Week 3 - Football Game of the Week Preview

Crown Point (2-0) at Merrillville (1-1)

A USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith

09-02-2010  

When:  Friday, September 3, 2010

Where:  Merrillville High School's Demaree Stadium, 276 E. 68th Place, Merrillville, IN 46410 (2 blocks east of Broadway on 68th Place).

Tickets:  $5 
TV/Radio/Internet: WWCA (1270) FM, WEFM (95.9) FM, WLTH (1470) AM, www.USA-365.com.

Enrollment: CP: 2,426, Merrillville - 2,241

WEATHER: It's been very warm the first two weeks, but that is predicted to change by Friday night when kickoff temperatures are slated to be in the mid-60s. Let's hope so. It was more than a little hot for both the Pirates and Bulldogs on the artificial turf last week, but this week should be nearly perfect for players. Any rain Thursday shouldn't matter because of the artificial turf. Mosquitoes are rarely a problem at Merrillville, although this is a good year for biting bugs. Still, with a brisk wind blowing, this could be the best night of the year for fans.

PARKING: A large crowd is expected, but there is almost always room for your car at Merrillville. I have never seen the parking lot full, not even for semistate wrestling, which is a mob scene. The parking space is between the school and the football field so your walk isn't that long, either. Be patient when the game is over, however, because everybody has to go west out of the Merrillville lot. Even in perfect weather, a sellout crowd is highly unlikely. Merrillville's Demaree Stadium holds 8,000 people and its only been full a few times. No football games are ever sold out in advance at Merrillville.

JV Football: Saturday, Sept. 4 (2 games)
BOONE GROVE at CROWN POINT - 8 a.m.
MERRILLVILLE at CROWN POINT - 10 a.m.

Freshman Football: Thursday, Sept. 9 - 6 p.m.
CROWN POINT at MERRILLVILLE

CROWN POINT (2-0)
Enrollment: 2,500 - Class 5A
2009 record: 3-7
Sectional titles (3) 1988, 91, 2006
Regional titles (1) 1988
Last 5 seasons: 37-19

Duneland Athletic Conference (DAC) games in CAPS
8-20 (W) 37-6 Lowell (1-1)
8-27 (W) 48-14 at Hobart (1-1)
9-3 at MERRILLVILLE (1-1)
9-10 LAKE CENTRAL (1-1)
9-17 PORTAGE (1-1)
9-24 at VALPARAISO (2-0)
10-1 at LaPORTE (2-0)
10-8 CHESTERTON (2-0)
10-15 at MICHIGAN CITY(1-1)

5A Sectional (1) One
10-22: with Lake Central, Merrillville , EC, Valpo, Munster, Chesterton and Portage

Merrillville (2-0)
Enrollment: 2,300 - Class 5A
Coach Zac Wells (41-14, 5 yrs.)
2009 record: 11-2
Sectionals (8) 2007, 08, 09
Regionals: (5) last in 2009
Semi states: (1) last in 1976
Last 5 seasons: 51-16

Duneland Athletic Conference (DAC) games in CAPS
8-20 (L) 14-49 at Warren Central. (2-0)
8-27 (W) 27-13 Andrean (1-1)
9-3 (F) CROWN POINT (2-0)
9-10 (F) at PORTAGE (1-1)
9-17 (F) MICHIGAN CITY (1-1)
9-24 (F) at LaPORTE (2-0)
10-1 (F) VALPARAISO (2-0)
10-8 (F) LAKE CENTRAL (1-1)
10-15 (F) at CHESTERTON (2-0)

5A Sectional (1) One
10-22: with LC, CP, EC, Valpo, Munster, Chesterton and Portage

All-time series: Merrillville leads 33-32
Merrillville won 38-14 at Crown Point in 2009

MERRILLVILLE - This is the best rivalry in all of Northwest Indiana high school football because it's almost dead even. Merrillville has dominated the last two meetings 38-14 and 42-6, but history says that's only temporary. CP had won 8-of-11 games before that. Of the last five times CP and Merrillville have met in the post-season, Merrillville has won four. Of the last eight times CP and Merrillville have met in the regular season, CP is 7-1. I cannot explain it and anybody who tells you they're SURE who will win this Friday, doesn't know the series.

Merrillville, a town, and Crown Point, a city, have a lot in common. Arguably, they are both 176 years old. Solon Robinson settled what is now Crown Point in 1834. A clearing made for ceremonial purposes was McGwinn Village also, in 1834. Four years later, the town was renamed after brothers William and Dudley Merrill.

Merrillville and CP border each other, but teens who live at the far north end of CP are in the Merrillville school district. Though Merrillville has had National Football League players like Jamel Williams, Eugene Wilson and Michael Neal (just drafted by Green Bay) in the last 20 years, CP has almost always been competitive with their neighbors to the north.

Football is the last sport in which Merrillville can dominate Crown Point. When CP joined the DAC In 1992, Merrillville beat them in everything except girls basketball. Oddly, girls basketball is the only sport where the Pirates presently have a decided edge over CP. The Bulldogs have caught up to their purple clad neighbors in wrestling, football and just recently (3 years ago) broke a long losing streak to the Pirates in boys basketball.

It isn't spoken of much, but Merrillville-Crown Point is a shining jewel of NW Indiana sports. CP is an almost all white school while Merrillville is maybe 50% black and Hispanic. Merrillville has a lot of residents who have migrated south from urban areas in Gary and East Chicago. CP's core population goes back to the time when CP was a stereotypical Indiana town with a country flavor.

I would not call Merrillville a wealthy town and it has some very commercial strips. Crown Point has gotten to be surprisingly affluent and it is almost totally residential. With all these differences, there is the potential for hard feelings between the two towns and the boys who play sports with their hometown name on their chests. There have been very few bad moments at CP-Merrillville events.

Both schools seem sophisticated about high school athletics and how much they do and don't mean. Some schools don't play each other. Some schools have fights on the field or court and coaches bad mouth each other privately. These two very large schools right next door to each other get along surprisingly well for two schools who block each other's path downstate in every sport.

But this is a big deal. I can accurately predict the 'end game' for both CP and Merrillville this year after this meeting. It's big and both sides know it. The Lowell game is fun and the Lake Central game is local, but if you rarely go to high school football games, Merrillville and Crown Point is the one you want to attend. It is rarely disappointing.

MERRILLVILLE Update:

MERILLVILLE: I don't know anything about Merrillville yet. They got blown out by defending state champion Warren Central like they were supposed to and they beat Andrean by 2 TDs like they were supposed to. Merrillville has high hopes for the offense with returning QB Zach Raspopovich (18 of 39, 294 yards, 2 TDs, 1 interception) and halfback Denzel Pierce (34 carries, 204 yards, 4 TDs) in front of offensive tackle Rob Robinson (5-10, 308). What they have found is a pass catching brigade in Raspopovich's sophomore brother Jake Raspopovich (6 catches, 68 yards) and Cortez Sims (5 caches, 32 yards). It might surprise you (it did me) to learn that the Pirates gained more yards in the 35-point loss at Warren Central (308) than they did in beating Andrean (302).

It all centers around the older Raspopovich (18 carries, 77 yards) who is a three-year varsity player.

The Pirate defense is led by defensive linemen Matt Neal (6-4, 259), Carlos Dickerson (6-2, 194) and LaChapelle Bradley (6-2, 200) in front of a new set of linebackers, which includes junior wrestling star Kourtney Berry (6-1, 192), who had two pass interceptions last week against the 59ers.

But Merrillville has allowed over 650 yards rushing in the first two games, 445 to Warren Central and 218 to Andrean. That will be the front line battle Friday night. Can Merrillville stop CP from running the football?

CROWN POINT Update:

CROWN POINT: Crown Point's first two games have gone about as well as they could have. The Bulldogs defeated Lowell 37-6 and led Hobart 48-0 before winning 48-14. They know, however, that all that good feeling goes down the drain if they don't defeat Merrillville Friday. That's just the way it is.

There are lots of numbers about CP's first two weeks, but three stand out. CP has out-rushed the opposition 379-244 against two decent running teams. Also, the next CP turnover this season with be their first. No fumbles. No interceptions. And finally, quarterback Joe Hopman is 16 of 20 for 411 yards. That's 25 yards a completion. Receiver Austin Atherton has caught 10 for 262 yards.

Outrageous numbers.

CP has run the ball well behind a big offensive line that faces its biggest test this Friday. Halfback Cody Bacon (34 carries, 197 yards) has been backed up by junior Jake Lindeman (11 carries, 84 yards). CP has not even used 240-pound junior fullback Peter Parks yet.

Kicker Brett Bayer is 3-for-3 on field goals, but he also has 10 touchbacks, meaning he has totally shut down the opposition's return game.

What we don't know is how CP will react to a real passing attack. They didn't see one in the scrimmage against Highland and they certainly didn't see one against Lowell or Hobart. This is the biggest test of the season for the CP defense, led by senior linebackers Scott Hannon (17 tackles, 4 tackles for loss) and JT Rotroff (15 tackles).
 

CROWN POINT 24, MERRILLVILLE 14