Week 4 - 2009 H.S. Football Preview: Crown Point at Lake Central

TV/Radio/Internet: WZVN (107.1) FM, 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, Sept. 12 at Lake Central - 10:00 a.m.
Freshmen: Thursday, Sept. 17 at CROWN POINT - 6:00 p.m.
Numbers: Crown Point: Class 5A, enrollment 2,446; LC - 5A enrollment - 3,041

Tickets will be available at the gate because the both teams are off to 1-2 starts. But this game usually draws a respectable crowd because its a matchup of neighbors. Some CP residents are actually closer to the LC campus than they are to the new CPHS. Plus, both teams think they can win this one.

Weather: There's been some rain this week (it should be gone by Friday) and that's a factor here because LC is one of just three remaining DAC schools (LaPorte and Chesterton are the others) without artificial turf. Some summer time humidity has moved back in this week as well, but it's almost dark at game time now and the temperatures will be in the mid-60s by the second half. Four good weeks of Friday's for CP so far. How long can this go on?

Parking: There isn't much at Lake Central and there never has been. Plus, a lot of the parking at LC (behind the school) isn't close to the field. If a big crowd gathers and you show up late, your best bet is to park west of US 41 in the semi strip mall. Some of those lots empty out at 5:00 p.m. In the past, they didn't charge you to park here, but it's a small field area and it does get crowded.

Last year: Lake Central won a game that (let's just say) didn't have a lot of offensive flavor last year by the score of 10-5. CP out-gained the Indians 254-223 and led 3-0 at the half. But three CP turnovers did them in. LC denied CP a game-tying TD at the goal line in the final minutes and LC QB Ryan Hennessey took an intentional safety to create the final score.

The SERIES: CP leads the series 28-23-1.

FAST FOOTBALL FACT: Lake Central has only existed on the football field since 1966. Before that, they were Dyer Central, which played where Kahler Middle School now sits. In its debut season, Dyer Central won 7-0 at Crown Point on Nov. 1, 1949.

Brad Pusateri (49), here on 'Senior Night' with his parents. Pusateri suffered a shoulder and neck injury in August that may not heal in time for him to play again this year. (All photos by Mark Smith)

Junior Reed Stofko (23) will be one of many who will fill out Crown Point's five linebacker defensive formations Friday night against Lake Central.

Joe Hopman (12) has gotten enough time to fire three TD passes in the past two games for CP. The Bulldogs may need that and more Friday night in St. John.

ST. JOHN - This is an old Lake Suburban Conference (1970-1991) rivalry that has been renewed since LC joined the Duneland Athletic Conference in this decade. This used to be a bigger game than it is now because CP and LC were football powers in the 1980s and early 90s in the old LSC. I've never understood why, in a county of one town schools (Highland, Munster, CP, Lowell) why St. John, Dyer and Schererville have a combined high school, which is one of the 10 largest schools in the state. After being good in the 1980s (65-37) and better on the 1990s (74-36), Lake Central has dropped off in this decade (38-61) as far as football success was concerned.

Some of that is the 2002 acceptance into the big school DAC and some of it may be the LC's disco-era facilities, but some of it is not explainable. LC does very well in baseball, softball and most individual sports, but they have been mediocre recently in basketball and football. The region's only 3,000-kid (and growing) school is still an undiscovered athletic treasure waiting to be mined. The dramatic rise of CP to league championship prominence in baseball, football and wrestling could be dwarfed by LC if they only figured out what switches to pull.

LC should be an athletic powerhouse by enrollment alone. Schererville is larger than Crown Point all by itself. When you talk about LC, there is a feeling the school is held back by its facilities. Crown Point sports have blossomed in the new school which they opened six years ago. It's hard to tell if Merrillville's renovation in the early 90s sparked their athletic rise but it didn't hurt. Nobody says this, but Chesterton has done a lot better in sports since they built a new school with modern facilities. A lot of it is the weight training facilities and the conditioning equipment. You can't train in the hallway (like CP did for decades) and compete anymore.

Lake Central parents are envious of what Crown Point and Merrillville have. The South Lake County 'axis of evil' Lake Central, Merrillville and Crown Point are approaching 9,000 total students and that number is on the rise. This is the athletic battleground for Northwest Indiana in the 21st Century and, until they build a new athletic complex (or split the school), LC will not be up to their friends at CP and Merrillville.

5A Lake Central Indians (1-2)
Coach: Bill Melby 17-28, 5th season
Enrollment: 3,046
2008 record: 3-7
Sectional titles: (4) 1990, 1993, 1994 and 1999
Regional titles: (2) 1990 and 1993
Semistate titles: (1) 1993
State titles: (0)

(DAC) games in CAPS - all games begin at 7:00 p.m.
8-22 (L) 10-28 at Munster (3-0)
8-28 (W) 14-0 East Chicago (0-3)
9-4   (L) 0-27 Portage (2-1)
9-11 (Fri) CROWN POINT (1-2)
9-18 (Fri) at LaPORTE (3-0)
9-25 (Fri) MICHIGAN CITY (3-0)
10-2 (Fri) at CHESTERTON (2-1)
10-9 (Fri) MERRILLVILLE (2-1)
10-16 (Fri) at VALPARAISO (1-2)

Class 5A Sectional 1
Oct. 23 (F) with Michigan City, Portage, Valparaiso, Chesterton, CROWN POINT, Munster, East Chicago and MERRILLVILLE

Crown Point Bulldogs (1-2)
Coach: 53-37 (9 years)
Enrollment: 2,441
2008 record: 3-7
Sectional titles (3) 1988, 1991, 2006
Regional titles: (1) 1998
Semi state titles (0) State titles (0)

5A Crown Point Bulldogs (1-2)
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) 19-0 at Lowell (3-0)
Aug. 28 (W) 14-7 Hobart (1-2)
Sep. 4 (L) 14-38 MERRILLVILLE (3-1)
Sep. 11 at LAKE CENTRAL (1-2)
Sep. 18 at PORTAGE (2-1)
Sep. 25 VALPARAISO (1-2)
Oct. 2 LaPORTE (3-0)
Oct. 9 at CHESTERTON (3-0)
Oct. 16 MICHIGAN CITY (3-0)

Class 5A, Sectional 1
Oct. 23 (F) with Michigan City, Portage, Valparaiso, Chesterton, Lake Central, Munster, East Chicago and MERRILLVILLE

This is the first non-big game. For Crown Point, there was the season opener followed by the home opener, followed by the DAC opener. This is just a game at 1-2 Lake Central. LC has the season opener at Munster, the home opener and then the DAC opener against Portage. This is just a game with 1-2 Crown Point. I suspect coaches are amazed that boys can consider any game 'just a game', but I think they do. Both teams need motivation here and they may have to fake it. The team that does that most successfully may come out on top in a game that's evenly matched.

2. Be cool

Crown Point was very shaky facing Merrillville last week and, since it was the third game of the season, and Merrillville is a very familiar foe, I don't know why. The Bulldogs have already faced two powerhouses (Lowell and Merrillville) so they should come out expecting to defeat Lake Central. But we'll see. At no time last season when CP was 3-7 did the Bulldogs look as nervous as they did last week. It was embarrassing for big school football. I don't think that 'fear of the game' hot flash will happen again because there wasn't any reason for it.

3. Why cant we score?

The offensive lines of both teams may feel put down because LC has scored just 24 points (8.0 ppg.) in three games and CP has only scored 28 (9.3 ppg.). By that barometer, CP will win Friday by a score of 9-8 in a game I didn't want to watch. It's not all on the line. Somebody's got to break a tackle and score a TD. CP, at one time last week was without three offensive players in HB Cody Bacon, WRs Austin Atherton and Brian Holloway. They are a little short on healthy skill position players right now and I'm not sure what they can do.

But LC should be scoring more points than they are. They ran for 250 yards last week and didn't score. Six fumbles in three games. Hold onto the ball, boys. LC has scored 51 points in their last five home games and just 61 points in their last 10 games overall. They aren't facing great defenses every week, but you can't change formations and your basic philosophy every couple of games because things aren't working. I think Ryan Hennessey is a good QB and LC could break out at any time and score four or five TDs. They have to feel it could be Friday night.

4. Let's get some runs

This isn't about baseball. Crown Point needs to run the ball effectively. In retrospect, CP may understand why they could not do it against Lowell and Merrillville, but they don't understand why they can't run on Lake Central, a team that has allowed almost 500 rushing yards in three games. The Bulldogs junior halfback Cody Bacon was out with an injury but Mason Popovich gained some nice second half yards after the game was out of reach and Spencer Rapchak picked up a key 4th-and-2 first down in CP's first TD drive.

Even with a rookie quarterback, CP's probably always going to win games throwing the football. But against a team like LC, they'll stay in them to win them if the running backs can pick up key first downs.

Lake Central plays on the natural grass as God intended. But God intended it to rain occasionally, too, so the LC turf may be soft Friday. Crown Point has played their last two games on the fake grass. CP has artificial turf and they practice on it. I do not know if the Bulldogs will practice on dirt this week just to get ready for the game at LC. They might. I think that natural grass is more slippery when wet than the 'field turf' is. It may be tough to run wide tonight because dirt fields are crowned, meaning they're higher in the center than on the sidelines. I've seen a lot of footing problems at LC and that's an issue for east-west (sideline to sideline) runners and pass receivers. Joe Hopman is more of a rollout QB, so he needs to get used to the field and be confident about his footing as well.

Traditionally, teams that have a big power back and a big offensive line run straight ahead here and play ball control. LC's junior Tannery Prelacy (6-2, 203) fits that description and he might get the call here if the field is somewhat mushy.

The Bottom Line...

ST. JOHN (9-11-2009) Both teams lost big last week, so both sides should be hungry to turn it around. Crown Point has allowed more than 600 yards rushing, but I'm not sure if that's bad run "D" or the teams they've been playing. Both teams score early here in a see-saw contest, but CP is not at full strength and I don't totally understand why LC is losing. They seem to have better players the last year and a half than their record has indicated.

LC faces two undefeated teams in Michigan City (3-0) and LaPorte (3-0) after this game, but CP faces Portage (2-1) and Valparaiso (1-2) and those two might actually be better. Under the present state playoff format, there are no 'must win games' during the regular season. But if CP or LC wants to have a winning season and finish in the top half of the DAC, they most certainly have to win this game.

I like CP to start early on a TD run by Travis Woosley and Brett Bayer's field goal makes it 10-0 after an LC fumble. But the Indians get back in the game and take the lead at the half on TD runs by Tony Albomonte and Trevor Relardzyck. A pass interception leads to a 21-10 lead as QB Ryan Hennessey scores on a QB sneak. Austin Atherton returns to the lineup and scores on a kickoff return, but LC runs the ball well in the second half and ices the win with a field goal from Erik Bisson.

This is an even match and it could go either way. But LC has proven to be better running the football so far and that gives them an edge.

Crown Point (1-2, 0-1)

at Lake Central (1-2, 0-1)

A USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith

Copyright © 2009 USA-365.com and Meyer Multimedia Services, a division of Meyer Broadcasting Corp. All rights reserved.
Revised: September 09, 2009 .

Crown Point (1-2, 0-1)

at Lake Central (1-2, 0-1)

A USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith

Copyright © 2009 USA-365.com and Meyer Multimedia Services, a division of Meyer Broadcasting Corp. All rights reserved. Revised: September 09, 2009 .

Copyright © 2009 USA-365.com and Meyer Multimedia Services, a division of Meyer Broadcasting Corp. All rights reserved.
Revised: September 09, 2009 .