Week 2 - Football Game of the Week Preview

Hobart (1-0) at Crown Point (0-1) 

A USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith

8-28-2009

 

When:  Friday, August 28, 2009 - 7:00 p.m. Kickoff

Where:  Crown Point High School, 1500 S. Main, Crown Point

TV/Radio/Internet:  No live TV or radio.  Radio updates on WLPR (89.1) FM. Live Internet coverage on www.USA-365.com.
Highlights on Lakeshore Public Television (Com Cast Cable Ch, 17) at 10:30 p.m.
JV game:  Saturday, Aug. 29 at CROWN POINT - 10:00 a.m.
Freshmen:  Thursday, Sept. 6 at Hobart - 6 p.m.
Numbers:  Crown Point:  Class 5A, enrollment 2,446;  HOBART - 4A enrollment - 1,165
 

Tickets:  $5.00 -  Tickets will be available at the gate.  Hobart brings a nice crowd, but not like they did in the 70s and 80s.  This is CP's home opener so the home stands should be full.

Weather:  Not as good as it looked earlier in the week.  Chance of rain with temperatures in the low-70s during the day.  If the rain holds off, we'll be okay on the artificial turf.  There's no chance of a muddy field.  CP will play almost every regular season game on artificial turf this season.

Parking:  There is always plenty of parking at Crown Point.  They charge $1 for you to park in the St. Matthias church lot, but the school parking is free.  There is a parking lot behind the tennis courts on the east side of the school and there is parking behind (to the southwest) of the football field.  Still just one exit, though (to the west of the school) so be patient after the game.

Last year:  Hobart defeated CP in the final meeting of the two teams in the 69-year-old Brickie Bowl 13-7.  Hobart plays in a brand new stadium this year at their new $81 million dollar school.  The 13-7 loss was indicative of their season.  Decent defense.  No offense.

The SERIES:  Hobart leads the series 46-11-2, but most of that goes back to another era where Hobart dominated everybody.  In the 1980s, when Hobart was at its football peak, CP was not in the Duneland Athletic Conference and rarely saw Hobart.  CP didn't miss them.  In the 1970s, CP was 0-10 against the Brickies and they were 0-4-1 against the Brickies in the 60s.  After a 27-13 CP win in October of 1952, Crown Point did not defeat Hobart for 46 years until CP won 24-7 on Sept. 11, 1998.  Hobart won state titles in 1987, '89, '91 and 1993 and they won 19 sectionals in a row from 1979 to 1997.

Hobart is called the "Brickies" because they used to make bricks there.  Brick-making was a big deal in the 1800s and early 1900s once it dawned on everybody that homes and buildings didn't have to be made out of wood.  The original Brickyard was the Kulage Brick Works, established in the 1880s, on the north side of town.  The Pennsylvania Railroad (now the CF & E Railroad), one of three railroads that still operate in Hobart and the one that ran behind the old Brickie Bowl, used to carry bricks to Valparaiso and Chicago.  The founder of Hobart (George Earle) made bricks and that's why he came here and started the town.  To build brick houses.  The nickname is something they decided on later obviously but, in many respects, Hobart was always meant to be the place where 'Brickies' lived.  The name goes back to an era that is long since gone, but the success of the football program with the same name is clearly a tip of the cap to the past, as are many Indian names of athletic teams in Indiana.

To say there is a rivalry between Crown Point and Hobart would be stretching the truth.  The matchup is now situated between CP's games with Lowell and Merrillville, two true rivals. These are teams that do not play in the same league or the same sectional so there's not a lot of fire in this match up.  It's a warm up for league play.  The Brickies want the games with Griffith and Lowell much more than the CP game, but this is their chance to prove they can still play with the big teams.

HOBART (1-0)
Coach: Wally McCormack - 52-36, 8 seasons
Enrollment: 1,145
2008 record: 9-2
Sectional titles  (19)  last in 1997
Regional titles:  (15)   last in 1996
Semi state titles:  (9)  last in 1996
State titles (4) 1987, 1989, 1991, 1993

HOBART Brickies (1-0)
 Northwest Crossroads Conference  - (NWCC) games in CAPS - all games begin at 7 p.m.,
8-21 (F) 34-13 Gary West Side (0-1)
8-28 (F) at Crown Point (0-1)
9-4 (F) at Griffith (1-0)
9-11 (F) Kankakee Valley (0-1)
9-18 (F) at Andrean (1-0)
9-25 (F) Lowell (1-0)
10-2 (F) Munster (1-0)
10-9 (F) at Morton (1-0)
10-16 (F) at Highland (0-1)

 Class 4A Sectional 9

 Oct. 23 (F) with Gary West Side, Gary Roosevelt, Lew Wallace, Morton, Griffith, Hammond and Highland

Crown Point senior Brad Pusateri (49), who had seven tackles against Lowell last week. Junior linebacker Evan Wilson led the Bulldogs with 14 tackles.   Linebacker Steve Perillo had 13.  (Photo by Mark Smith)

Crown Point Bulldogs (0-1)

Coach: Chip Pettit, 52-36 (9th year) Duneland Athletic Conference (DAC) games in CAPS
All games are Friday at 7:00 p.m.
Aug. 21 (L) 0-19 at Lowell (1-0)       
Aug. 28 Hobart (1-0)   
Sep. 4 MERRILLVILLE (0-1) 
Sep. 11 at LAKE CENTRAL (0-1)    
Sep. 18 at PORTAGE (1-0)
Sep. 25 VALPARAISO (0-1)
Oct. 2 LaPORTE (1-0)      
Oct. 9 at CHESTERTON  (1-0)
Oct. 16 MICHIGAN CITY (1-0)
     
Class 5A, Sectional 1

Oct. 23 (F) with Michigan City, Portage, Valparaiso, Chesterton, Lake Central, Munster, East Chicago and MERRILLVILLE

FACTORS
1. We'll know more once you score

Right now, Crown Point is in need of a confidence building TD.  The Bulldogs don't have any idea what kind of offense they have until they score and gain at least a minimum level of confidence.  The CP line has good size and strength, but they clearly lack the confidence to impose their will on anybody.  Hobart didn't allow 100 yards rushing to Gary West Side last week, so this won't be an easy test for the run-blockers of CP.  But look at the schedule.  If the Bulldogs cant move the ball at home against Hobart, who can they move it on? 

I don't think you put in a trick play to try to get a TD because that's a tacit admission that you can't move the ball with basic runs and passes.  You don't want to make that statement yet.  Gary West Side threw for 216 yards on Hobart, but much of that was when the game was out of reach.  Look for CP to try to throw the ball more because Hobart's pass rush isn't what Lowell's was last week.

The wild card here is that we don't know how Hobart truly is defensively.  I'm sure they've been preparing for Crown Point since the start of pre-season.  There was no reason to prepare specifically for Gary West Side at this point and that may explain West Side's 300 total yards at Hobart.


2. Special teams are still in doubt

This week's game figures to be close and the kicking game will crucial.  Punter Spencer Rapchak was inconsistent on opening night, but he has a strong leg and he'll surely be better this Friday.  Sophomore kicker Brett Bayer needs to get on the board just like the rest of the offense.  His only kick was blocked last week.  The Bulldogs only kicked off once.  Hobart has last week's game tape.  The Brickies will put the heat of the CP kickers to rattle them and get a big turnover.  Austin Atherton did have a 58-yard kickoff return last week for CP and the Bulldogs look forward to him getting the ball at home.  Hobart was only 2-of-4 on extra points as well and they had a blocked kick returned for a west Side TD.

You know that EVERYBODY was working overtime on special teams this week.   

3. Forget last week

From a Hobart standpoint, I don't think they cared about piling up yards and points on West Side.  Richard Oglesby (21 carries, 138 yards) scored the first two TDs in the new Hobart 'Brickyard' stadium.  But I know they'll be better defensively this week than they were against West Side.  For CP, the loss to Lowell wasn't bad enough to be damning and it certainly wasn't good enough to be excited about.  The home opener is a second chance for a first impression.

 The Bottom Line...

CROWN POINT (8-28-2009) I think Crown Point can pass block well enough to throw the ball  on Hobart.  I was surprised that Hobart didn't dominate Gary West Side last week and that indicates they have some rebuilding issues as well.  I have no inside information, but I think the Bulldogs will be aggressive offensively against Hobart and they will move the ball through the air.  I think CP has the makings of a good passing attack if they can protect their fairly mobile young QB.

Hobart will run effectively and it's no secret that Oglesby will run at the CP defense 20 times.  Crown Point held up fairly well against Lowell and bad field position in week one.  I like the first TD of the season to be a TD pass from Joe Hopman to Travis Woosley.

Hobart gets two TDs from Oglesby, but CP rallies in the second half as Hobart is unable to throw the ball.

Brett Bayer boots his first two field goals and Cody Bacon scores a key TD as the Bulldogs break a late tie to win.

CROWN POINT 20, Hobart 14


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Revised: August 28, 2009 .