kirk Kennedy (110-59, 15 years)

Enrollment: 1,150 

Sectional titles: (5) 1992, 94, 99, 2003, 2004 

Regional titles: (2) 1994, 99 

2004 record: 9-4 

Lost the regional championship game at home 28-21 to eventual state Class 4A runner-up Wawasee. 

Lowell Red Devils (6-4)
8-19 (L) 6-16 5A No. 2 Crown Point  (10-0)
8-26 (W) 61-14 at Calumet (4-6)
9-2   (L) 0-21 3A No. 1 Griffith (10-0)
9-9  (L) 13-32 at Morton  (7-3)
9-16 (L) 0-7 3A No. 4 ANDREAN (8-2)
9-23 (W) 41-7 HAMMOND (1-9)
9-30 (W) 48-7 at Munster (3-7)
10-7 (W) 14-7 at Hobart (5-5)
10-14 (W) 41-14 Highland (4-6)

4A Sectional nine
10-21 (W) 41-7 at Gary Roosevelt (3-6)
10-28 (Fri) vs Kankakee Valley  (7-3)
11-4 (Fri) Hobart (5-5)



4A Kankakee Valley

Coach: Bob Prescott -  (16-15, 3rd year)
Enrollment: 949
Sectional tiles (2) 1984, 1985,
2004 record: 5-5
Last year: Lost sectional 9 quarterfinal 24-7 at Highland

4A Kankakee Valley Kougars (7-3)
8-19 (L) 21-18 Munster (3-7)
8-26 (L) 2-37 at Rensselaer (9-1)
9-2 (W) 49-3 at Lake Station (2-8)
9-9   (W) 44-7 Bishop Noll (4-6)
9-16 (W) 44-20 at Gavit (3-7)
9-23 (W) 37-7 at Clark (3-7)
9-30 (W) 35-14 Calumet (4-6)
10-7 (W) 24-21 Wheeler (5-5)
10-14 (L) 7-35 at Whiting (10-0)

 4A Sectional 9
10-21 (W) 33-26  at Munster (3-7)
10-28 (Fri) at Lowell (6-4)
11-4 (Fri) vs Hobart (5-5)

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Kankakee Valley (7-3) at LOWELL (6-4)

Kankakee Valley: Offense (31.5),  Defense (19.8) 

LOWELL:  Offense (26.5),  Defense (13.0)
Sagarin Computer ratings: LOWELL by 15

LOWELL - Here’s a matchup of strength against strength. The Kougars (yes, that’s how they spell it) and Devils can both throw the ball a little bit. But they don't want to. Whoever can stop the run wins this game and both
sides know it.   Lowell has rushed for 2,500 yards in 10 games and KV ran for 367 yards in last Friday’s 33-26 upset of Munster, a team the Kougars had never previously beaten.

KV’s offense is led by junior halfback Dustin Wilson (82 carries, 1,089 yards) who has scored 26 touchdowns.  Wilson (5-10, 170) moved from QB to halfback this year as QB Alex Byers (26-62, 525 yards, 6 TDs, 5 interceptions) took over and led a six-game KV win streak, running the option with Wilson and fullback Adam McDaniel (6-2, 180), who has carried 145 times for 761 yards.  Byers (6-1, 160) carried 12 times for 126 yards last week against Munster.

While the records and numbers are similar, Lowell has faced 5A No. 2 Crown Point and 3A No. 1 Griffith.  KV did not play teams of that caliber or that size. The Kougars have to use Lowell's defensive quickness against them and they've got to get yards on the first option with McDaniel. The Red Devils ' cornerback Scott Gray and Steffan Peck hit like linebackers and that makes a pure option very difficult to run consistently.  Even Griffith, an option offense team, had problems with Lowell's defense until they hit some big pass plays.  Look for KV to run some plays that begin as option runs, but see the QB fading back to pass after taking a step or two along the line. 

But the Kougars can't over think this. They got to this point with the option, they can't abandon it if they fall behind.
The Kougars can salvage failed drives with kicker Zach Schafer (6 field goals), who hit a 45-yard field goal against Gavit on Sept. 16 and lifted a 40-yard field goal on Sept. 23 against Clark. KV will not be shut out.

Lowell has to find out quickly who can block who. If the Devils can win some confrontations on the front line, they can move the ball and control the clock.  The Devils have run the opening kickoff back twice for a touchdown and they have scored the first time they've received the ball five times. But Kankakee Valley's Wilson has run five kicks back for touchdowns, including two last week to beat Munster.  The opening kickoff will be a very important play either way.

The key for the Devils is not to fumble early and put pressure on KV to move the ball on the road in a playoff game in front of a sellout crowd.  The Kougars have a sophomore QB and a fumble in the first quarter could be fatal because only one team has scored more than 21 points on Lowell and undefeated squads Griffith and CP were NOT that team. Kankakee Valley is not going to drive 80 yards between the tackles four times to beat Lowell.  Wilson has 14 TDs of 40 yards or more in length.

KV will run a reverse and maybe a halfback pass to get on the board early. But once Lowell adjusts to Wilson and starts shadowing him all over the field, the Kougars will have to go elsewhere and they are not an adept passing team.  Even though they are 7-3,  KV has allowed over 1,800 yards rushing in 10 games against a schedule that has eight teams under the .500 mark.  I'm not sure they can consistently stop Lowell's basic play which is a pitchout to Scott Gray (206 caries, 1,437 yards).  If the Devils can get the ball into Jeff Clemens' (32 catches, 468 yards) hands 10 times on passes or runs, it makes stacking eight or nine defenders against Gray very costly. 

Lowell will have some difficulty meeting the emotional level of the Kougars, but they must stay conservative on this night because they probably (we won't know until game time) are stronger in the lines. I don't know how much Ethan Winel (6-0, 197) is going to be used on offense the rest of the year, but Steffan Peck (42 caries, 272 yards) can also move the chains.  The Red Devils' offensive line can win this game all by themselves if they can get any push at all on a dry night on their home field.

The weather will allow some of the passing game and a Jimmy Ritter (54 of 104, 666 yards) pass against a blitz will score a key TD in the third period.  Teams like Hobart and Crown Point have size advantages on Lowell but KV does not. The Devils want 40 or 50 carries against the KV defensive front to wear them down.  KV is much better early in games than they are later, probably because of their size.

Here's where playoff experience comes in. Lowell has started fast most of the season but they cant get discouraged if that doesn't happen Friday. If the Devils can play an even first half, they will pull away in the final two quarters and win decisively.

LOWELL 33,  Kankakee Valley 14

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Revised: October 26, 2005 .