 |
Munster (4-2) at Lowell (2-4) |
 |
Week
7 - Football Game of the Week Preview |
Munster (4-2) at Lowell (2-4) |
|
9-28-2006
When:
Friday, September 29, 2006
Where: Lowell High School - Route 2 (Commercial Ave.).& Holtz Road, Lowell, IN.
Tickets: $4 - (for everybody).
Kickoff:
7:00 p.m.
Radio-TV: WWCA
(1470) AM (and they may rerun this game Saturday at 9 a.m.)
Weather: Mid 50s with a chance of rain. It's not summer anymore.
Parking: This is Lowell's Homecoming so there will be a large crowd even if nobody comes from Munster. But the Mustangs should bring a decent crowd as this is a comeback year for them. This could will be a standing room only game.
Rivalry: Lowell has won the last three meetings but Munster is a whopping 34-7 all-time against the Devils including a 26-game winning streak from 1966 to 1992. Obviously, Munster was one of the teams that dominated Lowell during the days of the old Lake Suburban Conference (LSC) in the 1970s and 1980s. The ponies were the sunshine riders of another era, winning six LSC titles in the 1970s. Munster was 71-36 in the 1980s, but the 60-47 record in the 1990s suggested that maybe enrollment numbers were headed south literally and the bottom has dropped out the last couple of years with a 4-6 in 2004 and a 3-7 last year. Not everybody appreciates that Munster is one of the newest schools in Northwest Indiana, dating back only to 1966. The school is a product of the growth in NW Indiana during the 'Happy Days' era due to the steel mills.
Munster dates back to 1845 when a couple named Allen and Julia Brass opened a two-story in what is now the corner of Ridge Road and Columbia Ave. That is said to be the beginning of Munster, Indiana. The first school was built in 1875 and the community expanded with steel and oil workers from the Gary and Whiting areas after it was incorporated in 1907, three years before neighbor Highland.
The history of Munster is based on Ridge Road and the town has an old nickname that I personally have never heard, 'The Town Along the Ridge'. The name Munster surprisingly has nothing to do with the 1,200-year-old city of Munster (population 278,000) in Germany. (There is a 40,000-student University of Munster and 1.2 million Germans live in what is called Munsterland).
Munster, Indiana, according to the town web site, isn't Munster at all. Munster, Indiana, which has 21,000 citizens, has to do with a family named Monster, from the Netherlands, who were early residents. Jacob Monster's general store on what is now Ridge Road had a postal 'station' in the back. In those days, the postal service used what ever was there as their post station. When post station's became the post office, the post office was named the 'Monster Post Office' because it was in Mr. Monster's store.
When mail came to and left the post office, it was not addressed to Strathmore, the original railroad stop of the Ridge Road area near the state line, but to Monster's General Store. So you sent mail to Monster and 'Monster' was twisted by English speaking folks to become Munster, as it is today. Munster is a relatively young town (Valparaiso became a town in 1837), which celebrates its 100th anniversary next year. Lowell high school is actually older than the town of Munster.
Why Munster people are wealthy, a true region stereotype, is something I cannot explain. The average family income in Munster is listed as $74,335, easily No. 1 in Lake County. There is no one dominant business in Munster that would breed rich people, more than it would in Highland (average family income: $59,100), Merrillville (average family income: $56,300) or Lowell (average family income: $54,700). Some say that doctors gravitate to the Ridge Road area but that's not exclusively true. As far as I can tell, Munster is just a nice convenient, centrally located, quiet, crime free place where well-healed folks have chosen to live near each other.
Not surprisingly, with that affluence, Munster high was an immediate football success going 8-2 in 1966 and 34-10-4 in the first five seasons. The great thing about Munster is they have had only two head coaches in 41 seasons. John Friend, who began the program and Leroy Marsh. Both are highly-respected and highly regarded, even though the Mustangs have never had much post-season success.
Lowell, which had a competitive drought the size of the Mohave desert when they had .500 or below seasons from 1968 to 1991, envied Munster's program and finally reached their level in the 1990s. Lowell's 28-25 regional title win over defending state champ Hobart in 1994 stood as the greatest win in school history until last November. But it was Lowell's 9-6 win over Munster in 30-degree weather that got the Devils win over Munster on Nov. 6, 1992 that ended almost a quarter century of Red Devils football futility. Munster was 26-0 against Lowell until that November night 15 years ago when they clinched a non-losing season, improving to 6-5. That was the springboard for Lowell's 10-2 record in 1993 and the launching pad for Lowell' s 106-47 record in the years 1993 through 2005.
From 1992 until now, Munster is just 8-7 against Lowell and Lowell has won the last three meetings.
Munster and Lowell both used 'throwback' offenses. Munster throws it way back with the WW II- era wing-T formation that creates a lot of natural misdirection running. Lowell runs variations of the basic pro-set attack that football teams have used for 50 years. These teams don't typically use four wide receiver sets and triple reverses. Both sides want this annual match to come down to how precisely they can run simple plays. Nobody's going to fool anybody Friday night.
Munster
(4-2, 2-2 LAC)
Coach:
Leroy Marsh (170-110, 27 years)
Enrollment: 1,416
2005 record: 3-7*
Sectional titles: (5) 1985, 1986, 1987, 1993, 1996
Regional titles: (1) 1986
*Lost Class 4A Sectional nine quarterfinals 32-26 to Kankakee Valley
2006 schedule
(W) 38-9 Kankakee Valley (5-1)
(W) 49-6 Wirt (2-4)
(W) 42-13 at Highland (2-4)
(L) 19-36 Griffith (6-0)
(L) 14-42 Hobart (5-1)
(W) 33-27 Morton (3-3)
9-29 (F) at LOWELL (2-4)
10-6 (F) Hammond (0-6)
10-13 (F) at Andrean (5-12)
4A Sectional 9 playoffs
10-20 (F) quarterfinals
SECTIONAL NINE (9) Gary West Side, Lew Wallace, Roosevelt, Highland,
Munster, Kankakee Valley, Hobart and LOWELL
Class
4A Lowell (1-3)
Coach: Kirk Kennedy (116-62, 16 years)
Enrollment:
1,150 - Class 4A
Sectional titles: (5) 1992, 1994, 1999, 2003, 2004, 2005
Regional titles: (3) 1994, 1999, 2005
2005 record: 11-4, Won first state title with a 28-27 win over eight-time
champ Roncalli
2006 LOWELL Red Devils
Coach: Kirk Kennedy, 118-62 in 16th year at school
Aug. 18 (L) 0-17 at (5A) Crown Point (6-0)
Aug. 25 (W) 63-6 (3A) Calumet (0-6)
Sep. 1 (L) 0-35 at (3A) Griffith (6-0)
Sep. 8 (L) 17-21 (3A) Morton (3-3)
Sep. 15 (L) 0-17 at (3A) Andrean (5-1)
Sep. 22 (F) at (3A) Hammond (0-6)
Sep. 29 (F) (4A) Munster (4-2)
Oct. 6 (F) (4A) Hobart (5-1)
Oct. 13 (F) at (4A) Highland (2-4)
4A Sectional Nine
(vs. Munster,
Highland, Gary West Side, Gary Roosevelt, Lew Wallace, Hobart or Kankakee
Valley)
2005 Lowell Red Devils (11-4)
8-19 (L) 6-16 5A No. 2 Crown Point (11-1)
8-26 (W) 61-14 at 3A Calumet (4-6)
9-2 (L) 0-21 3A No. 1 Griffith (12-1)
9-9 (L) 13-32 at 3A Morton (8-4)
9-16 (L) 0-7 3A No. 4 ANDREAN (8-2)
9-23 (W) 41-7 3A HAMMOND (1-10)
9-30 (W) 48-7 at 4A Munster (3-7)
10-7 (W) 14-7 at 4A Hobart (6-6)
10-14 (W) 41-14 4A Highland (4-6)
4A Sectional nine
10-21 (W) 41-7 at Roosevelt (3-6)
10-28 (W) 41-6 vs Kankakee Valley (7-4)
11-4 (W) 32-6 Hobart (6-6)
4A Regional
11-11 (W) 30-23 at Concord (9-3)
4A Semistate
11-18 (W) 16-14 (FW) South (11-3)
4A State Championship
11-27 (W) 28-27 at Indianapolis Roncalli (12-3)
Munster
(4-2) at LOWELL (2-4)
Munster: Offense 32.5 ppg. - Defense: 22.2 ppg.
LOWELL: Offense: 19.2 ppg. - Defense: 18.0 ppg.
Sagarin
computer ratings: Munster by 16
LOWELL
(9-29-2006) - This
spread is large because Munster defeated a team that Lowell lost to. The
computer doesn't factor in that Lowell led Morton by 10 in the second half and
should have won. Also, Munster scored 19 points against Griffith and Lowell was
blanked by the Panthers. Munster played the easier part of their schedule first,
defeating Kankakee Valley, Wirt and Highland. The confidence
gained in those routs was invaluable and it's probably the reason they could hold
on against Morton in week six.
Munster gambled this year with a sophomore QB prospect named Joe Gill. After a big pre-season scrimmage, Gill was 8-of-13 for 179 yards and three TDs on Sept. 1 against Highland. Gill (6-4, 190) has had problems in recent weeks against better competition. Gill was 22-of-39 in the first three weeks and he is 22 of 60 in the last three games, not surprising for a sophomore. He will sneak it in short yardage situations. Munster may be very conservative Friday to avoid an early turnover.
Munster halfback Tommy Mambourg (5-10, 185)
will play both ways, but he'll get the ball in short yardage situations. Mambourg
has scored six TDs so far this year after posting 15 touchdowns in 10 games last
year. Munster was stuffed on the ground by Griffith and Hobart, but they
busted out of the barn for 258 yards rushing last week against Morton. Junior
halfback John Jurkash (5-7, 176) might line up on the wing and run the reverse,
a staple of Munster's Wing-T.
Andy Jonelis (6-0, 213) keys an average-sized offensive line and Mike Fisher
(6-5, 188) leads a tall groups of WRs. Near the goal line, they'll lob the
ball high for the ends to take away from the smaller defenders. Billy Hasse is the kicker and he made 18 in a row until he missed against
Morton. Hasse has a 20-yard field goal, but he doesn't have much range.
Munster has allowed 105 points in the last three games, but those games were
against Griffith (6-0), Hobart (5-1) and high-scoring Morton (3-3). The
Mustangs will play a 5-3 defense and dare you to throw it. But five of six teams
have run for 150 or more yards against them.
Lowell halfback Steffan Peck (117 carries, 600 yards, 9 TDs) always gets the ball, but the Devils threw him three passes last week for 26 yards. New running back Johnny Black (6-2, 185) caught one for 25 yards. Munster crowds the line of scrimmage. If a back like Peck, Black or even little soph Cody Midgett (5-8, 140) fakes a block, he could break wide open down the middle of the field.
Lowell has lost LB Kaleb Layman for the season and, as of last week, they were still without junior RB-LB Danny Remboski and senior RB-LB Chris Briggs. But players like David Eastling (6-0, 190) have filled in and this has been statistically, one of Lowell's better defensive showings. When you consider that the offense has not been able to control the ball consistently, Lowell allowing 15 touchdowns against a schedule that include three Top-10 teams is remarkable.
Jeff Barker (6-5, 187) is leading Lowell in tackles and he can run down plays from behind. Juniors TJ Lukasik and Lukas Palmer have moved into the defensive secondary and added quickness along with Joe Carlson (6-2, 185) and Justin Juarez (6-4, 190). The Devils biggest problem is probably confidence on offense. They have only 11 seniors.
In the fourth quarter this season, if you take away the 28 points they
scored against out manned foes Calumet and Hammond, Lowell has yet to score this
season. Against good teams (Griffith, Crown Point, Morton and Andrean), the Red
Devils were shut out in the final period.
But the talent is there. Josh Kuiper is a capable passer,
while Barker and Peck are decent receivers. Peck and Max Znika are good
runners. The team lacks breakaway speed on offense, but junior David Lang is a
perfect 16-of-16 in extra points and averages 33 yards a punt. This is
about the time of the year that Lowell's offensive line shows improvement.
WHAT WILL HAPPEN: This should be one of the best games of the year.
But
Lowell needs this game more than the Mustangs do. The only two foes Lowell has
defeated so far are weak squads Calumet and Hammond. Munster (4-2) is having a
good season, but their schedule is no great shakes, either. A Lowell win here indicates the Devils can compete for the
sectional title next month. The Mustangs will take a 7-0 lead in the second
quarter on a run by 'Touchdown' Tommy Mambourg (5-10, 185) after a long Munster
drive. Lowell will rally on a long drive that ends with Josh Kuiper scoring on
an option run for a 7-7 halftime tie. In the third quarter, Lowell will block a
punt and score on a field goal from junior David Lang. The Devils will
then score a defensive touchdown on an interception or fumble runback by Lukas
Palmer. Munster will rally as Gill completes a TD pass to WR Mike Fisher, but an
interception will set up Lang for another field goal to make it 20-14.
While both teams need the win. Lowell, at home on Homecoming night, needs it a
lot more and there will be great drama as they stop a Munster drive deep in
Lowell territory. After a night of being smacked around, Steffan Peck will break loose for a
long TD run to make it 27-14. Gill will lead his team down the field for a late score, but the
Devils will run out the clock.
It appears that Lowell has stopped fumbling away scoring chances and that means that Munster will not get the ball much on this night. Lowell is quick enough to limit the misdirection attack of Munster, although Mambourg could get 100 yards. The Devils' kicking and defense remain fairly solid while Munster had problems on special teams last week.
Lowell's inexperience has hurt them in some games, but Munster is a young team as well. I thought last week's game was key for Munster and they got it. This is the pivotal game of Lowell's season and they know it. The Red Devils have the better defense and if they can run the ball without fumbling, they should win here. Considering the competition these two have played, this really isn't going to be an upset.