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Class 5A, Sectional 1 Semifinals:
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Week
11 - Football Game of the Week Preview|
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Class 5A, Sectional 1 Semifinals:
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10-26-2007
When:
Friday, October 26, 2007
Where: Merrillville High School, 276 E. 68th Place, Merrillville, IN 46410 (2 blocks east of Broadway on 68th Place).
Tickets:
$5
Weather:
Mid-50s, slight chance of rain. Very good
night time weather for late October in NW
Indiana.
Parking: Anyone who drives past
Merrillville on I-65, can see Demaree
Stadium. But what you do not see is the giant
parking lot between the football field and
the school. The largest event Merrillville
hosts is the wrestling semistate in February
and, even then, I have never seen that lot
filled. Don't worry about parking. It's
free. And there's room for your car.
The series: Arguably, the best in
Northwest Indiana. This will be the 63rd
meeting of Merrillville and Crown Point and
the Bulldogs' 20-17 overtime win in August
gave CP a lead of 31-30-1. It's very close. Crown Point has won the
last three meetings, but Merrillville has won
2-of-the-last-3 playoff meetings.
Merrillville has won 2-of-the-last 3
sectional titles but in the DAC,
Merrillville finished first in 2004, CP won
in 2005 and 2006 and the two schools tied
for first place this season. I don't know who's better, but nobody else
has a claim.
Crown Point and Merrillville are where you want to be if you like big school athletics. Places like Hebron, Griffith and Lowell are 'old school', but that's something that Crown Point and Merrillville cannot claim. Crown Point and Merrillville are big schools, but only by Northwest Indiana standards. There are several schools in the Chicago metro area and Indianapolis that are much larger. I used to think that it was physically impossible to have three 3,000-teen high schools in a 10-mile radius. But Warren Central (3,300), Lawrence North (2,853) and Lawrence Central (2,307) are inside a 10-mile circle on the northwest side of Indianapolis. Carmel (4,001), North Central (3,373) and Hamilton Southeastern (2,289) are inside a 15-mile circle at the north end of Indianapolis so that could easily be the future for South Lake County.
Some published population projections have South Lake County growing by 10-20% in just this decade alone. Merrillville is the largest town in the state of Indiana with an estimated 32,000 residents. It's a little larger than folks think it is, extending from 53rd street north down to 101st street to the south. The reason some Merrillville high students live in Crown Point is that Ross Township, which goes back to the 1800s, and the town of Merrillville, which was not officially incorporated until 1971, are two different things. There are also Merrillville high students who live on the far west side of Hobart. Ross Township predates the official designations of Crown Point and Hobart, but Crown Point and Hobart were cities long before Merrillville, which was named after early mid-1800s settlers William and Dudley Merrill, became a town.
The oddity is that Merrillville, which has as many as 100,000 people in town many days due to the mall area on Route 30, is much more of a 'city' than a town. Crown Point, with its cute little old style courthouse, is much more a 'town' than a city. Changing racial (Merrillville has acquired a significant black and Hispanic population while CP has not, as of yet) and financial fortunes (CP has become much more affluent) really have not changed the good neighbor status of the two high schools.
As neighbors, they shared the same fate in high schools. Merrillville and Crown Point both left the Calumet Conference (1949-1969) and joined the Lake Suburban Conference in 1970 and then Merrillville left for the newer Duneland Athletic Conference in 1975. CP did not follow Merrillville to the DAC until 1993, leaving them as nonconference foes for 19 years. Merrillville was the first champion of the Calumet Conference in 1949 in just their third year of varsity football. Crown Point, one of the original NW Indiana high schools dating back to the 19th Century, has played football since well before World War I.
Merrillville's athletic success has survived its cultural changes, which is rare if you look at Gary, Hammond and East Chicago. Crown Point seized on its enrollment bump and became determined to equal its neighbor in all sports. Boys basketball and track are probably the only sports where CP is still chasing Merrillville, while the Bulldogs have overcome their northern neighbors traditional superiority in softball and baseball. With the two schools still growing, the best of this rivalry appears to be in the next couple of decades. But, right now, nobody in Northwest Indiana goes head-to-head like the Pirates and Bulldogs.
Though they understandably don't dwell on the past, the Merrillville-CP football situation features present day head varsity coaches Chip Pettit (hired 7 years ago) and Zac Wells (hired two years ago) who both played for the school they now coach (Pettit is a 1992 graduate, Wells a 1993 graduate). Theyalso faced each other in the early 90s as players, and makes this a feel-good game no matter who wins.
These are programs that need to meet twice a year in big stadiums in front of big crowds. This has become one of the cornerstone rivalries of Indiana high school football.
The winner: The winner will be favored to win the sectional tile on Nov. 2. CP would host Lake Central or Valparaiso. Merrillville would play at LC or Valpo. Assuming undefeated Penn (10-0) wins Sectional 2, Merrillville would host Penn for the regional championship while CP would travel to Penn for the regional title game.
CLASS 5A - SECTIONAL
1
CLASS 5A - SECTIONAL 2
CLASS 5A - SECTIONAL 3
CLASS 5A - SECTIONAL 4
35th Indiana State Tournament - Class 5A
CROWN POINT [8-2] at MERRILLVILLE [9-1]; LAKE CENTRAL [6-4] at Valparaiso [6-4]
(SB) Adams (5-5] at Goshen [7-3]; Penn
[10-0] at Mishawaka [7-3]
(FW) Snider (9-1) at Huntington North
(9-1]; (FW) South (4-6) at Warsaw (7-3)
McCutcheon (1-9) at (Lafayette) Harrison
(3-7); Carmel (8-2) at Noblesville (5-5)
CLASS 5A - SECTIONAL 5
Lawrence Central (3-7) at Hamilton SE
(8-2); North Central (5-5) at Warren
Central (7-3)
CLASS 5A - SECTIONAL 6
Avon (8-2) at Franklin Central (8-2); Pike
(10-0) at Ben Davis (7-3)
CLASS 5A - SECTIONAL 7
Decatur Central (7-3) at Terre Haute North
(3-7); Columbus No. (9-1) at Center Grove
(9-1)
CLASS 5A - SECTIONAL 8
New Albany (4-5) at Evansville North
(8-2); Jeffersonville (8-2) at Castle
(8-2)
OUTLOOK: First of all, forget the entire
southern half of the bracket. I mean, come
on.
Have you ever actually BEEN to Castle? Me
neither.
If your team gets to the RCA Dome in
Indianapolis, you'd play the Colts if they
asked you to. Obviously, the winner at
Merrillville will be a big favorite to win
Sectional One. I think CP would love another
shot at Valparaiso. If Penn survives Mishawaka (not a given
this year), the Kingsmen would host Crown
Point in the regional. But Penn is averaging
just 22 points per game in the last four
weeks. CP is averaging 36 per game the last
four weeks. Winning teams average about 30 a
game. Something's wrong with Penn's
offense and Mishawka hasn't beaten them in
30 years. You can't beat the same team
forever.
Merrillville might be better suited to spread the field against the larger interior line of Penn led by center Braxton Cave (6-2, 295) but CP might be better off facing Carmel. You need a ball control offense to keep the ball away from Carmel's all-state halfback Aaron King. King has not been 100% this month, but I don't see any of the seven teams in their regional bracket beating the Greyhounds.
Snider (9-1) got slapped around 34-13 by Class 4A Bishop Dwenger (10-0) last month and that tells me they are a little light in the power category this year. No way they can't hang with Carmel, CP or Merrillville.
I think the winner of CP-Merrillville plays Carmel in the semistate and Carmel would have to come to Crown Point. But Merrillville's speed would benefit from playing on the artificial turf at Carmel and they would probably rather play there in late November. It is not unrealistic to say that the winner of CP-Merrillville has a 50-50 chance to reach the Class 5A state title game on Nov. 24.
CROWN POINT (8-2, 6-1) at MERRILLVILLE (9-1, 7-0)
The center of the
Pirate defense is junior linebacker Dionte Day (5-6, 206), a Mike Singletary who
is going to break every tackle record in school history. After the speedy
Day recorded 136 tackles in 12 games in 2006, he has made 140 stops this season.
He is almost unblockable at this level because of his quickness and his body
type. Day makes it very hard to run laterally on Merrillville.
But if you want to
throw, you've got to stay away from Demarrio Richardson (5-10, 176), a Division
I corner prospect, who has intercepted nine passes in 10 games. Speedy junior WR
Keith Dockery, who is clocked at 4.53 in the 40-yard dash, is on the other side.
Twins Ronneal
Williams (6-0, 186) and Roosevelt Williams (6-0, 178) are track team sprinters
and big backup WR-DB Robert Dyson (6-2, 200) is listed at 4.54 in the 40.
Dockery and the Williams twins are defensive backs and Chris Stokes (5-9, 200)
is a hard-hitting outside linebacker. Jarret Rucker (6-0, 244), Paul Rosa (6-4,
296) and Aaron Kaczmarksi (6-6, 230) can be run stoppers. The reason these
boys cause maximum trouble is that you can fool them with some type of deception
and they still run the plays down. Plus Richardson and Day have played so
many games, it's hard to fool them anymore.
Junior kicker Ryan
Stokes is the top place-kicker in NW Indiana. He is 38-of-38 on extra
points this season with six field goals, including five between 30 and 40 yards.
Stokes' misses, I believe, are from 48 and 51 yards. Almost every kickoff
goes into the end zone and that was a major factor in the win over defending
state champ Warren Central in August.
The Pirates will
rely on them and halfback Roosevelt Williams (6-0, 178), who has carried the
ball 142 times for 1029 yards. Roosevelt took over for Ronneal Williams, who
suffered a knee injury in August.
Ronneal is
back now and he carried four times for 66 yards in last week's 21-0 win at
Chesterton. If both are 100% healthy or close to it, they're double
trouble for the opposition.
The future of
Merrillville is junior QB Dolapo Macarthy (6-6, 195), who was 12-of-22 for 165
yards last week in the win over the Trojans. Macarthy (80-of-171, 1,433 yards,
8 TDs ) has thrown just one interception all season and he can get the ball away
against any rush because of his size.
Dolapo is
also a good runner and truthfully, his rushing ability (89 carries, 276 yards)
figures to come into play now as the weather deteriorates. A QB keeper is
a safe play and with a tall, long-striding junior QB. It's a dangerous
play, too. To be honest, teams would still probably rather have Macarthy
throw than run.
The pass catchers
are seniors Clay Cooper (27 catches, 496 yards), Jonothan Lee (12 catches, 303
yards), DeMarreo Richardson (13 catches, 278 yards). But watch out for
junior fullback Robbie Jordan (5-10, 176) who caught three passes last week for
38 yards. The Pirates will use a lot of four receiver sets. It makes
them vulnerable to the blitz (and to the weather), but if they get hot, you need
a lot of defensive backs.
Crown Point
reinvented themselves on offense this year. Last years, QB Blake
Mascarello threw for 2,000 yards (133-of-225, 2,080 yards) and 26 TDs, but all
the skill position players except tight end Zach Cecich graduated. So CP
came back as a power running team with senior rookie Russell Chick (5-10, 180),
who broke the school record for carries and yards gained.
Chick would be the
first to say that he benefits from arguably the best offensive line CP has ever
had with Matt Polus (6-2, 260), Matt Childress (6-2, 260), Nick Colonna (5-11,
240), Cody Blue (6-3, 230) and 2006 junior all-stater Kurt Wermers (6-5, 270).
When they run a double tight end set with Cecich (6-2, 220) and Joe Maginot
(6-3, 220), they can overwhelm teams at the line of scrimmage.
CP had trouble
completing passes to anybody but Cecich (28 catches, 472 yards, 8 TDs) in the
first few weeks, but that situation has improved as Mascarello (84-of-145, 1,059
yards, 13 TDs, 8 INTs) has had a very good month as the Bulldogs have built a
four-game winning streak. CP has scored 30 points a game in each of the
last four weeks as Mascarello has hit at least four different receivers in each
of CP's last three games.
The advantage CP
has in this game is that Mascarello has 29 career starts and has faced
Merrillville four times already. They can't show him much he hasn't seen.
CP's defense held
Munster to just 56 yards rushing last week, but they gave up 258 yards in week
nine to Michigan City and 344 yards to Chesterton in week eight. The Bulldog
defense is light, but quick, so they can't be on the field for 55-60 plays.
Defensive ends
Nick Hladek (5-9, 195) and Zack Brumm (5-11, 220) are high-energy players who
can get to the quarterback. CP has gone to junior Kyle Land (5-8, 225) for
good play at noseguard. CP's five linebacker set may be intact as injured
senior Nick Cottrell (5-9, 210) will try to come back and join Lance LaMere
(6-0, 205), Tony Conway (5-7, 160), Andrew Szymborski (6-0, 190) and Anthony
Stahl (5-10, 165) in the CP defensive formation that tries to create blocking
confusion.
Crown Point's
secondary wasn't challenged in the first five games against run-oriented teams.
When they began to play passing schools like LaPorte, Valparaiso, Michigan City
and Chesterton, CP needed help in deep coverage. But safety Nick Bruno and
cornerbacks Danny Osojnicki and Billy Cox have come on in recent weeks and
Munster's Joe Gill had just 128 yards passing last week on 20 attempts.
Both of these
teams have played elite schedules. CP and Merrillville faced all the other
seven Class 5A DAC schools while Merrillville defeated Griffith (6-3) and
defending 5A champ Warren Central (6-3). CP played the co-champions of the new
Northwest Crossroads Conference in Hobart (6-3) and Lowell (8-1). Whoever
loses Friday, it won't be because they didn't play a tough enough schedule.
Class 5A Crown Point (8-2)
Coach: Chip Pettit (47-26, 7th year at CP)
Enrollment: 2,400 (est.)
2006 record: 12-1*
Sectional titles: (3) 1981, 1988, 2006
Regional titles: (1) 1988
Semistate titles: (0)
State titles: (0)
*Lost 28-21 (OT) at LaPorte in the regional
championship game
Crown Point Bulldogs (8-2)
(L) 14-23 at Lowell (9-1)
(W) 22-20 Hobart (7-3)
(W) 20-17 Merrillville (9-1) OT
(W) 24-13 at LC (5-2)
(W) 27-0 at Portage (5-5)
(L) 17-21 Valparaiso (6-4)
(W) 35-21 LaPorte (3-7)
10-5 (F) at Chesterton (6-4)
10-12 (F) Michigan City (2-8)
5A Sectional (1) One
(W) 35-9 at Munster (3-7)
10-27 (Fri) at Merrillville (9-1)
11-2 (Fri) home vs. LC (6-4) or Valparaiso
(6-4)
CP 1,000-yard rushers (last 3 seasons)
2007 - Russell Chick - 280 carries, 1,767
yards, 21 TDs (10 games)
2006 - Jon Sertich - 235 carries, 1,492
yards, 9 TDs (13 games)
2005 - Donny Keiser - 157 carries, 1,046
yards, 14 TDs (12 games)
CP's 1,000-yard rushers - state
tournament era*
2007 - Russell Chick - 280 carries, 1,767
yards, 21 TDs (10 games)
1997 - Brian Parker - 258 carries, 1,702
yards, 24 TDs (11 games)
2006 - Jon Sertich - 235 carries, 1,492
yards, 9 TDs (13 games)
1987 - John Young -215 carries, 1,480 yards
, 19 TDs (11 games)
1995 - Geremy Milner - 226 carries, 1,059
yards, 9 TDs (11 games)
2005 - Donny Keiser - 157 carries, 1,046
yards, 14 TDs (12 games)
1989 - Mark Minch - 157 carries, 1,013 yards, 14 TDs (9 games)
*1973 to the present.
Class 5A Merrillville (9-1)
Coach: Zac Wells (2nd year 16-6)
Enrollment: 2,393
2006 record: 7-5*
Sectional titles: (5) 1976, 1985, 1992,
2004, 2005
Regional titles: (3) 1976, 1992, 2005
Semistate titles: (0)
State titles: (1) 1976
*Lost 5A Sectional one championship game
28-7 at Crown Point last season
Merrillville Pirates (9-1)
(W) 17-10 Warren Central (7-3)
(W) 14-6 Griffith (7-3)
(L) 17-20 at Crown Point (8-2)
(W) 21-14 Portage (5-5)
(W) 35-7 at Michigan City (2-8)
(W) 42-28 LaPorte (3-7)
(W) 54-13 at Valparaiso (6-4)
(W) 24-3 at Lake Central (6-4)
(W) 38-10 Chesterton (6-4)
5A Sectional (1) One
(W) 21-0 Chesterton (6-4)
10-27 (Fri) Crown Pioint (8-2)
11-2 (Fri) at LC (6-4) or at Valparaiso
(6-4)
Merrillville (9-1) Regular season
statistics (9 games)
Rushing offense: 283 carries, 1,618
yards (5.7 per carry)
Passing: Dolapo Macarthy (QB) 68-of-149, 1,268 yards, 8 TDs, 1 INT
Receiving: Clay Cooper (WR) 25-483 (19.3), 2 TDs;
Jonothan Lee (WR) 12-330 yards
(25.3), 3 TDs
Demarreo Richardson (WR) 11-227 yards
(20.6), 1 TD
Rushing: Roosevelt Williams (HB)
125-987 (7.9) 14 TDs
Dolapo Macarthy (QB) 81-243 yards (3.0) 8
TDs
Ronneal Williams (HB) 29-162 yards (5.6) 2
TDs
Jordan Thomas (FB) 23-163 (7.1) 2 TDs
Kicking: Ryan Stokes (PKs) 35-of-35
extra points
6-of-10 FGs (longest -38). 49 kickoffs
(57.3 avg.)
Clay Cooper (Punts) 28 punts (34.8)
Tackles: Dionte Day (LB) 125
tackles (No. 1 in NW Indiana)
Demarreo Richardson (CB) 80 tackles (9
interceptions)
Sagarin ratings: Merrillville by 5
MERRILLVILLE -
These
teams are both rated in the Top-20 on the computer rankings and both have played
one of the top-30 schedules in the state. For the record, Merrillville is
also rated 4 points better than Penn (10-0). Warren Central, which lost at
Merrillville two months ago, is rated 13 points better than the Pirates now.
But that's another subject for another time. I thought when Merrillville's
squad that had James Aldridge (Notre Dame) and Dexter Larimore (Ohio State) left
school, that the Pirates would have a letdown. Well, if 7-5 is a let down,
it lasted one season. As distinctive as the 2005 teams was, the 2007
Merrillville team is even more unique.
The offensive line is anchored by center Nick Diehl (6-2, 236), guards Cordero
Pollard (6-2, 226) and Jeremy Visclosky (5-8, 206) plus tackles Christian
Beezhold (6-4, 246) and big senior Steve Lohse (6-6, 295) isn't great, but it
has been improving.
Lohse missed
half the season with a leg injury.
CP's kicking game is strong. Junior Michael Lipton, CP soccer's leading
scorer, is a two-year starter with 31 of 34 on extra points and four field goals
on the record in 2007. Junior Mike Kozlowski, the fullback, averages 34
yards a punt.
MERRILLVILLE -
Even though
this is the eighth meeting of Crown Point and Merrillville in the last four
years, there will be some shaky hands in the first quarter. This is not
the sectional championship game, but it will feel like it.
CP will play conservatively, but I would not be surprised to see a play action pass to a wide receiver gaining big yards early, setting up a field goal by CP's Michael Lipton. The Pirates are going to try to get Dolapo Macarthy into the running game against the smaller CP perimeter people and a big gain by Macarthy will set up a Roosevelt Williams TD and a 7-3 lead. The Pirates will win a field position exchange and Ryan Stokes will hit a long field goal to up the count to 10-3. Crown Point will not convert on a couple of second quarter drives, but they will take time off the clock. A special teams turnover will give CP another chance, but they will again settle for a field goal and trail 10-6 at the half.
I think the Pirates will pull away in the third period as Macarthy hits a long TD to Jonothan Lee. Under a heavy rush on third down, Mascarello will throw an interception to Demarreo Richardson and his TD run will make it 24-6. CP will then mount a long drive against the smaller Pirate front. A 15-20 yard run by Russell Chick will cut the edge to 24-13 and the mood of the game will change as the Bulldogs' play total gets above 30.
In the fourth
quarter, CP will force a Macarthy fumble near midfield and Blake Mascarello will
toss a TD to Zach Cecich to cut the lead to four. The Pirates won't be able to
run the clock out and a punt will give CP one last chance.
CP will approach midfield on short passes in front of the Pirate secondary.
In the final minute two QB sacks, one by Jarrett Rucker, will turn the ball over
to the Pirates. The Bulldogs have to commit no turnovers to survive this
game and I just don't think they can do it against this defense.
MERRILLVILLE 24, CROWN POINT 20