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Portage (6-4) at5A No. 3 Crown Point (10-0) |
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Week
11 - Class 5A, Sectional 1 Semifinal Football Preview|
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Portage (6-4) at5A No. 3 Crown Point (10-0) |
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10-27-2006
When:
Friday, October 27, 2006
Where: at
Crown Point High School, 1500 South Main ST, Crown Point, IN.
Tickets: $5 - (for everyone).
Kick-off: 7:00 p.m. (CDT)
TV/Radio/Internet: WWLO (89.1) FM, www.Indiana-Sports.com and www.USA-365.com. WTMK (88.5) FM, WWCA (1270) AM.
WEATHER: Low 40s, wet field. A wet field favors CP, which has a big offensive line. Actual in-game rain favors Portage, which needs to defend Blake Mascarello (20 TDs). If you are coming to the game, bring every warm and rain-repellant piece of clothing you own and at least one warm friend.
PARKING: In good weather (which is actually not predicted), this would be a very large crowd as players and fans from other towns drift to the teams and games that are still going. Also, Portage is the second largest school in NW Indiana and they will bring a big following.
Again, if you have never been to the new CPHS, it is NOT next to the down town square. Go directly south out of the square on Main Street and the new school is at 1500 South Main. The parking lot is very large but there is only one entrance and exit. No problem getting in. But a major problem leaving. You are asked not to park in St Matthias Church directly west of the school. They like football, but they just don't want their parking lot jammed up on Friday nights. I know that some of you will anyway. At least, do not drive on the grass or block each other. There is parking space in the junior high north of the school. Again, for those of you who have not been to the new CPHS before, do not plan on walking to your car during the 20-minute halftime. It's too far. At Crown Point, most of the parking is a significant walk from the field. You need to bring everything you need for the entire game when you first walk to the stands.
THE SERIES: There's not much rivalry talk between Crown
Point and Portage, but these teams do play each other all the time. This
is the 20th meeting of Portage and Crown Point since the Bulldogs joined the
Duneland Athletic Conference in 1993. Portage still leads the all-time series
26-16-2, but CP has won the last two meetings.
THE RIVALRY: Portage was 81-33 in the 1990s, winning or
sharing five Duneland Athletic Conference (DAC) titles, while CP hit rock bottom
with the 23-game losing streak in 1999, 2000 and 2001. But things have
most definitely changed. While Portage sank to 2-8 last year and started
1-4 this season, CP has won 21 of the last 22 games. Before 1993, the two
schools hadn't met since 1986, but in the 1970s and 80s, CP was the non
conference season opener for Portage. The Indians defeated CP 20-6 in
1976, the year they went on to win the state title. The earlier meeting on
record is CP's 14-0 victory over Portage on the opening night of the 1955
season, five years after Portage began playing high school football.
Crown Point may one day be as big as Portage, but it isn't close as of yet. Portage is a city of about 43,000 which was a mill town, buoyed by US Steel Gary steelworkers from World War II through the 1950s and 60s. National Steel opened a mill in Portage in 1959. Portage Township, which dates back to the early 1800s, was originally called 'Twenty Mile Prairie' a name which speaks for itself and the towns' distance from Michigan City.
It was a very quiet, woodsy place for a century and the perfect rural alternative to Gary, Hammond, Michigan City and East Chicago for decades after that. Portage became a city in 1959 when they decided they needed to incorporate (become a city) or get annexed by Valparaiso. It's worth saying again that Portage doesn't get credit for being multi-cultural, but they have blended nationalities without anybody noticing. Portage has a 10% Hispanic population and has for some time now. The school's top softball pitcher is Meghan Gutierrez. The football place kicker is Raphael Martinez. A transfer from East Chicago to Portage this year was Kevin Alvarado, and that is now under IHSAA investigation. Leaving the evidence of the case alone for one minute, it would not be unusual for a Hispanic family or young person to move from East Chicago to Portage. Portage is emblematic of the Hispanic wave in Indiana. Goshen, Frankfort and Indianapolis have large and growing Hispanic communities.
Portage had 11,000 people in 1960, 30,000 in 1990 and has 43,000 now. It is a large, peaceful bedroom community which makes the high school a perfect fit with big town schools like CP, LaPorte and Valpo in the Duneland Athletic Conference (DAC). Not surprisingly, in the 1990's, the school grew and Portage rose to state-wide prominence in high school football, going 13-1 in 1994 and 11-1 in both 1995 and 1996. The Indians won 17 regular season games in a row until Lake Central beat them 15-14 on Aug. 30, 1996. Portage won 19 consecutive games in the DAC until they lost 31-23 at Hobart on Oct. 4, 1996. In the decade of the 1990s, Portage was 81-33, including records of 8-4 in 2002, 11-2 in 2003 and 8-4 again in 2004 before hard times set in. The Indians' 2-8 record in 2005 was a shocker. That was the first losing season for coach Craig Buzea, who arrived in 1993 and had instant success. There may be no great secret reason for the decline here. It might just be a speed bump. Portage was bad in all boys varsity sports (boys basketball is 10-32 in the last 2 years, baseball is 17-35 in the last 2 seasons) in the 2005-2006 school year. The entire school has hit an athletic drought (girls basketball is 8-34 in the last 2 years) and they're a little concerned. Numbers are not a problem as Portage is the third largest school in the northern half of the state behind Penn and Lake Central. There are signs this fall (post-season titles for soccer and volleyball) that the school is coming out of its athletic downtimes.
CP, on the other hand, is also a much larger school with much better facilities than it was in 1993. With the growth in the football program under coach Chip Pettit, it's a fair fight now. In his early days as the Bulldogs' head coach, Pettit would say that "we think we can have a program that will compete with teams like Portage and Valparaiso every year." That was the esteem with which Portage football was held just a few years ago. One of the charter members of the 37-year old DAC, it's logical now that the 2-8 season in 2005 was an aberration and the Indians will soon regain their upper level stature as a football program.
But when? Next year or next week? Tonight's meeting has some symbolism. Portage (36-24 all time in playoff games) has eliminated CP the last four times these schools have met in sectional play. If you look at the junior varsity and freshman teams at Crown Point, there's no stopping this wave for the next few years, at least. Portage athletics needs this fall. Saturday, Portage's volleyball team will play at the LaPorte regional for the first time in over decade. Portage girls cross country team runs in the state finals Saturday afternoon in Terre Haute. Portage plays in the girls state soccer finals in Indianapolis for the first time ever Saturday morning. It's sizing up as an all-Portage celebration weekend, but will that 'Indian summer' start Saturday at dawn... or under the Friday night lights?
5A Crown Point (10-0)
CROWN POINT
(10-27-2006)
The spread is what it is because Crown Point has been dominant, winning
41-21, 45-13 and 49-0 in the last three weeks. If you look at most state
finalists, they have a stretch during the season where they kill everybody.
CP is lucky that stretch has come late in the year instead of in September
when it would be irrelevant.
But Portage has had a much more entertaining season because they were powerless early and now they lay the smack down on everybody defensively. The Indians revamped their offensive line after two or three games and the results made junior halfback Albert Evans (6-1, 195) a star. Evans, who is built like a wide receiver, has showed amazing acceleration which allows him to run through tackles. The Indians have gained 1,000 yards rushing in the last three games and it has enabled them to control the pace of games.
When Portage met CP on September 15, the Bulldogs had just eight possessions in
that game. CP stopped themselves with penalties that night, but it was a
blueprint for how to beat the Bulldogs. Portage fired up the track
sprinter Evans and got at least one first down on every possession in the final
three periods. Why change Friday? The Indians will run Evans behind
senior tackle Jordan Davis (6-3, 285) and counter with Nate Milligan (5-11, 190)
in the other direction. Portage will line up tight ends Kevin Alvarado
(6-3, 245) and Sam
Gonzalez (6-4, 215) and they'll be patient, especially if the weather is bad,
taking four or five yards a carry and taking time off the clock.
The Indians are a powerful team physically and they have to be. Portage wants to slow the game down and, while they are better defensively than offensively, they'd rather defense Crown Point by keeping the CP play makers on the bench watching Evans and Milligan run the ball.
Portage has settled on soph QB Jason Melcic (31-of-71, 367 yards, 4 TDs, 9 INTs) and they will need him to have his best game Friday. Melcic has attempted only 11 passes in Portage's last three games. Give credit to the Portage coaches here. They traditionally have had a multiple offense, but this year they have scaled that back even with the presence of all-area caliber WR Billy Doll (22 catches, 297 yards). Portage simply runs the ball. The Indians may run it on 3rd-and-long as long as the game is close.
Truthfully, for Melcic to complete passes they are going to have to be set up by successful runs. Melcic will probably look for the tight ends against CP's blitzing defenders. But he cannot simply drop back two out of three downs and throw the ball like Chesterton's Alex Beierwalter. He is not that kind of player at this point.
Defensively, Milligan and Alvarado line up at linebacker and they can shut down the running game. Only South Bend St. Joseph's (232) and Crown Point (192) have gained more than 150 yards rushing on Portage this season. The Indians returned every defensive starter from last year's team and added Alvarado, transferring in from East Chicago. The result has been the top scoring defense in the DAC, allowing just 135 points (13.5) all year. Only two teams (Merrillville and St. Joseph's) have scored four TDs on Portage and that was early. As the running game has flourished, the defense has spent less time on the field and has controlled games.
The style of play is similar to another team that has become synonymous with late season success in this decade: 4A Lowell. Lowell simply runs and punts and works you over with the defense. But Portage is bigger and more physical than Lowell. This style requires a good kicker and Portage has one in soccer style booter Raphael Martinez, who averages 54 yards a kickoff and 31 yards a punt. Martinez also has seven field goals, the most in all of NW Indiana. Martinez kicked a 45-yard field goal against Crown Point on Sept. 15. So obviously, he can do it again.
Crown Point is where they hoped they'd be. The Bulldogs may have assumed they would not have had as good a team in 2006 as the undefeated DAC champs of 2005, but they certainly have as good a record. The Bulldogs' defense is not the airtight unit it was in 2005 but the offense has reached state caliber. In 2005, it was said here that you can't win titles averaging 23 or 24 points a game. The Bulldogs now bury teams when they get the chance. CP averages 32 points a game and they have scored 40 or more four weeks in a row.
You can access Crown Point varsity football scores on-line going back 100 years (to 1906) and the Bulldogs have never scored 40 points in four consecutive games until now. Junior quarterback Blake Mascarello (104-169, 1,633 yards, 20 TDs, 3 INTs) who, at one time, was not considered in the class of graduated 2005 QB Matt Jansen, has thrown a school-record 20 touchdown passes with just three interceptions. Halfback Jon Sertich has had the third best season in the history of Crown Point football, carrying 165 times for 1,192 yards. Wide receiver Matt Ernest (6-2, 175), who gained 1031 yards catching passes in 2004, has grabbed 43 balls for 699 yards and is on the track of an unprecedented second 1,000-yard season.
All those numbers come due to a big and mobile offensive line that began the season somewhat inexperienced. Center Matt Polus (6-1, 240), guards Kurt Wermers (6-5, 270) and Cody Blue (6-3, 210) with tackles Matt Childress (6-2, 245) and Andrew Krumwied (6-5, 245) plus tight end Zach Cecich (6-2, 220) have been strong, even though all but Krumwied are juniors.
If there is a feeling that CP will decline after this season when fullback Tommy Parks (77 catches, 385 yards, 17 catches, 238 yards, 12 TDs) split end Ryan Forney (19 catches, 305 yards, 12 carries, 109 yards, 4 TDs), Sertich and Ernest all graduate, that's just wishful thinking by the other seven DAC teams. A big surprise has been the kicking of sophomore soccer player Michael Lipton who is 42-of-44 on extra points and 4-of-4 on field goals. Sertich and Forney have totaled three TDs on punt returns while Matt Ernest returned one of his five interceptions for a TD. The Bulldogs have only trailed once all season, 7-0 in the first half of a 34-20 win at Hobart. Through 10 games, Crown Point has accomplished as much as they could possibly have hoped for in the 2006 season.
WHAT WILL HAPPEN?
CROWN POINT - This is a collision of teams that are on a roll.
Portage has outscored the opposition 62-0 in the first quarter during the
present five-game winning streak, while Crown Point has out-scored the
opposition 111-0 in the first half of the last three games. The Bulldogs
have outscored the opposition 111-14 in the first quarter and 114-20 in the
second quarter. Those are ridiculous numbers compiled against seven Class
5A schools plus the defending 4A state champ Lowell (5-5) and the Lake Athletic
Conference champ Hobart (9-1). But Portage beat Chesterton and DAC
passing leader Alex Beierwalter 6-3 and they shut down LaPorte's 38 ppg. offense
in a 24-7 win.
Crown Point QB Blake Mascarello will move Portage linebackers across the field with tosses to the running backs and Jon Sertich will probably score the first TD breaking away on a short pass. Evans will break a run of 30 yards to get the Indians in position for a Raphael Martinez field goal. Tight end Zach Cecich, who has five TDs in the last five games, but did not catch a pass in the earlier CP-Portage game, will force the Indians perimeter people to forget helping out on the run. Cecich will set up a short running TD with a catch late in the second quarter. Ryan Forney may not have been 100% healthy in the first game but he'll score on a short TD pass from Mascarello to make it 21-3. Nate Milligan will throw a halfback pass to Billy Doll to make it 21-10 late in the third period, but CP Jon Sertich will have consistent success running the ball.
Portage's experienced defenders can stuff the CP running game or limit their receivers but not both, and with a sophomore QB, the Indians' offense is limited. Look for some trick plays like Milligan throwing the football or running on a fake punt. Portage will definitely empty the trick bag. Portage needs bad weather, three CP turnovers, a game in the teens (scoring wise) and they won't get any of the three. A QB sack TD runback and two field goals from Michael Lipton will help the Bulldogs pull away.
The Indians need to be able to throw the ball down the field and that's very risky with a sophomore QB throwing against a senior-dominated secondary. Portage has to stay on the ground almost until the game is out of reach. Readers of this page will remember what I said about CP not scoring enough points to be a championship team in 2005? 2006 Portage does not score enough points to be a championship team. The Indians' offensive line will again have problems against the CP blitzes and they just won't be able to move the ball consistently. The myth is that 'defense wins championships,' but that is truly a high school football myth. If you study it, high school teams that don't average at least 25-30 points a game rarely win any post-season titles. CP has waited 51 weeks for a championship rematch with Merrillville and Portage is only team still left in the way. It's true that Portage has been playing well lately, but Crown Point has been very good all year and this just isn't where it stops.