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Crown Point (4-1, 2-1 DAC)
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Week 6 - Football Game of the Week Preview
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Crown Point (4-1, 2-1 DAC)
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9-22-2010
When:
7:00 p.m. Friday, September 24, 2010
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
TV/Radio/Internet: WWCA (1270)
FM, USA-365.com.
Enrollment: CP - 2,442, Valparaiso - 2,083
WEATHER: Your guess is as good as mine. It was very pleasant
Monday, but the high in Lake and Porter County was 92 degrees on Tuesday.
Wednesday saw upper 70s temperatures but 90 degrees was forecast for Thursday.
The weather guessers say rain Friday morning will hold temperatures in the low
70s again Friday, but I wouldn't bet my life on that. I secretly think weather
folks guess at the weather within 20-30 miles of Lake Michigan. They have very
little idea of what's going on. Rain won't affect the artificial turf at
Valparaiso. Weather should not be a factor.
PARKING: Valparaiso does not have the parking for a game of this
magnitude. Unless rain Friday holds the crowd down, you will have to arrive
early to park next to the field. You may have to park in front of the school,
which means a 500-yard walk to the stadium. Valpo is 5-0 for the first time in
34 years and CP is 4-1 for the first time since 2007, so a lot of people will
show up for this game.
JV Football: Saturday, Sept. 25 - 10 a.m. Valparaiso at CROWN
POINT
Freshman Football: Thursday, Sept.30 - 6 p.m. CROWN POINT at
Valparaiso
All-time series: Valparaiso leads the series 38-18-2. Valparaiso
won 56-21 at Crown Point in 2009
History:
VALPARAISO - Valparaiso leads the all-time series by a huge margin and
they have won the last three games. Valpo and Crown Point met to open the high
school football season from 1940 to 1962, but they were football foes long
before that. The earliest meeting I can find is a 12-0 CP win over Valpo on Nov.
5, 1904 and they may have played even earlier. Valparaiso, or Valle Parriso,
which means "Paradise Valley" in Spanish, is named after Valparaiso, Chile, a
city of a quarter million.
Valpo, Indiana, a town of 25,000 dates back to the early 1800s, and is one of
Porter County's oldest towns. Valpo high is one of the few NW Indiana schools
that is older than CP. There were graduating classes from Valparaiso high school
in the late 1800s. Known mostly as a basketball school (the Vikings have 50
sectional boys basketball titles), Valpo did reach the state football final in
1985 and 2001, when they lost 35-16 to Ben Davis. Since the 2002 team went 12-2,
Valpo has not been bad in football. The Vikings have just been mediocre in 2004
(6-5), 2005 (5-5), 2006 (3-6) and 2007 (6-5).
Much of Valpo's football success is based on
33-year coach Mark Hoffman, who is synonymous with Viking football to the extent
that I cannot name the previous coach (it was Tom Stokes) without looking it up.
Coaching staff stability is underrated and every boy on the present Valpo teams
has known only one head varsity football coach. With the aid of former CP
athletic director Jerry Caravana, this game has become a duel for the 'County
Seat Trophy' as CP and Valpo are the county seats of government in Lake and
Porter counties.
Nobody told me this, but I think that Crown Point would rather defeat Valparaiso
than any other school. It's not that Merrillville doesn't stand in CP's way in
football, basketball and wrestling. But there is an attitude that CP feels (in
my mind) that Valparaiso is a charter member of the Duneland Athletic Conference
(DAC), a 'real' DAC school while Crown Point was and is an outsider. No offense
to the last two teams on the Viking schedule, but Valparaiso is two victories
away from their first undefeated regular season in 34 years and CP stands in the
way.
Valparaiso (5-0, 3-0 DAC)
Coach Mark Hoffman (33rd year)
227-154 (33 seasons)
Enrollment: 2,072
2009 record: 6-5
Sectional titles: (7) 1985, 88, 89, 97, 2000-2002
Regional titles: (5) 1975, 85, 88, 2001-2002
Semi state titles: (3) 1975, 1985 and 2001
State titles (1) 1975
Valparaiso Vikings (5-0)
8-20 (W) 10-7 Penn (2-3)
8-27 (W) 34-21 Griffith (3-2)
9-3 (W) 35-14 at LaPORTE (3-2)
9-10 (W) 49-0 MICHIGAN CITY (4-1)
9-17 (W) 21-14 at CHESTERTON (4-1)
9-24 (Fri.) at CROWN POINT (4-1)
10-1 (Fri.) MERRILLVILLE (4-1)
10-8 (Fri) at PORTAGE (2-3)
10-15 (Fri.) LAKE CENTRAL (1-4)
Class 5A, Sectional 1
Oct. 23 (F) with CROWN POINT, Chesterton, Lake Central, Portage,
Munster, East Chicago and MERRILLVILLE.
CROWN POINT (4-1, 2-1 DAC)
Coach Chip Pettit (60-43, 10 years)
2009 record: 3-7
Sectional titles (3) 1988, 91, 2006
Regional titles (1) 1988
Last 5 seasons: 37-19
8-20 (W) 37-6 Lowell (3-2)
8-27 (W) 48-14 at Hobart (2-3)
9-3 (L) 21-24 at MERRILLVILLE (4-1)
9-10 (W) 42-21 LAKE CENTRAL (1-4)
9-17 (W) 24-7 PORTAGE (2-3)
9-24 at VALPARAISO (5-0)
10-1 at LaPORTE (3-2)
10-8 CHESTERTON (4-1)
10-15 at MICHIGAN CITY (1-4)
5A Sectional (1) One
10-22: with LC, Merrillville, East Chicago, Valpo, Munster, Chesterton and
Portage
VALPARAISO Update:
VALPARAISO - Valparaiso has won the close games so far to stay on top. They
trailed Penn and Chesterton in the second half before rallying to win. The
Vikings have a lot of skilled offensive players but their attack has been
inconsistent. The offense is led by Matt Wagner (6-0, 247) and quarterback Paul
Andrie (6-2, 160) who has completed 41 of 79 passes for 584 yards and 10 TDs.
But those scores come largely from the threat of the run. The Vikings have
speedy backs in junior Bryon Duncan (5-8, 175) who has carried an unofficial 67
times for 579 yards and track star Andrew Kittridge (5-11, 185), who has carried
60 times for 325 yards.
Much has been made of tall receiver Dan Hummel (6-4, 185), the younger brother of Purdue basketball star Rob Hummel, but Andrie throws to the running backs a lot. Hummel has only 10 catches for 190 yards, but he's a threat near the goal line. Ryan Nix (6-2, 183) has caught seven passes for 78 yards. With all that, Valpo scored 10 points on Penn and 21 (14 in the fourth quarter) against Chesterton. Both were able to make Valpo throw the ball and take their chances.
The Vikings have a top kicker in
Sam Ficken (6-2, 164) who has fields goals of 35, 47 and 52 yards this year. He
is 19-of-19 on extra points and on his home field, he won't miss many.
Valpo averages 30 points a game but they have the capacity for more. An
uncomfortable total of 38 penalties may have something to do with that.
CROWN POINT Update:
Like Valpo, Crown Point didn't score as much last week as they should
have with 351 total yards and 14 first downs. The Bulldogs average 35 points a
game and no one has held them under 21 so far. Junior quarterback Joe Hopman has
completed 44 of 71 for 907 yards, 10 TDs and two interceptions.
Receiver Austin Atherton has caught 22 passes for 501 yards. Halfback Cody Bacon has gained 790 yards on 142 carries. Kicker Brett Bayer has five field goals in seven attempts, 22 of 23 extra points and a crucial 22 touchbacks on 32 kickoffs.
Both of these teams want to kick off to start the game because they can count on their kicker to put the ball in the end zone and force the opposition to begin at the 20-yard-line. CP has moved fullback Pete Parks (5-11, 240) into the offensive line due to an injury, but Jordan Jurasevich, a starting linebacker, stepped in at fullback last week and caught five passes for 94 yards.
Most CP runs are made by Bacon
(5-9, 180), who gained 208 yards on 30 carries last week.
The Bulldogs' defense has allowed only 1,013 yards and they appear to be 100%
healthy. Linebacker Scott Hannon (6-1, 170) had 15 tackles last week against
Portage while Jurasevich (6-3, 210) had 14. CP's five linebacker set dares teams
to throw over the top of it, but that's actually what they want you to do.
Linebacker Reed Stofko (5-10, 190) had 10 tackles including three quarterback
sacks last week. Outside linebacker JT Rotroff (6-0, 210) also had 10 tackles
last week. Brad Qualizza (6-2, 210) has 23 tackles this season as five of CP's
seven leading tacklers are the five linebackers.
A key to the defense has been
senior Evan Wilson (5-7, 1870), a former linebacker, who lines up on the nose.
Its been effective. Merrillville defeated CP 24-21 with two blocked kicks.
CP has punting problems and Brett Bayer averages just 27.4 yards a boot. Friday,
they probably hope to cover that up by punting as little as possible.
VALPARAISO
(9-24-2010) What this comes down to is
that Valpo has beaten better teams than CP has. Penn, a 10-7 loser to
Valparaiso, is 2-3 but the losses are to top teams. That, in the computer's
eyes, is better than losing 24-21 on the road at Merrillville. Griffith
(3-2), Lowell (3-2) and Chesterton (4-1) have all lost to Valpo. Lowell
(3-2) is the only winning team that has lost to CP. The computer assumption
seems to be that Penn (2-3) is better than Merrillville (4-1) and Griffith
(3-2) is better than Lowell (3-2), both suspect conclusions.
WHAT WILL HAPPEN: Both teams will find out they can move the ball fairly
effectively until they approach the goal line. CP's Cody Bacon will open the
scoring with a first quarter TD run. But Valpo's Sam Ficken will answer with
a long field goal. CP will complete a lot of short passes to maintain
control until Joe Hopman hits Travis Woosley for a TD and a 14-3 lead.
The Bulldogs' defense will again limit Valpo to a field goal and 14-6 will be the halftime score. The Vikings will close to 14-13 on a run by Bryon Duncan, but a Brett Bayer field goal ups the count to 17-13 in the third quarter and a pass interception sets up a Hopman TD pass to a running back for a 24-13 edge.
Valpo's best drive of the night will end inside the 10 and a field goal at the start of the fourth quarter cuts the lead to 24-16. Both sides get close but fail to push the ball in the end zone and the run defenses stiffen.
Valparaiso has faced option teams most of the season so we don't know how good their defense is. CP has just two turnovers. There is an assumption that Valpo is the better team here, based on last season's game and the difference in the records. But CP has moved the ball on everyone so far. Unless they give the ball away a couple more times (as they did at Merrillville), the Bulldogs will continue to win.
CROWN POINT 30, Valparaiso 19