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5A
No. 3 Crown
Point
(5-0)
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Week
6 - Football Game of the Week Preview |
5A
No. 3 Crown
Point
(5-0)
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9-22-2006
When:
Friday, September 22, 2006
Where: Valparaiso high school - 2727 Campbell ST, Valparaiso, IN. Here's a travel tip. Valpo high is on the west side of Valparaiso. Heading east on Route 30, look for Horseprairie Road and turn left (north). Do a Z turn and head into downtown Valpo. Turn left at the second light and go to Campbell. Turn right on Campbell (north) and you'll find the school 1/4 mile down.
Tickets: $5 - (for everyone).
Kick-off: 7:00 p.m. (CDT)
TV/Radio/Internet: WWLO* (89.1) FM, www.USA-365.com, WTMK (85.5) FM. * - The game will be replayed on WWLO after the postgame show.
WEATHER: Upper-50s by the end of the game, chance of rain. It will feel cold. You need to take an umbrella. Football weather is finally here.
PARKING: Valparaiso has a big lot but, just like at CP, its a good long walk from your car to the stands at Valpo.
THE SERIES: Crown Point defeated Valparaiso twice last season
13-10 and 45-20 but Valparaiso leads the all-time series 35-17-2.
RIVALRY:
Crown Point and Valparaiso might be the oldest two high schools in Lake and
Porter County. CP celebrated its 125th birthday as a school last year and
Valpo is probably older than that. So, these two schools have met in
football since long before anyone cared. Records are a little
contradictory, but the earliest CP-Valpo football game may have been CP's 40-0
win at home on Nov. 10, 1907. The CP-Valpo game was the season opener for
both schools from 1940-1962 but these teams fell out of touch when the Vikings
joined the Duneland Athletic Conference (DAC) in 1970, while CP opted for the
smaller Lake Suburban Conference (LSC).
When the LSC disbanded after 1992, CP moved to the DAC, but the 1980s was a lost time for the rivalry. Crown Point had its best ever run in football in 1984 (10-1) through 1987 (10-1) and 1988 (10-3). Valpo was a state finalist (12-2) in 1985 and a power in 1986 (9-4) and 1987 (8-4) but playing in different leagues, Valpo and CP did not meet at all from 1982 to 1993. Valparaiso is a seven-time DAC champion including a three-peat in 1975-77 and back-to-back crowns in 2001 and 2002. The Vikings are also 12-4 against CP since the two teams became DAC rivals, but the tide may have turned with the double victory for the Bulldogs last year.
Valparaiso is part of Crown Point's athletic 'Axis of Evil'. The three large schools that cause CP sports the most trouble on the playing field: Lake Central to the west, Merrillville to the north and Valparaiso to the east. LC is a swimming, softball and baseball power, Merrillville is a track and basketball dominator while Valparaiso is a hard road to hoe in golf, cross country and tennis. Those who wonder why Crown Point rarely gets deep in the state tournament never seem to look at the schools that surround them. Throw in prolific private school Andrean and few schools in the northern half of the state have so much athletic competition within a 15-mile radius.
But times are indeed changing. Crown Point has become a larger school than Valparaiso and Crown Point has built better facilities than Valparaiso. VHS leads this series 35-17-2 but that gap is going to narrow. Valparaiso has been the standard for overall athletic excellence in Northwest Indiana. I believe they have won the DAC in all 20 IHSAA sports and I do not know of any other school that can say that. They have always seemed willing to take on the toughest teams, an example of which is Valpo's annual football game against Penn, a perennial state contender.
Valparaiso is not the most loved school in the region however. There isn't a PCC school in Porter County that cannot come up with a story of a player in their district who ended up at Valpo. And Wheeler still does not understand how Chesterton transfer Evan Schmidt can be approved to transfer to Valpo when he actually moved from Chesterton to the Wheeler school district this year.
The teams play for the 'County Seat Trophy' which refers to the fact that CP and Valpo are the head of government in their respective counties. This might be the least friendly rivalry that Crown Point has and it goes back, at least, to the time in the 1990s when some good athletes in the CP school district paid to attend Valpo instead, a slap in the face to the CP program.
Some extra flavor in this game is the fact that Nick Rodich, a senior two-way player for Valparaiso, spent his first two years at Crown Point. Neither one of these two teams is near Griffith when it comes to taunting and trash talk. But it's safe to say that gifts will not be exchanged between Rodich and the CP student body before or after the game.
Valparaiso is 51-27 in this decade. This is a program with athletic pride that borders on arrogance and they will call on that Friday night. They are embarrassed by the 1-3 record and 158 points allowed. You don't have to ask. The Viking players know that CP and Merrillville are next and they either stand up now or live with a losing season. Valparaiso knows that an upset of the third-ranked Bulldogs would be celebrated until the sun comes up Saturday. And when you lost to one team last year and you have most everybody back, the rematch is your game of the year.
Valparaiso
(1-3)**
Coach:
Mark Hoffman (198-131, 29th year)
Enrollment: 2,085
2005 record: 5-5*
Sectional titles: (7) 1988, 1988, 1989, 1997, 2000, 2001, 2002
Regional titles: (5) 1975, 1985, 1988, 2001, 2002
Semistate titles: (3) 1975, 1985, 2001
State titles: (1) 1975
*Lost 5A sectional quartefinal 45-20 to Crown Point
** won a forfeit over Roosevelt during the Gary teachers strike in August
Valparaiso
(1-3, 1-2 DAC)
(L)
14-61 Penn (4-1)
(W) Gary Roosevelt...... forfeit**
(L) 56-57 LaPORTE (4-1)
(W) 37-7 at MICHIGAN CITY (1-4)
(L) 21-33 CHESTERTON (2-3)
9-22 (F) CROWN POINT (5-0)
9-29 (F) at MERRILLVILLE (4-1)
10-6 (F) PORTAGE (1-4)
10-13 (F) at LAKE CENTRAL (3-2)
5A Sectional 1 playoffs
10-20 (F) quarterfinals
10-27 (F) semifinals
11-3 (F)
championship
5A Crown Point (5-0)
Coach: Chip Pettit (33-26, 5 seasons)
Enrollment: 2,387
2005 record: 11-1
Sectional titles: (2) 1988, 1991
Regional titles: (1) 1988
Lost Sectional 1 championship 16-13 at eventual regional champion
Merrillville.
5A Crown Point
(5-0)
(W) 17-0 Lowell (1-4)
(W) 34-20 at Hobart (4-1)
(W) 17-2 at MERRILLVILLE (4-1)
(W) 31-14 LAKE CENTRAL (3-2)
(W) 17-10 PORTAGE (1-4)
9-22 (F) at VALPARAISO (1-3)
9-29 (F) at LaPORTE (4-1)
10-6 (F) CHESTERTON (2-3)
10-13 (F) at MICHIGAN CITY (1-4)
5A Sectional 1 playoffs
10-20 (F) quarterfinals
10-27 (F) semifinals
11-3 (F) championship
CROWN POINT
(9-22-2006)
This
spread is based on the leaky Viking defense compared to CP's state-rated
defense. And the Bulldogs did beat Valpo by 25 at Valpo in the sectional
last October.
Valparaiso's attack is based on halfback Hollis Ballard (6-1, 170), a sprinter who scored from 81 yards out last week against Chesterton. Ballard (70-775 yards, 6 TDs) is public enemy No. 1 for teams playing the Vikings. QB Alex Sarkisian would probably call this a bad year, but he is 57 of 93 for 832 yards and seven TDs in five games. Sarkisian (6-3, 172) has thrown for at least one TD in every game so far and he has tall receivers in Travis Allen (6-5, 200), Ryan Philipow (6-1, 180) and Scott Rastovic (6-2, 185). The Vikings average 32 points a game and their line averages almost 240 pounds a man and kicker Colin Krupchak has 40-yard range.
The secondary, led by big Brent Sever (6-3, 170) and Nick Rodich (6-2, 185) has been shredded in every game so far and I'm not sure why. Tyler Doane (6-0, 223) leads the defensive line, which needs to get more pressure on the QB until secondary problems clear up. When a team is allowing almost 40 points a game, largely through the air (over 750 yards passing allowed), one thing you know is the lineup will not remain the same.
Crown Point has gotten steady production from HB Jon Sertich (91-for-532 yards, 2 TDs) and FB Tommy Parks (48-for-271 yards). QB Blake Mascarello (48-of-84, 656 yards, 7 TDs, one interception), a 55% passer, has WRs Matt Ernest (19-for-303 yards) and Ryan Forney (9-for-127 yards) as senior targets and Parks (11-for-119 yards) and Sertich (7-for-75 yards) coming out of the backfield.
The Bulldogs have not been spectacular on offense this year, but CP has committed just four turnovers all year and that is the secret to their success. They require everyone to go the length of the field to score and that simply has proven too difficult. The Bulldogs have allowed only 46 points all season and none in the second quarter. The strength of the defense is probably the secondary with Sertich, Ernest, Forney and junior Anthony Stahl. But CP's '35' formation, with five linebackers, has proven tough to block and is being imitated throughout NW Indiana.
Crown Point has won 16 of their last 17 games and that knowledge helps you in close games. Teams that win all the time feel they should win all the time.
WHAT
WILL HAPPEN: There's a real chance of an upset here if the
weather turns wet and cold, which would help the Viking defense.
Something has to. Valpo has allowed 857 yards (44 of 71 completed) and
eight touchdowns passing in four games. CP takes the lead early as
Mascarello hits Ryan Forney for a TD pass as
Valpo will pay extra attention to CP rushing leader Jon Sertich.
Valpo's 31 points per game offense will answer with a TD pass to the shifty Ballard, who is Northwest Indiana's leading rusher. The Vikings will take a second quarter lead on a field goal from veteran Colin Krupchak after a long drive that emphasizes Valpo's height at wide receiver. Valpo can complete short passes and move the ball as long as they can be patient and don't try to get 50 yards at once. Crown Point's pass protection was not good last week against Portage and the Vikings will blitz heavily on second and third down plays to back up their leaky secondary. This will be a very physical game as the Vikings will probably mimic Portage's double tight end set that was successful against CP last week.
But a sack of junior QB Alex Sarkisian by Nick Hladek will force a fumble and Sertich will score the go-ahead TD. A TD pass from Mascarello to Matt Ernest will make it 21-10 but Sarkisian will drive his team down the field in the fourth quarter for a consolation TD toss.
CP knows this will be a tough contest and wet weather evens the match. It isn't obvious why Valpo is 1-3 so they could revert to 2005 form at any time. Valparaiso simply cannot be as bad as they have played defensively, and if that's true, the Vikings have a much better team than that record indicates. I'm sure they are pointing towards this game. An early CP lead could turn this into a blowout because Valparaiso's confidence has to be a little fragile. But that won't happen, so the Vikings have a chance to win.
In the pre-season, this appeared to be the Bulldogs' toughest game of the season because it's a pretty even physical match. Unless CP turns the ball over three times, they will win a close one.
Northern
Indiana high school football varsity victories - all time
1901-2005
1.
Elkhart Central 570
2. Hammond 555
3. Hobart 547
4. MIshawaka 524
5. Rensselaer 489
6. Goshen 478
7. Warsaw 427
8. Valparaiso 424
9. Griffith 424
10. Plymouth 402
13. LaPorte 397
17. Merrillville 383
19. Lew Wallace 372
20. Crown Point 369
21. Whiting 369
22. North Judson 368