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Crown
Point
(4-2, 2-2 DAC)
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Week 7 - Football Game of the Week Preview
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Crown
Point
(4-2, 2-2 DAC)
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10-02-2010
When:
7:00 p.m. Friday, October 1, 2010
Where: Kiwanis Field (capacity: 4,800), is two blocks east of LaPorte High School - 602 F St., LaPorte IN 46350.
Tickets: $5
TV/Radio/Internet: WWCA
(1270) FM, USA-365.com. Listen to WCOE (96.7) FM, 'The Eagle" once you get into
Porter County if you're showing up late or leaving early. That's LaPorte's home
station. They air all the Slicers' games. There are unlikely to be any
highlights on the 10:30 p.m. highlights show on Lakeshore Public Broadcasting
(Comcast Cable Ch. 17) because they can't get them back to the studio in time.
Enrollment: Crown Point - 2,442; LaPorte - 2,021
WEATHER: Very, very good. The high Friday is projected to be in
the upper 60s but it'll be dark by 7 p.m. we should be in the low 60s. It'll be
58 or 59 degrees by the fourth quarter.
That's just perfect for football. Kiwanis Field is stuck in a neighborhood so
the wind wont be very high. I know its a 45-minute drive but this is a perfect
night to watch football
PARKING: Okay, there's none at the field. But the high school
parking lot is just two blocks away and, as they are a 2,000-teen school, LHS
has a lot of parking. This isn't a playoff game so I don't expect the crowd to
be standing-room only. You should find room in the lot. You can try to park on
the street closer to the field, but there's just not that much space. The
parking crunch is diminished at LaPorte because a lot of parents and kids just
walk to the game.
JV Football: Saturday, Oct. 1 - 10 a.m. LaPorte at CROWN POINT
Freshman Football: Thursday, Oct. 6 - 6 p.m. CROWN POINT at
LaPorte
All-time series: LaPorte leads the series 14-7. Crown Point won
27-17 at Crown Point in 2009.
The HISTORY: LaPorte used to be a lot like Crown Point with a lot
of older neighborhoods, the fairground on the outskirts of town and rural areas
to the south. Much has changed in my time here. CP has gotten 'Big and Rich'
while LaPorte has sung some economic blues. Some industry has left the area and,
unlike CP, there was no immigration from a nearby urban area (Hammond-Gary) and
a giant nearby metro (Chicago) area.
A town of 22,000 and one of the oldest places in Indiana, was supposedly founded
in 1832 specifically to be a city due to the beauty of the area around Pine
Lake. LaPorte, in French, means "The Door," as what is now LaPorte was a
southbound passageway around Lake Michigan through early forest to the new state
of Indiana (founded in 1816) in the early 19th Century.
LaPorte folks may not consider themselves part of "The Region." If you ask them
what's Jewell Foods or Strack and Van Til, they don't know because those stores
aren't out there.
LaPorte news and weather is on South Bend TV and their sports are covered
largely in the South Bend Tribune and their own paper the Herald Argus. If you
ask somebody if they love pro football, they say "Yeah, I love the Colts." This
is Notre Dame Country. They listen to South Bend radio. The Bears are that team
that occasionally gets some Notre Dame players.
LaPorte high school is better known athletically for baseball as the school has
won eight state baseball championships. The Slicers (named after a manufacturing
company that purchased the schools first uniform in the early 20th Century)
eliminated CP in last spring's baseball playoffs. Volleyball has also come to
power with five consecutive sectional crowns. Football? LaPorte has only one
regional championship, won in a 2006 overtime victory over Crown Point.
Most of the DAC schools have new buildings and giant campus landscapes. Not LaPorte. Kiwanis Field does not have artificial turf and won't be getting it any time soon. If you like real grass fields and an old brick stadium stuck in the neighborhood of an old "homey" hometown, (not to mention a scenic 45-minute sunset drive with the sun at your back), you'll probably like going to LaPorte.
LaPorte (3-3, 1-3 DAC)
LaPORTE Update:
LaPORTE (10-01-2010) LaPorte has based its attack the last two seasons on
halfback Nick Latchford (5-10, 180) and if he is healthy (he left last week's
game with an ankle injury), he will get the ball Friday night. Latchford has
gained 1,000 yards two years in a row. He's not big or fast but he relies on
good balance and footwork. If Latchford can't go, LaPorte will use Andrew
Schuelke (5-11, 185), who gained 84 yards and scored three TDs on 18 carries. As
hard as it may be to believe, LaPorte does not appear to lose much with
Latchford out.
QB Kyle Hartson (6-0, 170) has big tight end Scott
Vaughn (6-4, 215) and big WR Damon Carnes (6-2, 223) to throw to. I don't know
who plays on the offensive line other than center Danny Schellinger (5-9, 173),
which is new this year. But Latchford had rushed for 14 TDs and when he got
hurt, Schuelke got three more against Merrillville. That speaks for itself.
The defense is led by ends Austin Epple (6-0, 212) and Kyle Jeffers (5-8, 192)
but the Slicers aren't going to shut down good teams. They've allowed 90 yards
rushing in four DAC games and they gave up 269 yards passing last week to
Merrillville's Zach Raspopovich. The Slicers scored 27 against Chesterton and 41
against Merrillville and lost both games.
Junior Jake Archambault and sophomore Ben Standifer have traded off kicking
duties with mixed results. LaPorte has not kicked a field goal this season and
they will not hesitate to attempt a two-point conversion.
The Slicers have lost three of their last four,
but they have been competitive in all games. I would think their spirits are
high going into their Homecoming Game against CP this Friday.
CROWN POINT Update:
Crown Point has lost two road games they should have won. Last week's
10-7 loss at Valparaiso was painful because it was similar in some ways to their
24-21 loss at Merrillville.
Crown Point needs a road win or there will be some questions they'll ask about
themselves. I would hope we're not at that point yet. The Bulldogs have averaged
30 points a game and allowed an average of 14.
This is one of CP's best years on defense.
Bluntly. The actual CP defense gave up one TD to Lowell, two consolation TDs to
Hobart, two TDs to Merrillville, one to Portage and one to Valparaiso on a
debatable pass interference call. Crown Point's offense has been good but not as
good as the defense.
Junior quarterback Joe Hopman has completed 52 of
88 for 1,012 yards, 10 TDs and four interceptions, all four in the last three
games. Receiver Austin Atherton has caught 28 passes for 581 yards. Halfback
Cody Bacon has gained 857 yards on 163 carries.
Kicker Brett Bayer has five field goals in seven
attempts, 23 of 24 extra points and a crucial 23 touchbacks on 34 kickoffs.
I'd like to see the Bulldogs get the ball to
240-pound fullback Pete Parks, who has just five carries and six receptions in
five (he played offensive line against Portage) games. But it's hard to argue
against success. When CP lines Parks and tight end Jordan Jurasevich (6-3, 210)
or Tyler Kral (6-2, 215) on the wing and Bacon runs behind them and an offensive
line which averages 250 pounds, the Bulldogs can be hard to stop.
CP has allowed just 700 yards rushing in six games ands they've allowed only 40
completed passes all season for just 530 yards. So, how is this team 4-2 and not
6-0?
Blocked kicks. Pass interference. Key penalties. Not many. But enough to lose to
two Top-10 teams.
I have not see Crown Point play badly all year. But you are what your record
says you are. And if CP loses again on the road, they will be a very average
team with a lot of really nice stats.
LaPORTE
- The difference here, to a great extent, is non-conference. LaPorte and CP
have both lost to Merrillville and Valparaiso. Crown Point has played Hobart
(3-3) and Lowell (3-3), while LaPorte has played a very low-rent Elkhart
Central (0-6) team. It might surprise some to see that CP is rated 20th in
the state on the computer and their schedule rated 22nd toughest, with
Chesterton (4-2) still to play.
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WHAT WILL HAPPEN: I can only guess that Nick Latchford will play
and LaPorte will get an early TD from Latchford (154 carries, 996 yards)
after a long opening drive. Crown Point will again find they can run the
football. Cody Bacon will carry a half dozen times to move CP inside the 20
and Pete Parks will open the Bulldog scoring with a short TD run.
Brett Bayer's field goal will give CP a 10-7 lead at the half. The Bulldogs
will score on a short pass and long run by Austin Atherton against the
blitzing LaPorte defense and a fumble will create another Bayer field goal
for a 20-7 lead.
Strange things happen to the Bulldogs when they play in LaPorte and I'm predicting a blocked field goal, punt or bad snap will be run back for a Slicer TD to create some drama near the end of the game.
A conservative CP drive will ice the game with Cody Bacon scoring the final TD. Since they entered the DAC in 1993, CP has never won at LaPorte by more than 14 points. They won't do that Friday either, but CP is the bigger, stronger team and they should escape.
CROWN POINT
27, LaPORTE 14