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Roosevelt (4-6)at Lowell (5-5) |
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Week
11 - Class 4A, Sectional 9 Football Semifinal Preview|
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Roosevelt (4-6)at Lowell (5-5) |
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10-25-2006
When:
Friday, October 27, 2006
Where: Lowell High School - Route 2 (Commercial Ave.).& Holtz Road, Lowell, IN.
Tickets: $5 - (for everybody).
Kickoff:
7:00 p.m.
Radio-TV:
None. Few think this is a competitive game. If you want to see it, you're
gong to have to come to the game. It won't be on radio and there wont be
any highlights on the TV recap shows.
Weather: The forecast is getting worse as the game approaches. It looks like low 40s now with a light rain. Lowell weather. They don't need to throw the ball to win the game.
Parking: Nobody's coming from Gary. You will be able to roll up late and get a good parking spot.
THE SERIES: There have been just two Lowell-Gary Roosevelt games in this era. Lowell won 41-6 in 2005 and 22-12 in 2002. To my knowledge, these two teams at the opposite end of Lake County, have never scheduled a regular season game.
4A IHSAA State Playoff Bracket
4A SECTIONAL 9
Hobart [9-1] at Highland [3-7]; Gary Roosevelt (4-6) at LOWELL [5-5]
4A SECTIONAL 10
Wawasee [8-2] at Plymouth [7-3];
DeKalb [5-5] at Concord [10-0]
4A Playoff Outlook
***The hottest 4A team in the state is Concord, led by Elkhart County's all-time
leading passer, senior QB Bobby Cira. Cira has passed for 250 yards for
five times in 10 games.
Cira
has thrown for 2,600 yards and 30 touchdown passes and he leads the state's 5th
highest scoring team (43 ppg.). Concord has beaten Sectional 10 rivals Plymouth
and Wawasee by 3 TDs or more. The only fear that a passing team has is a
crippling weather night. If the south's gonna rise again it will be in the
form of undefeated Evansville Central (10-0), which has scored 60 points three
times this year. Plainfield (10-0) has not played a really tough schedule.
A bigger threat up north is Bishop Dwenger from Fort Wayne's famed Summit
Athletic Conference (SAC). Don't let the record fool you, Dwenger (9-1) has
lost just 13-12 on the road at 5A Snider (8-2).
Rivalry:
Gary Roosevelt won the school's first playoff game in the 34-year history of the
state tournament last week over rival Lew Wallace, but they may now be playing
Lowell for the final time in the foreseeable future. With enrollment
dropping, some Gary schools may drop a level when the IHSAA reclassifies schools
next spring. Roosevelt (890 students) is likely to
become a 3A school by this time next year so they won't be coming to Lowell for
playoff games anymore. I would suspect that the new member of Sectional nine
will be East Chicago (1,301), which is actually smaller than 4A Munster (1,495)
right now.
But, wait a minute. Class 3A Morton (1,146) will almost certainly be 4A next year. Let's say Roosevelt and Munster stay 4A, with Morton and East Chicago becoming 4A. That's 10 schools in a sectional built for eight and that's a problem, folks. There are no 4A schools in Porter, LaPorte, Pulaski, Newton, Benton or Starke Counties. The nearest 4A schools east of Hobart is Plymouth in Sectional 10. The nearest 4A schools south of KV are Harrison and McCutcheon, which is in the southern half of the IHSAA tourney bracket in sectional 13. Nobody up here can go down there. It could be that Hobart, the easternmost 4A school or KV and Lowell, the most distant from the other eight, could be pushed east to Sectional 10 with Plymouth, Wawasee and East Noble.
Roosevelt simply figures to switch places with Morton in Class 3A, which will feed them to Griffith and Andrean every year. Roosevelt-Griffith games would be ironic. Roosevelt has never won more than eight games in any year since 1942, but they had a program before that. Some don't remember that all black or predominantly black city teams were not allowed into the IHSAA until 1942. And Bishop Noll wasn't winning all the titles back then because no Catholic schools were allowed into the IHSAA until 1942 either.
Once the Panthers got in, Gary Roosevelt was immediately a state power and
appeared in season ending top 10 polls in the 1940s and 1950s. In the
1960s, while the 'Velt' stayed a basketball and track superpower, the bottom
fell out of the football program. Understand that Roosevelt was the
pre-eminent track school in the entire midwest. Between 1959 and 1959,
Gary Roosevelt won 17 boys track titles. Roosevelt, in a feat that will
not be duplicated in our lifetime, won nine consecutive state track
championships from 1980 to 1989. Roosevelt has won 20 boys track titles.
Among schools that still exist, Kokomo is second with nine titles. Roosevelt
reached the state boys basketball title game in 1955, 68, 82 and 91 and stayed a
basketball power into the late 90s. But football tanked after an 8-2 season in
1982. Even with softer schedules in the 90s and now, Roosevelt has not won more
than six games since 1982 and I can't tell you exactly why.
What may have occurred is that the weight training craze that Hobart brought to
prep football in the 1960s missed Gary entirely. The city schools had no
weight rooms and either didn't build them or built make shift ones.
Suburban schools bulked up boys and the Gary and Hammond city schools still
attempted to win with speed. The teams lost and boys drifted to track and
basketball.
What's going to happen to Roosevelt football? The future is tied to possible consolidation. If the four Gary schools consolidate into two new school buildings (and that's they key) then everyone in Gary benefits. Residents stop leaving or return. Kids not only get a better education they get state of the art facilities like they have in Crown Point.
Is it a coincidence that Crown Point is undefeated two years and has soaring enrollment just four years after building a 64 million dollar school?
The idea that city schools can't win is shot down in Fort Wayne every year. Gary Roosevelt's resurrection occurs five years after the new consolidated Gary Roosevelt, with about 1,700 kids, reopens in, maybe, something like 2015.
(4A) LOWELL (5-5)
Coach: Kirk Kennedy (119-60, 16 years)
Enrollment: 1,150
2005 record: 11-4*
Sectional titles: (6) 1992, 1994, 1999, 2003, 04, 05
Regional titles: (3) 1994, 1999, 2005
Semistate titles: (1) 2005
State titles: (1) 2005
*Defeated three-time defending champion Roncalli 28-27 to win the 2005 4A state
title.
2006 schedule
(L) 0-17 at Crown Point (10-0)
(W) 63-6 Calumet (2-8)
(L) 0-35 at Griffith (9-1)
(L) 17-21 Morton (5-5)
(L) 0-17 at Andrean (8-2)
(W) 35-12 Hammond (1-9)
(W) 15-14 Munster (5-5)
(L) 0-7 Hobart (9-1)
(W) 47-14 at Highland (3-7)
4A Sectional 9 playoffs
(W) 24-6 Kankakee Valley (8-2)
10-27 (F) at Wallace (1-9)
11-2 (F) vs. Hobart (9-1)
(4A) Gary
Roosevelt (4-6)
Coach: Fred Nolan (8-29, 4th year)
Enrollment: 890
2005 record: 2-7*
Sectional titles: (0)
Regional titles: (0)
Lost Class 4A Sectional nine quarterfinal 41-6 to eventual 4A state champion
Lowell
2006 schedule
(L) 20-44 at Mich City (1-9)
(L) forfeit - Valparaiso
(L) 6-12 East Chicago (3-7)
(L) 8-52 Cahokia, Ill.
(W) 40-8 Wirt (3-7)
(L) 16-14 Wallace (0-10)
(L) 52-60 (Chicago) St. Francis DeSales (7-2)
(W) 18-6 West Side (2-6)
(L) 0-47 (Indianapolis) Cathedral (8-2)
4A Sectional 9 playoffs
(W) 34-0 Lew Wallace (0-10)
10-27 (F) at Lowell (5-5)
GARY ROOSEVELT
(4-6) at LOWELL
(5-5)
ROOSEVELT: Offense 21.6 ppg. - Defense: 27.0 ppg.
LOWELL: Offense: 20.1 ppg. - Defense: 14.9 ppg.
Sagarin
computer ratings: Lowell by
26
LOWELL
(10-27-2006) -
Gary Roosevelt has taken to the air to control the skies of Gary this year. The
Panthers QB Harrison Yancey threw four TD passes in the 34-0 win over winless
Lew Wallace last week and the Panthers lost just 60-52 to St. Francis DeSales
(7-2). The Panthers started the year with with Qushar Littles at quarterback.
Littles threw four TD passes in a 36-8 win over Wirt in September. One thing
about the Gary schools. It's hard to get a roster or any credible information on
the games except for the box scores. Littles and his brother Amos Littles are
probably wide receivers now with Yancey, a sophomore, throwing the football. The Panthers obviously have a lot of speed and you have to concentrate on
defense because they can run away from you.
Greg Mootye has a 93-yard kick return TD against Michigan City and most of the Panthers' TDs have come from long distance. In the few games they played outside of Gary, Roosevelt gave up a lot of points, which indicates they don't have much to offer against the run. What they may resort to is simply stripping the ball. They'll resort to trying to force turnovers in the hopes that Lowell, which has had trouble with fumbles, gives up the ball.
The Panthers will go for two points after every touchdown. They have not shown they have a place kicker. And since some of the players are or were quarterbacks, look for trick plays involving double passes. I can almost guarantee they'll try more than one reverse. The Panthers have nothing to lose.
Lowell is coming off their top win of the season, a 24-6 win over Kankakee Valley (8-1), stopping the Kougars' 38-points-per-game offense. The speed of the defense was the key, led by defensive end Jeff Barker (6-5, 187) who recorded a career-best best five QB sacks and Lukas Palmer, who had six tackles and an interception. The Devils inside defenders, tackles Mike Staniewicz (6-7, 254) and Drew Steuer (6-0, 220) and big (for 4A) sophomore linebackers Justin Juarez (6-4, 197) and David Eastling (6-0, 187) seem to influence teams to try to run wide where they get run down. Even Dustin Wilson, a 400 meter state finalist could not outrun everybody on the Lowell defense.
Every win that extends the season allows a team that plays only five seniors extra weeks of practice for a team that is probably further from its peak than the teams they will face. The Devils are small physically at many positions and you should run straight at them. But you'll run at an eight and nine-man front until you hit some passes. The secondary of Lukas Palmer, TJ Lukasik and Josh Kuiper has been excellent in the second half of the season. Kuiper has been playing the bigger, more physical receivers like the small linebacker he probably is. Lowell dares you to throw the ball against them, but they then turn Barker and Joe Carlson (4 sacks) loose. The double trouble defense is why they've held seven teams to 17 points or less.
Lowell's offense still isn't real good. But, for the Devils, 'not real good' is still 300 yards rushing. Lowell has struck gold by switching senior Max Znika (167-816 yards, 9 TDs) to tailback and Steffan Peck (134-812 yards, 9 TDs) to fullback. Znika (5-11, 174) has somehow picked up a step of speed since the start of the season and has ripped off consecutive games of 130 yards against Hobart, 197 yards against Highland and 224 against Kankakee Valley. He is a very confident runner, especially with Peck (5-6, 164) blocking in front of him. Defenses can't totally forget Peck, but they have to flow towards Znika, leaving them vulnerable for any type of misdirection runs.
Senior QB Josh Kuiper (32-of-73, 424 yards, 2 TDs 7 interceptions) handled the ball well in the big game last week and they still don't lob the ball in the air to Barker near the goal line. The Devils were stopped four times inside the 10-yard-line last week and they have a 6-foot-5 tight end. Look for Barker, a surprisingly fast runner, to get the ball by any means necessary. Maybe not this week, but soon. I have no inside information whatsoever, but Lowell has offensive plays they have not used.
Junior kicker David Lang is 24-of-27 on extra points and he has three field goals. TJ Lukasik averages 17 yards a kickoff return and Steffan Peck ran a punt back 50 yards for a TD last week. Lukasik is another player whose speed has not been exploited on offense yet. But there will come a game where Lowell has to complete a half dozen passes for 100 yards and they have not consistently shown they can do that.
The one advantage Gary Roosevelt has over Lowell is that they have several seniors who know what its like to be a senior in a playoff game. The Devils only have a few. There's a level of urgency there that cannot be ignored.
WHAT WILL HAPPEN?
LOWELL (10-27-2006) The spread on this game has to do with the overwhelming
combined won-loss record (61-39) of the 10 teams Lowell has played. The Devils
are the only team in NW Indiana to face the undisputed champions of Northwest
Indiana's four conferences: Hobart (LAC Black), Kankakee Valley (LAC Blue),
Crown Point (DAC) and Roosevelt, the Gary city champ. But Roosevelt has faced
Indianapolis Cathedral (8-2), a state contender.
And the weather is a wild card here. If it rains, as expected late in the week, the field will be wet and that makes strange plays possible. You never totally have control of a game played in wet conditions. The best thing that could possibly happen to Lowell would be for Roosevelt to score early, and I think that will happen because Harrison Yancey had so much success last week. He'll find one of the Littles bothers for a pass-and-run TD that will put the Velt up 6-0.
Lowell will get serious running the ball with Max Znika and Steffan Peck behind renewed blocking. The Devils will stay conservative early on this night to avoid mistakes and start wearing down the Panthers. After getting stopped a few times, Znika will have another big night. Peck should also get 100 yards if they stay with him and Lowell always stays with the running game. The Devils' might need something to play and the motivation can be to get senior Max Znika (133 carries, 811 yards) and junior Steffan Peck (169 carries, 818 yards), who have both run through hard times this season, to the 1,000-yard mark. In the recorded history of Lowell football, the Devils have never had two 1,000 yard rushers in the same season. The goal of gaining yards for the running backs works perfectly with Lowell's usual goal. On a wet night, against a speedy team, there's no reason to throw early.
Roosevelt's Harrison Yancey will complete quick, short passes until the Lowell pass rush gets him. And Roosevelt's 50-50 pass-flavored attack will give Lowell lots of possessions. But the game will break on a blocked punt and another punt return touchdown. Roosevelt does not have the depth (less than 30 players) to beat Lowell, so Devil starters want to hit Roosevelt hard early and let the bench finish the game. The only reason Znika and Peck will not get to 1,000 yards on this night is that the game will become lopsided in the third quarter and the Devils will let some younger boys play on the home field in the playoffs. Late in the game, Roosevelt will wear down badly and the points will go up on the board like it was an NBA game.
Getting to play at home in a playoff game is quite a reward for a good JV or freshman season and very important for a Lowell future that appears very bright. This will be a long game and Roosevelt will make some big plays. But only Lowell can beat Lowell Friday. The Panthers can't stop the run for long and all Lowell does is run. If the Red Devils get the starters out of the game before anyone gets hurt, this night is a success.