Week 5 Picks:  2006 NW Indiana High School Football

A USA-365.com Special Report By Mark Smith

September 14, 2006

WEEK (4) FOUR RECAP:  LaPorte continues to surprise.  Down 21-14 in the fourth quarter, they should have lost.  How long can these comeback wins go on?  Morton was down 10 and rallied to win.  Hard to tell if it's them or Lowell.  Wirt's not going anywhere in 3A, but they have won two close ones in a row.  My question is, what if Wirt drops to 2A next year?  How real does that get for schools like North Judson?  Culver Academy showed they must be taken seriously in 3A.  New Prairie had already proven that.  From the department of exact scores:  Clay, as predicted, scored 42 on EC.  The CP 17-point gap over Lake Central was exact, if not the final score.

BIGGEST WINNER - WEEK FOUR:  Morton.  They always lose at Lowell.  And when they fall behind early, they usually lose ugly.  So when it was 17-7 Lowell last week, that should have been impeachment for the Governors.  But they didn't fall apart and came out with a four point victory.  This was a very young Lowell squad and they were injury-riddled.  But wins do matter if you're the winner.  That loss doesn't kill Lowell, but pride-wise, it boosts Morton up a whole notch.

RUNNER UP:  Culver Academy.   Culver Academy does not have a consistent program in the respect that entire families go through the school.  They have students from Indiana and students from India.  Traditionally, they don't beat North Judson.  Culver's won 12 of their last 15 games.  This is a school that in 55 years of varsity football has never won more than eight games.  Could they beat Andrean or Griffith?  28-0 over North Judson suggests they could.

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%
WEEK 4:  11 of 14 = 78.6%
2006 Season to date:  41 of 55 = 74.5% 
2005 (final) OVERALL:  170 of 233 = 72.9%

Northwest Indiana
WEEK 5 (FIVE) PICKS, 9-15-2006

(9-15-2006)  WEEK (5) FIVE -   There are some massive blowouts on the table like North Judson-North Newton and Michigan City-Merrillville.  But this is a strong week with new wave of up-and-comers like Morton, Munster and New Prairie against heavy-duty monsters Griffith, Hobart and Jimtown.  Since you are guaranteed at least one playoff game, most schools (some have byes) reach the halfway point of the 2006 season after this week's games and this is the point of the year where league teams in good leagues like the DAC, LAC Black (Andrean, Griffith, Munster), Northern Lakes Conference (Concord, Wawasee, Plymouth) continue to benefit from strength of schedule.  Schools in weak leagues or independents suffer from this point on because they can't get any competition-based satisfaction.  The weather will still be a problem with temperatures in the low 70s by kickoff (far too warm for football), but the good thing about heat in late September is that it drops off dramatically after sunset. 

IN THE CLOSET:  I'm going to make a determined effort to ignore ugly, backyard beat downs like North Judson against North Newton, Merrillville bringing the pain to Michigan City and Indianapolis Lutheran (36 ppg.) pouring the hurt on River Forest.  Even Kankakee Valley  (33 ppg.) having a down home point party on Gavit (38 ppg allowed) is too extreme for words.  Let the winners win, the losers get recruited by Northwestern or Illinois and we'll see you all on Sept. 22.


Elkhart Central (1-3) 34, East Chicago (1-3) 20

(ELKHART)  East Chicago got deep-sixed by six TDs last week by Clay.  Central's only win is 7-6 over Riley and that's not much of a badge of honor.  Again, the problem of being an independent.  It's 2 hours from East Chicago to Elkhart and maybe more on Friday night.  EC won't have a speed edge on Central, which gas some state track finalists.  Track meet might be the best description here.


Wheeler (3-1)  28, Whiting (3-1) 27

(UNION TOWNSHIP)  Whiting has been very good and I don't know why local talking heads and writers have jumped off the Oilers ship.  The men of oil have defeated three bad teams by a combined score of 123-8 and their only loss is to 5A South Bend Riley.  Whiting has 800 yards passing, but Wheeler has scored 146 points and 700 yards on the ground in the last three weeks.  Too close to call but we don't pick ties.


Highland (1-3)  41,  Hammond (0-4) 14

(HIGHLAND)  Hammond has scored 20 or more in three games, but they just can't stop anybody and Highland will work on re-establishing the run this week.  Nobody says this out loud, but you run the ball against all Hammond teams.  That's how you win.  Hammond's going to go 0-9 and they probably know it, but at least they've gone down swinging.


Bishop Noll (2-2) 35,  Lake Station (1-3) 6

(LAKE STATION)  Noll has completed an unofficial 14 passes all year, but Lake Station has been shut out the last two weeks.  The great thing about the LAC Blue Division is that somebody has to win these games.  The Eagles' defense has been weaker than Diet Coke.


New Prairie (3-1) 21, Jimtown (4-0) 17

(NEW CARLISLE)  The game of the week as the Cougars, who have defeated Culver (3-1) and LaPorte (3-1), take on mighty Jimtown (4-0), the 2005 Class 2A state champion.  The Jimmies have won 12 straight and they've allowed just 27 points all year.  But New Prairie can run the ball on anyone and this was a 19-10 game last year. The upset of the week. 


Griffith (4-0) 52, Morton (3-1) 21

(HAMMOND)  Griffith lucked out against Chesterton and blew out everybody else.  Morton has the passing game to score on Griffith, but their run defense was exposed somewhat last week at Lowell.  Let's be honest.  This game was 58-13 Griffith last season.  What's changed?  Morton has about as much chance here as that new TV network on Channel 9 where they put all the bad shows.  The key here is for the Governors to learn and prepare for the sectional rematch.


Lake Central (3-1) 28, LaPorte (3-1) 21

(St. JOHN)  LaPorte has gained 1,400 yards and they've played three 5A schools.  HB Airrence Shark has 12 TDs.  But Lake Central's PJ Gbur has thrown for 600 yards and their run defense is not bad.  LC has still scored just three 1st half TDs all year.  I think LC is better than they showed last week, while LaPorte has rallied to win late twice.


Valpo (1-2) 35, Chesterton (1-3) 21

(VALPARAISO)  This is one of those games where you return to what you thought during the pre-season.  Both of these teams figured to be good and they've both sucked lemons so far.  Somebody makes a breakout here and it could go either way.  But Valparaiso is so experienced all over the place offensively and Chesterton gives up the ground game too easily.  Valpo is the third best team in the DAC, which means they're probably the third best team in NW Indiana.


CROWN POINT (4-0)  28,  Portage (1-3) 3

(CROWN POINT)  This used to be a major confrontation and I expect a major effort from the Indians.  But Portage averages 10 points a game, so effort isn't going to cook any bacon here.  Crown Point is solid on both sides of the ball and if they can correct some uncomfortable special teams problems, they should roll here like a freight train going downhill.


Andrean (4-0)  28,  LOWELL (1-3) 20

(MERRILLVILLE)  Lowell has a lot of injuries, but none are in the offensive line and Lowell's line had a good week last Friday in the loss to Morton.  Warning to the 59ers. Lowell's offense is not as bad as the three losses would make it appear.  But Andrean's Jesse Repay has eight TD passes in the last three games, so Andrean's offense is as good as the four wins would make it appear.


Hobart (3-1) 33, Munster (3-1) 14

(MUNSTER)  Every team that has Hobart on the schedule knows they have to do something about junior running back Andrew Jackson (6-2, 225), because he will get the ball.  Jackson has 12 TDs and WR Bobby James is an even bigger threat.  Munster was beaten worse than the score indicated last week and that figures to happen again.

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Revised: September 13, 2006 .