Week 4 Picks:  2006 NW Indiana High School Football

A USA-365.com Special Report By Mark Smith

September 7, 2006

WEEK (3) THREE RECAP:  Morton and Merrillville were not ready to play CP and Andrean.  But they might be in two months. Valpo-LaPorte was a tie game.  Portage needs to get settled.  They used three QBs last week.  Whiting and South Central got back on track.  And Chesterton can start bragging about what they're going to do again.  Truthfully, LC over Portage was a very mild upset and there were no other surprises.  The games got easier to pick in week three.

BIGGEST WINNER - WEEK THREE:  Lake Central.  No matter how they got it.  No matter how many QBs Portage used.  Lake Central hadn't won a DAC game in three years in the league and now they have.  They can walk on the field and play for first place in the premier conference in this half of the state Friday night and they could never say that before.

RUNNER UP - Chesterton:  Andrean.  Remember, coach Brett St Germain did something he had to do before the season opener.  He let go 10 players.  That can go a lot of ways.  But his boys have played some very strong ball in beating Chesterton, Noll and Morton. To beat Morton, they had to control dangerous QB David Wallace and all his receivers on his home field.  Morton got lots of yards, but did not score key TDs.  The window of opportunity to beat Andrean may have closed for awhile.

WEEK 3 (2006) PIX recap

WEEK 1:  9 of 13 = 69.1%
WEEK 2:  10 of 15 = 66.7%
WEEK 3:  11 of 13 = 84.6%
2006 Season to date:  30 of 41 = 73.2% 
2005 (final) OVERALL:  170 of 233 = 72.9%

Northwest Indiana
WEEK 4 (FOUR) PICKS, 9-08-2006

(9-08-2006)  This is traditionally a dog week in NW Indiana high school football, something I hope changes when the leagues change next year.  There's only three or four games here that you'd walk across the street to see.  But we've had a little changing of the guard.  Griffith-Munster has been a bow-wow classic the last couple of years, but now it's a match of unbeatens.  LC and CP recently has been one even your momma doesn't want to see, but now both of them are undefeated.

Still, there's too many Valpo-Michigan Citys or Hobart-Highlands here.  And Andrean vs. Hammond will not be pretty.  Outside of this area, there are some strong collisions capped by the all-Indy Catholic matchup of top-10s Cathedral and Roncalli on the floor of the RCA Dome Friday.  Across town bitter rivals Ben Davis and Warren Central match 3-0 records, plus everybody in 4A will look for the final score in Elkhart where Concord (3-0) and Wawasee (3-0) match high-powered offenses.  But the best games are sometimes usually successful teams that just got whipped.  Bounce back games.  That puts the spotlight on Merrillville-Portage and Lowell vs. Morton.

We'll look the other way when Gary Roosevelt plays Cahokia, Illinois;  River Forest goes to Eau Claire, Wisconsin;  Wheeler meets Calumet and Hammond faces Andrean.  Let the winners win, the losers take Green Bay against the Bears Sunday and we'll see them all again on Sept. 15.


Kankakee Valley 35, Bishop Noll 21

HAMMOND -  I'm not sure about either one of these teams.  Noll lost to undefeated Andrean while KV lost to unbeaten Munster.  I think this is an unusual team as far as athletic ability is concerned at KV.  Nobody volunteers to drive from DeMotte to the north end of Hammond on Friday at rush hour but Noll can't handle them for 4 quarters.


(SB) Clay 42, East Chicago 26

EAST CHICAGO -  East Chicago got a soft win over Roosevelt, but they've scored 15 points all season.  Clay got smoked by 29 points by Penn last week, but even after a two-hour ride on Friday night, they can score almost at will in this one.  Can somebody please find a conference for East Chicago to play it??


Whiting 27, Lake Station 6

LAKE STATION -  Lake Station was bombed by 4A Kankakee Valley, while Whiting's been smoked by 5A Riley.  Lake Stations' going to line up and run the ball and Whiting's going to stop it.  The Eagles are not loaded with pass defense and they need to be Friday.


Clark 28, Gavit 27

HAMMOND -  Gavit has allowed almost 40 points a game and Clark actually could have beaten Wheeler last week.  Doesn't it seem like the Hammond teams play each other every week?  Get used to it.  That could be the future.


Carroll 20, North Newton 12

MOROCCO -  Honestly, one of the toughest games on the board to select.  Carroll has been outscored 87-22 in three games, while North Newton has been shanghaied 180-37 in three horse whippings.  The Spartans are just too young.  Carroll is only marginally bad.


Hobart 28, Highland 7

HOBART -  Hobart is a lot better than they have proven so far by whipping Gary West Side and Hammond.  Highland has faced a very difficult stretch in facing Merrillville and Munster.  The Trojans are probably not physical enough to stop the run for four quarters.


Valparaiso 42, Michigan City 14

MICHIGAN CITY -  Valpo is a very deceptive 0-2, losing to 5A No. 5 Penn and losing in 2 OTs against LaPorte.  Michigan City was overwhelmed by Chesterton and Valparaiso is better than Chesterton.


Gary West Side 32, Wirt 22

GARY - Wirt rolled up the points on River Forest last week in a 68-59 win, but West Side has more pure speed and will be playing at home for the first time this season.


Chesterton 49, LaPorte 35

LaPORTE -  A contrast of offensive styles here.  Chesterton can run, but likes to throw.  LaPorte can throw but likes to run.  LaPorte was helpless defensively against Valparaiso last week and was lucky to win.  Chesterton can exploit the Slicers pass defense and they can afford to give up 200 yards to Airrence Shark, the Slicers star back.


Merrillville 16, Portage 7

PORTAGE -  Portage used three QBs last week and they've been held to a total of nine points in the last two weeks.  Teams having offensive line problems should play Merrillville.  This is a very low scoring contest.


New Prairie 35, Culver 14

CULVER -  The surprise of the year is 1A Culver (3-0), which was 3-37 the last four years.  But New Prairie surprises people every year and that running attack of theirs is much too strong for the 1A Cavaliers.


Culver Academy 27, North Judson 14

CULVER -  A double-header in Culver?  They'll get everybody in off of Lake Maxincuckee for this match up of rich kid Culver Academy (3-0) and the good old boys of Judson (3-0).  Judson's offense has to score 28 points here and they can't do it right now.

Griffith 42, Munster 17

MUNSTER -  Traditionally, the Mustangs have defensed Griffith's option well and the Panthers have a weak pass defense.  But Griffith is very experienced.  Munster might beat the Panthers at the end of the season, but they aren't ready now.  The schedule has been soft so far and the Mustangs cant run the ball on Griffith, which has been hardened with games against Chesterton and Lowell.


Crown Point 24, Lake Central 7

CROWN POINT -  Lake Central has a one-point win over Goshen and a 10-point win over a struggling Portage team.  Crown Point has faced three good defenses and have won three times by 10 points or more.  LC simply hasn't seen a good offense yet and they've struggled against lesser defenses than CP.


Lowell 41, Morton 28

LOWELL -  Next to LaPorte-Chesterton, the best bang for the buck here.  Morton can throw on the Lowell corners and the Devils can run on Morton.  The Governors are not good in the kicking game and Lowell is.  But this is a bad match up for both sides so warm up the scoreboard.

Copyright © 2006 USA-365.com and Meyer Multimedia Services, a division of Meyer Broadcasting Corp.  All rights reserved.
Revised: September 07, 2006 .