Week 6 Picks:  2006 NW Indiana High School Football

A USA-365.com Special Report By Mark Smith

September 21, 2006

WEEK (5) FIVE RECAP:  I say the same thing every week, but LaPorte continues to be a big surprise.  If you are 14 points behind in four different games, you aren't very good, even if you've rallied to win three of those games.  Griffith, Hobart and Andrean stepped to the front in the LAC Black and Whiting surprised Wheeler.  I don't know what happened to Valparaiso's defense, but I'm still not buying that they're no good.  New Prairie seized the moment and scored the big upset.  That may have been Hammond's last chance for a victory this year.  Griffith-Morton, Hobart-Munster went exactly as was predicted.

BIGGEST WINNER - WEEK FIVE:  New Prairie.  No question.  They defeat the 2A defending state champion and they have also beaten 1A No. 12 Culver (4-1) and LaPorte (4-1).  The Cougars gained 321 yards rushing on Jimtown's defense as well, rallying from an early 14-3 deficit.  This team has played a tougher schedule than 3A teams in Lake County.

RUNNER UP:  CHESTERTON.  I don't think they have as good a team as Valparaiso, but they led almost all the way.  Backed against the wall at 1-3, the Trojans refused to fold when Valpo kept rallying.  This came after giving up the lead against Griffith.  This is the first game where Chesterton met pre-season expectations.

WEEK 5 (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%
WEEK 5:  9 of 12 = 75.0%
2006 Season to date:  50 of 67 = 74.6% 
2005 (final) OVERALL:  170 of 233 = 72.9%

Northwest Indiana
WEEK 6 (SIX) PICKS, 9-22-2006

(9-22-2006)  WEEK (6) SIX -   More mismatches cloud week six and there is not one blockbuster game in the NW Indiana area.  Munster and Lake Central are out to break two-game losing streaks.  Portage and Chesterton can go a lot of ways.  Portage looked very good last week.  LaPorte and Merrillville match 4-1 records, but both have big question marks.  You can make an argument that Andrean (5-0) has not been tested and Hobart will take care of that.

Crown Point and Valparaiso is an old traditional rivalry and Noll takes their shot at stopping Whiting.  In Elkhart County, 4A Concord (5-0) takes on little 2A neighbor Jimtown (4-1).  Down I-65 in Class 1A, No. 11 Tri-County (5-0), off to the best start in school history, takes on undefeated No. 3 South Newton (5-0).  But the game of the week, by far, is winless River Forest and winless North Newton.  Somebody's got to win.

IN THE CLOSET:  There's a lot of dog games running around this Friday night.  I'll leave apparent scoreboard busters like Griffith-Highland, Lowell-Hammond, KV-Clark and Wirt-Elkhart Memorial to those who need to pick the obvious.  Let's let the winners win, the losers dance like Jerry Springer and we'll see all of these teams on Sept. 29.


Whiting (4-1) 21, Bishop Noll (3-2) 20

(WHITING)  Noll hasn't been good defensively except against teams that have very few players.  But this is as big a game as they'll play the rest of the way and they should be primed for an upset.  Whiting has to run the ball better to control the pace of the game.  In 1A and 2A you can't leave your defense on the field 60% of the time. This is a toss-up, but there's no ties here.


Wheeler (3-2) 42,  Gavit (1-4) 14

(HAMMOND) The worst thing that happened to Gavit was Wheeler losing last week.  That means the Bearcats need a dominating performance and they may make an example out of Gavit, which has allowed 39 points a game.  The Gladiators have to maintain ball control because they do not have the defense to contain an offense like Wheeler's.


Calumet (0-5)  35, Lake Station (1-4) 12

(GARY)  Calumet showed a lot of life last week in a 20-17 loss to Clark and on their home field against a team that hasn't scored in three weeks, the Warriors have to take a stand.  If they want to win any this year, it's now or never.  Lake Station must be having numbers or injury problems or both, because they haven't scored a point since the 25th of August.  The Eagles will get on the board, but they don't appear to be ready to win right now.


North Judson (4-1) 14, Brebuef (1-4) 12

(NORTH JUDSON)  The Jays are having problems on offense.  They scored 63 on North Newton, but everybody scores on North Newton right now.  Brebuef has lost to Scecina (3-2), Indian Creek (4-1) and Culver Academy (5-0).  They are a formidable foe in what will be a low-scoring game.


(South Bend) Washington (1-4) 35,   East Chicago (1-4) 14

(SOUTH BEND)  Washington is far better than their record indicates, losing to Penn (4-1), Portage (1-4), Clay (4-1) and Marian (3-2).  EC does not have the line play to win here.  The Cardinals have scored 22 points all year.  They should be 0-5.


John Glenn (3-2)  21,  South Central (3-2) 14

(UNION MILLS)  Both teams are on three-game winning streaks but Glenn has allowed just 66 points all year. the Falcons have a multiple offense.  The Satellites will have problems running the ball at home and they cannot  throw the ball at all.


Morton (3-2) 38,  Munster (3-2) 28

(HAMMOND)  This has to be a shootout for Morton to win.  The Governors were crushed last week by Griffith but they're used to that.  They bounced back from it last season.  Munster last lost two in a row and they have given up 500 yards rushing in those games.  Morton cant throw 34 passes this week.  The Governors need to set up the pass with the run and they will.


Lake Central (3-2) 27, Michigan City (1-4) 7

(MICHIGAN CITY)  For a couple of weeks the Wolves were getting busted, dusted and disgusted, but they could have beaten injury-weakened Merrillville last week, losing 21-12.  Who is this Tyler Hoover (23 carries, 158 yards last week)?  LC faces the turning point after blowing a 21-7 lead at home against LaPorte.  This is must-win for them.  And MC can't stop the pass.


Portage (1-4) 31, Chesterton (2-3) 28

(CHESTERTON)  Here's the upset of the week.  Somebody's got to stop Albert Evans (450 yards rushing) behind the revamped Chesterton line.  The Trojans average over 20 yards passing a game, but the pass rush of Portage was hard on CP last week.  The Indians are very solid.  No one's scored more than 28 on them. 


Merrillville (4-1) 26, LaPorte (4-1) 14

(LaPORTE)  Merrillville will probably go without QB Josh Raspopovich who was injured last week.  But LaPorte has rallied from three 14-point deficits and they just can't keep doing that.  The Slicers give up too many yards rushing.  The Pirates know they have to utilize their offensive line against a team that's allowed 800 yards rushing.
The difference will be Pirate kicker Ryan Stokes.


Hobart (4-1) 17,  Andrean (5-0) 14

(HOBART)  There's a lot of offense here, but the game will slow down on this night.  The 59ers have overwhelmed everyone defensively this year (9.8 points allowed) and they face their biggest tests against the multiple offense of Hobart (40.2) points scored). This will be an emotional game, but I don't know if anybody who's not 5A can totally shut down Hobart.


Crown Point (5-0) 27, Valparaiso (1-3)  20

(VALPARAISO)  The Vikings have not been able to stop anyone, but I still think they have the defense to stop people.  They know with Crown Point and Merrillville coming up as back-to-back opponents, they have to play now.  CP's offense bogged down against Portage last week, but they have enough senior play makers to squeak by on the road.


River Forest (0-5) 40, North Newton (0-5) 20

(MOROCCO)  The match up of (sorry, boys) the two worst teams in all of Northwest Indiana.  North Newton has been outscored 289-48 while RF has been out pointed 275-80.  North Newton was crushed 63-0 last week, while RF was smoked 47-0.  North Newton is at home, but they have two undefeated teams Tri-County (5-0) and South Newton (5-0) left to play.  This is their only chance to avoid 0-10.  But unless it rains, the Ingots can get the ball out to the wide receivers and pick up the road win.

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Revised: September 21, 2006 .