Week 11 - Football Game of the Week Preview

Class 5A, Sectional 1 Semifinal Preview: Valparaiso (5-5) at Crown Point (7-3)

A USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith

10-27-2011

 

The south end of the Crown Point football field includes the scoreboard, adorned with a replica of the top of the historic old Lake County Courthouse.

When:  7:00 p.m. on Friday, October 28, 2011
 

Where:  1500 S. Main, Crown Point, IN (one mile south of the CP courthouse)

TV/Radio/Internet: WEFM (95.9 FM), WTMK (88.5 FM), live updates of all local scores all night on WLPR (89.1 FM). Live Internet audio stream on www.USA-365.com.

TICKETS: $6 (IHSAA Sectional price).

ENROLLMENT: CP - 2,532; VALPARAISO - 2,300

WEATHER: Cold. Upper 40s in the daytime. Upper 30s by the second half. It will rain during the week, but the artificial turf at CPHS will make that no issue. There figures to be a significant wind out behind CPHS.

PARKING: I don't think Valpo is going to bring a sea of fans for this game.


WHAT’S AT STAKE: If Valparaiso wins, they play at Merrillville or Chesterton on Nov. 4 in the 5A Sectional 1 title game. Same is true of Crown Point. The winner of the Chesterton-Merrillville semifinal game this Friday is at home on Nov. 4.

HISTORY: This is the final game in Crown Point for 35-year coach Mark Hoffman, who is ending his coaching career this fall.
 

The arrival of coach Tom Stokes in 1962 changed Valpo football fortunes. Stokes was 1-7-1 in his first season, but by the mid-60s Valpo was king. From 1965 to the 1970 season, Valparaiso high school football was 45-4-1. From 1973-1976, Stokes’ final season, Valpo was 40-3. Hoffman came in 1977 and after a couple of painful losing seasons, Valpo was again on top from 1984-1987 (31-13) from 2000-2002 (34-8) and they were 13-1 last season.
 

Probably due to his stature and longevity as a coach, Hoffman was able to get powers Penn and Carmel on his schedule and that will be his lasting legacy. As Merrillville has found in playing Warren Central, it's not so much who you beat early in the season, but who you play.

Crown Point adds Mishawaka to the schedule next season in a similar effort to make their schedule state class.

Valpo is a charter member of the Duneland Athletic Conference and they are 41-18-2 all-time against Crown Point. No school has a bigger edge over the Bulldogs. I would not say that CP is Valpo's biggest rival. It's my impression that they look at the Bulldogs as one of the many teams they should beat. You never feel that Crown Point is a big favorite over Valpo and the Vikings surely want coach Hoffman to retire a sectional champion.

Crown Point Bulldogs (7-3)
Coach Chip Pettit (70-50, 10 years)
2010: 8-4 2009: 3-7, 2008: 3-7

Sectional titles: 1998, 1991, 2006
Regional title: 1991
Lost 2010 5A sectional 1 championship game 16-6 at Valparaiso

Aug. 19 (W) 27-6 at Lowell (5-5)
Aug. 26 (W) 45-6 Hobart (2-8)
Sept. 2 (L) 20-21 Merrillville (7-3)
Sept. 9 (L) 7-26 at LC (8-2)
Sept 16 (W) 42-0 at Portage (4-6)
Sept. 23 (L) 14-21 Valparaiso (5-5)
Sept. 30 (W) 42-0 LaPorte (4-6)
Oct. 7 (W) 28-6 at Chesterton (4-1)
Oct. 14 (W) 24-7 Michigan City (1-9)

Class 5A Sectional 1
Oct. 21 (W) 21-10 Munster (6-4)
Oct. 28 (Fri.) Valparaiso (5-5)

 

Valparaiso Vikings (5-5)
Mark Hoffman (237-152, year 35)
2010: 13-1 2009: 5-5 2008: 9-2
Sectional titles: (10) including 2010 and 2011
Regional titles (6) including 2010 and 2011
Semistate title: 1985 and 2001
State titles: 1975
Lost 2010 5A Northern Semistate championship game 30-12 at Fishers

Aug. 19 (L) 10-21 Penn (10-0)
Aug. 26 (L) 0-49 at Carmel (9-1)
Sep. 2 (W) 47-14 at LaPorte (3-7)
Sep. 9 (W) 38-21 Michigan City (1-9)
Sep. 16 (L) 21-31 at Chesterton (5-5)
Sep. 23 (W) 21-14 at Crown Point (7-3)
Sep. 30 (L) 28-31 Merrillville (7-3)
Oct. 7 (W) 42-28 at Portage (4-6)
Oct. 14 (L) 17-27 Lake Central (8-2)

Class 5A Sectional 1
Oct. 21 (W) 28-17 Portage (4-6)
Oct. 28 (Fri.) at CROWN POINT (7-3)

VALPARAISO Update:

VALPARAISO (10-21-2011) The Vikings feature a lot of offensive weapons in Paul Andrie, Andrew Kittridge and Stephen Simms. Andrie (112-202, 1,626 yards, 11 TDs) has started for three seasons and is a constant that gives the Vikings a big advantage here, with CP's Joe Hopman out.

Kittridge (135 carries, 840 yards, 12 TDs), the star track hurdler, ran for 3 TDs last week in a 28-17 quarterfinal win over Portage as the Vikings rallied in the second half. Simms (77 carries, 543 yards, 7 TDs), just 145 pounds, is a quick speedster not capable of 30 carries, but very much capable of a breakaway run.

The Vikings' Bryon Duncan and lineman Paul Runyan (6-2, 286) are out for the season and guard Brendon Hayes missed last week's game. I don't know how well they can block CP's front and they'll have to on a cold, windy night because passing will not be easy.
 

Andrie has tall pass receivers like Marcus Allen (6-4, 200) and Ryan Nix (6-2, 190). He was 70 of 137 for 18 TDs and 960 yards last season when the Vikings beat CP twice. Nix is also an excellent kicker with three field goals this season of 25, 26 and 33 yards. By unofficial count, Nix has made 34 consecutive extra points.
 

The Vikings have lost to Carmel (9-1), LC (8-2) and Penn (10-0) so you have to look closely at that .500 record. Valparaiso has to be fairly confident coming into this game.


CROWN POINT Update:

CROWN POINT (10-21-2011) The Bulldogs would be at a peak if not for the loss of QB Joe Hopman (82 of 154, 1,170 yards, 12 TDs) last week. Hopman is out for the season with a shoulder injury. CP has just 10 turnovers all season, but things change now with untested sophomore Jake Jatis at QB. Jatis was 2-for-6 last week, but he did throw two TDs passes in the 21-10 road win at Munster.
 

He'll be very conservative, especially in 45-degree weather. But the Vikings will make Jatis throw the ball and he has a lot of targets in 6-foot-6 Braxton Rice, 6-foot-2 Zach Plesac, speedy Tyler Wells, tight end Tyler Kral and big fullback Pete Parks.
 

The line of Michael Young (5-9, 285), guards Eric Huttle (6-0, 265) and Stephen Hutchison (6-1, 285) and tackles Sean Jones (6-2, 235) and Blake Pals (6-1, 245) has to win this game by protecting Jatis.
 

Kicker Brett Bayer has four field goals of 44, 24, 23 and 38 yards and has missed just one extra point (36 of 37) all season. He's also a three-year starter.

Defensively, this has been a better year than CP expected. No one has scored more than 26 points on the Bulldogs and seven teams have been held to 10 points or less. Nose guard Cameron Tanner (6-1, 260) has eight quarterback sacks and safety Logan McRae has four interceptions.
 

The Bulldogs' 3-5-3 defense dares you to throw the ball, especially in bad weather. But Valpo will take that challenge and they always feel they can beat CP. Senior inside linebacker Jordan Krajci is the leading tackler for a team that had the No. 2 defense in the DAC this season behind LC. But the numbers are ominous.

Crown Point is 15-7 over the last two seasons but CP is 0-3 against Valparaiso, 0-2 against Merrillville and 15-2 against everyone else. Understand also that the track record of teams without their starting QB is not god. Chesterton lost every game this year that starting QB Chris Katsafaros did not start. Portage played CP without their starting QB and lost 42-0.

This has to be a defensive struggle and it won't be pretty. On a cold night against a team they rarely beat, the Bulldogs have to decide as a group how badly they want to advance in the state tournament.