Week 2 - Football Game of the Week Preview

Crown Point (1-0) at Hobart (1-0)

A USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith

A plaque dedicated to preserving the memory of the late Don Howell is mounted to the wall of the new Hobart High School football stadium known as "The Brickyard."

A view of The Brickyard from the parking lot as dusk approaches on game night.

The "Brickies" logo for Hobart High School mounted at the Brickyard stadium. (All photos by Mark Smith)

When:  Friday, August 27, 2010 - 7:00 p.m. Kickoff.
Where:  Hobart High school - 2211 E. 10th Street, Hobart, Indiana.
TV/Radio/Internet:  WWCA (1270) FM, WEFM (95.9) FM, www.USA-365.com; live updates of all local scores all night on WLPR (89.1) FM.
Tickets:  $5

Enrollment: CROWN POINT: 2,512; Hobart - 1,224 (2009 numbers)

WEATHER: The forecast is for mid-70s in the late afternoon. Maybe upper-60s at kickoff. If it works out this way, this will be a welcome break from the heat wave conditions that have toasted most of the Midwest all month. These are the last couple of weeks where there's significant sunlight at 7 p.m. Schools are such creatures of habit. For decades, high school football games began at 7:30 p.m. Now, with heat a problem, it's hard to get schools to consider going back to 7:30 p.m. early in the season to avoid the depressing temperatures.
Football is meant to be played in 50-60 degree weather. I wouldn't start a game in 85-degree weather, which is what we may go back to in week three.

PARKING: There's plenty of parking at the new 'Brickyard', a vivid comparison from the old Hobart High School in the downtown area. The $84 million dollar high school, with a 5,000-seat artificial turf football stadium, opened two years ago, but this is CP's first football visit there. The visitors' stands seat almost 1,000 with washrooms and concession facilities on the visitors side, a rarity in high school football world.

There should be a large crowd at this game because this is the Brickies' home opener and they won last week. I don't know how Hobart people are adjusting to football at the new school after almost seven decades at the old Brickie Bowl. But this should be a perfect night. Look at the size of the crowd and you can judge the state of high school football in Hobart. If you have never been to the new Hobart High School, you should go see it Friday. It's a perfect weather night. You won't be late lunch for mosquitoes and there's plenty of room for you.

WHAT'S AT STAKE: Nothing. CP is 5A. Hobart is 4A. They are not in the same conference and can't meet in the playoffs. Hobart is no longer the football power that won four state titles from 1987-1993, so a win by CP isn't the status builder that last week's win over Lowell was. But CP has been 3-7 the last two seasons, so beating the Bulldogs is no big deal to a school with Hobart's tradition. Still, the Bulldogs have won four of the last five meetings, so Hobart has a little more to gain here than just another win.


The HISTORY: Hobart leads the series 46-12-2, but most of that goes back to another era where Hobart dominated everybody. 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. Under coach Don Howell, 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.

You may not know this story, but 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 unusual sports nickname is something they decided on later, obviously, but in many respects, Hobart should actually be 'Earleville' or 'Bricktown' was always meant to be the place where 'Brickies' lived. The success of the football program with the same name sets the school apart from the many Indian names that have been attached to athletic teams in Indiana. Like Lowell, Hobart's athletic identity is tied to the football team. That's not actually true in Crown Point. Win or lose, Hobart home games draw well.

Permission to speak freely? Hobart should not play Crown Point. They should play Merrillville, their neighbor and arch-rival from the second half of the 20th Century. The 1992 Hobart-Merrillville game drew 8,000 fans at Merrillville. CP should play Andrean, their next door neighbor. There's no question that would draw more than CP-Hobart. Hobart could easily drop West Side and play Merrillville in week one, if the Pirates don't renew their series with Warren Central. But if CP dropped Hobart in week two, they'd struggle to find a foe because that's the week of the Merrillville-Andrean game, a match both sides like. I'd like to see a CP-Plymouth (4A Plymouth plays 2A Rochester in week 2) game, but that would take a lot of doing.

The Hobart-Crown Point game occurs at a bad time for both schools. The matchup is now situated between CP's games with Lowell and Merrillville, two true rivals. The Brickies play the Northwest Crossroads Conference league opener against rival Griffith next week. Everybody wants to win every week. But here's a case where both teams will (and, in some respects, should be) looking past this Friday night's opponent.

But if you are old enough to appreciate what was, a chance to go to Hobart for a football game is always welcome.

4A Hobart (1-0)
Coach: Wally McCormack - 52-31, 8 seasons
Enrollment: 1,145
2009 record: 4-8
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.
8-20 (F) 35-30 at Gary West Side (0-1)
8-27 (F) Crown Point (1-0)
9-3 (F) at Griffith (0-1)
9-10 (F) at Kankakee Valley (0-1)
9-17 (F) ndrean (1-0)
9-24 (F) at Lowell (0-10)
10-1 (F) at Munster (1-0)
10-8 (F) Morton (1-0)
10-15 (F) Highland (0-1)

Class 4A Sectional 9
Oct. 22 (F) with Gary West Side, Gary Roosevelt, Lew Wallace, Morton, Griffith, Hammond and Highland

CROWN POINT (1-0)
Coach: Chip Pettit - 53-39, 9 seasons)
Enrollment: 2,426
2009 record: 3-7
Sectional titles (3) 1998, 1991, 2006
Regional titles: (1) 1991
Lost sectional quarterfinal game 16-13 to Chesterton

Crown Point Bulldogs (1-0)
Duneland Athletic Conference (DAC) games in CAPS
8-21 (W) 37-6 at Lowell (0-1)
8-28 (Fi) at Hobart (1-0)
9-4 (F) at MERRILLVILLE (0-1)
9-11 (F) LAKE CENTRAL (0-1)
9-18 (F) PORTAGE (1-0)
9-25 (F) at VALPARAISO (1-0)
10-2 (F) at LaPORTE (1-0)
10-9 (F) CHESTERTON (1-0)
10-16 (F) at MICHIGAN CITY (1-0)

Class 5A Sectional (1) One
Oct. 23 (L) vs. Merrillville, Michigan City, Munster, East Chicago, Portage, Valparaiso and Chesterton

HOBART UPDATE: Hobart rescued their season by holding off Gary West Side 35-30 last week. I think it would have been a catastrophe for the Brickies to lose in Gary. West Side threw for over 300 yards (Marquis Wells - 19 of 39, 335 yards) and that's a worry. But Hobart didn't take West Side seriously. To my knowledge Hobart has never lost to the Cougars. The Brickies are supposed to have a good year. Seniors Jimmy Walsdorf (6-2, 210) and Jeremy Koselke (6-1, 260) lead the offensive line for quarterback Sam Kosich (25 of 100, 326 yards in 2009) and tailback Jamar Merritt (6-0, 175), a junior transfer from Calumet City, Illinois' TF North. Merrit recorded 29 carries, 119 yards, 3 TDs in his debut and he scored a fourth TD on a kickoff return.

Merritt is going to be a big factor in the Northwest Crossroads Conference and he'll be a marked man Friday night for the CP defense, especially if Kosich can't do better than 2-of-6 for 38 yards. The Hobart defense is a major problem. West Side's Wells completed seven pass plays of 20 yards or more last week. CP may not have West Side's passing attack but they do like to throw. Hobart can't load up defensively at the line of scrimmage because they clearly don't have a lot of top cover men in the secondary.

CROWN POINT UPDATE: CP doesn't have to play better offensively than they did last week because that will be difficult. CP did not fumble or throw any interceptions. The Bulldogs never punted and drew no penalties. Junior kicker Brett Bayer was 3-for-3 on field goals and 4-for-4 on extra point while booting five kickoffs into the end zone for touchbacks. He'll never do any better than that.

The offense scored 30 of the 37 points in a 37-6 win over Lowell. A lot of the post-game focus was on how Lowell lost so badly and CP's excellence may have been dismissed. The Bulldogs weren't quite as good defensively. There was a TD breakdown in the secondary. But CP's defense wasn't bad the last two seasons so linebackers Scott Hannon (11 tackles) and Reed Stofko (8 tackles) posting good tackle numbers was not a shock. The Bulldogs found a noseguard duo in little Evan Wilson (5-8, 180) and big Cameron Tanner (6-1, 270). CP has some powerful athletes in boys like Jordan Jurasevich (6-3, 210) and Tyler Kral (6-2, 225) and the offensive line, led by Mitch Kositzky (6-2, 255), Andrew Wrecsics (6-4, 265) and Alex Zagrocki (6-0, 275), played like they had something to prove last week. Receiver Austin Atherton (5 catches - 153 yards) and running back Cody Bacon (18 carries 76 yards) started the season the way they wanted to.

Crown Point (1-0) at Hobart (1-0)

Sagarin rankings: CP by 39

HOBART (8-27-2010) CP will have a little bit of a hangover here and Hobart's Jared Merritt will score early, possibly on the opening kickoff. Even though CP threw for over 200 yards last week, they only threw 12 passes. The Bulldogs will concentrate on the run at Hobart with halfback Cody Bacon carrying the ball for over 100 yards.

CP will treat Hobart the way they treated Lowell, daring Sam Kosich to throw the ball. Hobart knows this and they'll take their shots down the field after the first couple of series. There will be a couple of screen passes thrown in to counter the Bulldog rush.

Hobart will be close. Maybe 14-10 at the half. But CP is a big, strong team and they won't be denied on this night. Joe Hopman will run for two second half TDs and Brett Bayer will add two field goals as CP pulls away.

Everyone was shocked that CP won by 31 over Lowell last week but the question seemed to be: What's wrong with Lowell? Watch the score out of Lowell this Friday. Combine that result with CP's result at Hobart and the week two question will be: How good is Crown Point?

I have not seen CP play as well as they did against Lowell since the 2007 DAC title season. Hobart can only keep this close for a half.

CROWN POINT 34, Hobart 13