Week 6 -  Football Game of the Week Preview

No. 4 Lowell (5-0, 3-0) at Hobart (1-4, 0-3)

A USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith

09-25-2009
 

When:  7:00 p.m. on Friday, September 25, 2009

Where:  "The Brickyard" stadium at Hobart High School, 2211 East 10th Street, Hobart, Indiana
(Don't forget.  Hobart has moved.  This is the new high school.  The Brickie Bowl is still there, but nobody plays there anymore.)
TV/Radio/Internet:  WTMK (88.5) FM, WEFM (95.9) FM - live
Updates:  WLPR(89.1) FM, 89.1 FM
Highlights:  Lakeshore TV football recap show 10:30 p.m. Com Cast Cable Ch. 17

Tickets:  $5
I believe this is the 'homecoming' game for Hobart so there will be a big crowd even though the home team is on a 4-game losing streak.  The new 'Brickyard' stadium seats about 5,000 so there will be room for you. 
 
JV game:  Saturday, Sept. 26 at Hobart - 10:00 a.m.
Freshmen:  Thursday, Oct. 1 at LOWELL - 6:00 p.m.

Numbers:  Hobart, Class 4A, enrollment 1,204;  LOWELL - 4A enrollment - 1,224

Weather:  Our good weather streak may come to an end as rain is predicted for Friday afternoon.  The new 'Brickyard' has artificial turf and these are not passing teams, so the game won't be affected much.  But fans should bring the clear plastic 'rain blankets' and umbrellas.  It may be 70 degrees Friday afternoon but temperatures should be in the low 60s by the second half.

Parking:  What a change. There was no parking at the old Brickie Bowl, but the word is, everybody will have a space here at the new school.  The school was built to grow and they knew they'd be hosting big football games so your days of parking in front of someone's driveway at Hobart football games are over.  You want to go to this game to see the new stadium with its giant message board and the classic brick gateway entering the football field.

The HISTORY:  This series is tied 16-16-3 but Lowell has won six of the last seven.  The Devils won 35-32 last season as Lowell built a 35-11 lead and watched Hobart score three TDs in the fourth quarter to make it very close.  Hobart passed for 250 yards against Lowell last season.

FAST FOOTBALL FACT:  The last Lowell regular season loss was Sept. 2, 2007 at home against Griffith.  The last Lowell regular season loss on the road was Sept. 15, 2006 at Andrean.

HOBART (9-25-2009) Hobart knows all too well that Lowell has eliminated them from the sectional in four of the last six seasons, but that isn't a concern on this night because the Brickies badly need a victory.  The 12-7 home loss to Kankakee Valley on Sept. 11 had to shake the Brickies' confidence because Hobart isn't supposed to lose to KV.  Now they need something to get back on track because the schedule is not forgiving the next two weeks with Munster (4-1) and Morton (4-1).

There's pressure on Hobart, as always.  You know the story.  Coaching icons Don Howell (314-73-2, 33 years) and Russ Deal (114-49-6, 18 years) helped the small Lake County town southeast of Gary's steel mills roll up a region-best 555-250-19 in high school football.  Nobody's even close to that in winning percentage.

After struggles in the mid-90s, Hobart coach Wally McCormack and his staff have been able to lift the Brickies back to state power with big winning seasons in 2004 (9-2), 2006 (10-2) and 2007 (8-4).  This has been a down season but I am very confident Hobart will return to power.  Why?

This is a time of great change in Hobart as the town's $84 million high school has opened on an 85-acre campus on 10th street.  Playing in a multi-million dollar stadium on artificial turf, the hard-running physical, pounding persona of Hobart football will soon change to a faster, more air-oriented attack.  Add in some of the old Wirt-area students (Wirt closed last year) who will decide to slide over (2 miles) to Hobart to attend a brand new school rather than stay in Gary's high school confusion and Hobart will return to power soon.

Hobart and Lowell are both growing schools.  I believe that when Class 6A comes into being in 2011, Hobart and Lowell will both be very close to the 5A bracket.  They eventually will get there.  Lowell is the 'new Hobart'.  The hustling team of undersized players that can hold their own with the bigger schools and go deep into the playoffs every year.  Hobart respects that.  But not so much that they wouldn't love an upset win on Friday night.

4A LOWELL (5-0)
Coach: Kirk Kennedy (150-68 years) 19 years
Enrollment:  1,224
2008 record:  13-1
Sectional titles:  (9) 1992, 1994, 1999, 2003-2008
Regional titles:  (5) 1994, 1999, 2005, 2007, 2008
Semi state titles:  (2) 2005, 2007
State titles:  (1) 2005
Lost 4A Northern Semi state 38-22 at Bishop Dwenger in 2008


LOWELL Red Devils (5-0, 3-0)
Northwest Crossroads Conference (NCC) games in CAPS - all 7:00 p.m. kickoffs
8-21 (W) 19-0 Crown Point (2-3)
8-28 (W) 34-25 at Morton (4-1)
9-4  (W) 40-13 at KV (1-4)
9-11 (W) 35-19 GRIFFITH (2-3)  
9-18 (W) 42-0    HIGHLAND (1-4)
9-25 (F) at HOBART (1-4)
Oct. 2  (F) Hammond (4-1)
Oct. 9  (F) at MUNSTER (4-1)
Oct. 16  (F) ANDREAN (3-2)

Class 4A, Sectional 10
Oct. 23 (F) with Concord (5-0), Plymouth (5-0), Kankakee Valley (1-4), Logansport (4-1), Clay (1-4), Riley (1-4) and (SB) Washington (4-1).


4A Hobart (1-4)
Coach: Wally McCormack (1st season at Highland), 48-27, 7th year
Enrollment: 1,240
2008 record: 9-2 (lost sectional semifinal 35-14 to Griffith)
Sectional titles (18) 1979-1997
Regional titles (15) last in 1996
Semistate titles: (9) 1982, '84, '85, '87, '89, '90, '91, '93 and '96
State championships (4) 1987, 1989, 1991 and 1993.

Hobart Brickies (1-4, 0-3)
8-21 (W) 34-13 Gary West Side (3-2)
8-28 (L) 7-14 at Crown Point (2-3)
9-4 (L) 21-30 at Griffith (2-3)
9-11  (L) 7-12 Kankakee Valley (1-4)
9-18 (L) 25-48 at Andrean (3-2)
9-25 (Fri.) Lowell (5-0)
10-2 (Fri) Munster (4-1)
10-9 (Fri.) at Morton (4-1)
10-16 (Fri.) at Highland (1-4)
 

Class 4A Sectional 9
Oct. 23 (F) with Morton (4-1), Hammond (4-1), Highland (1-4), Griffith (2-3), Gary West Side (3-2), Lew Wallace (1-3) and Gary Roosevelt (0-5).

Ray Skamay (14) threw for a season-best 123 yards and a TD last week.

Ray Skamay (14) and Nate Cleveland (26) lead the Devils into Hobart's new 'Brickyard' stadium for the first time Friday night.  (Photos by Mark Smith)

THREE KEY FACTORS

1. Brandon Grubbe

There hasn't been that much attention paid to Grubbe's long march towards individual records, probably because he plays in Lowell.  But, according to unofficial totals, Grubbe (4,116 yards) passed 4,000 yards rushing for his career last week and this week he can pass 1995 Lowell graduate Michael Pickett (4,198 yards) and become the school's all-time career leading rusher.  The irony here is that Pickett, for several years now, has been an assistant coach at Hobart.

Grubbe (6-1, 194) has a 50-50 shot at breaking the all-time region career rushing record of 5,062 yards by 1994 Whiting graduate Mike Barsich.  The good thing for Lowell is that they don't have to do anything different to reach those records because Lowell's basic offense for 20 years has been to run the tailback 20 times a game.  Devil senior QB Ray Skamay is a threat, but Hobart has to throw everything at Grubbe and make the Devils go to 'Plan B'.

2. Fire up the air force

Hobart runs the ball with 1,000-yard rusher Richard Oglesby and you can run a little on Lowell.  But Morton and Griffith hit TD passes against Lowell and had a chance to beat the Devils. Hobart has only thrown for about 200 yards this season, but if they set up the pass with lots of Oglesby runs, they can catch Lowell creeping up too close to the line of scrimmage.  Hobart-Lowell games usually come down to battles at the line of scrimmage, but the Devils usually win those.  Lowell has too much speed and strength for Hobart to run on them for four quarters.  I'm not talking about 20 passes, but the Brickies have to gamble in running downs through the air with young QB Sam Kosich to pull an upset.

3. Offensive line
 

Lowell's rushing totals are okay. 239-298-257-283-208.  But it's time for the Devils to star dominating on the offensive line.  There's basically five new starters in the line and a couple of big sophomores in Tyler Wright (6-4, 222) and Luke Mitrisin (6-3, 281).  I don't want to be too demanding.  But Lowell has track caliber speed in Ray Skamay, Brandon Grubbe and Cole Midgett coming off the wing.  Shouldn't the Devils be breaking big running plays and rolling up scary totals?  Only 208 yards rushing against Highland?  Lowell has to break and complete big plays on the ground to win the sectional this year.  They need a 300-yard rushing game this week.

The Bottom Line...

Sagarin computer ratings: LOWELL by 20

HOBART - The Brickies will see this as a 'last stand'.  This is a situation where Hobart can end their four-game losing streak in front of the home crowd on homecoming night.  Lowell's going to key on Ricky Oglesby and make the Brickies go elsewhere for offense.  The slow-starting Red Devils will give up a field goal to Hobart's Steve Karataglidis early on.

But Lowell's runners seemed to like the fast artificial turf at Morton, running for five TDs.  Hobart has allowed 1100 yards rushing in five games and this is a bad match up.  The Brickies will eventually hit that long TD pass over top of the Lowell defense.  Hobart is better than they have shown.  But Lowell is, too.  The Devils may be looking forward to playing at the new 'Brickyard'.  They also are aware of Grubbe's yardage milestones.

The Devils' coaches certainly have mentioned Lowell's slow starts the last two weeks and the 2008 game where the Devils almost blew a 24-point lead in the fourth quarter.  Hobart's spirit might be fragile after giving up 500 yards and 48 points last week at Andrean.  Rain could limit the scoring.  But if it is dry, this will be a very big night for Lowell's running attack.

LOWELL 45, Hobart 17

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Revised: September 25, 2009 .