Week 8 Picks:  2005 NW Indiana High School Football

A USA-365.com Special Report By Mark Smith

October 6, 2005

WEEK-7 ANALYSIS:  There wasn't much out of the ordinary here. Morton's comeback from a 14-point deficit beat Hobart. Their 15-point 4th quarter comeback against Lowell in 2002 is probably their greatest win in recent Morton history. The Governors have been an excellent come-from-behind team under coach Roy Richards.  It enables them to beat superior teams.  Portage had a potential game-winning field goal blocked against Michigan City, but the Wolves are getting better while Portage is not. The New Prairie upset was predictable as was Lowell's rout of Munster. KV and Whiting are winning games they should win and the LaPorte game would have been closer if the Slicers' QB had not been injured.  Games get easier to predict as the season goes on.

WEEK 7 (2005) PIX recap

WEEK 7: 10 of 12, 83.3%

WEEK 6: 9 OF 13, 69.2%

WEEK 5: 10 OF 14, 71.4%

WEEK 4: 9 OF 12, 75.0%

WEEK 3: 7 of 13, 53.8%

WEEK 2: 11 of 15, 73.3%

WEEK 1: 16 of 20, 80%
2005 Season: 72 of 99, 72.7%

2004 Overall: 156 of 216, 72.2%

WEEK 8 (EIGHT) PREDICTIONS 10-8-2005

Kankakee Valley (5-2)  21, Wheeler (4-3)  20

DeMOTTE  – This is a potential upset because Kankakee Valley is getting ready for the Oct. 14 game against Whiting (7-0). KV can't count on Dustin Wilson to return a punt and a kickoff for a TD like he did last week.  QB  Devin Schlueter of Wheeler was 19 of 27 for 381 yards last week, but that was against Lake Station.

Whiting (7-0) 36, Clark (3-4) 6

HAMMOND – Clark doesn't have enough offense to play this game. Alex Kerr kicked a 37-yard field goal for a 3-0 win last week, but he'd have to kick 10 of them to win here. Whiting can't rest injured players here because this is one of the state's oldest rivalries and Clark will be very enthusiastic. But Clark's pass defense is only slightly better than Purdue's.

Munster (2-5) 28, Hammond (0-7) 12

HAMMOND -   Hammond has no answer here. They've only scored 57 points all year. Munster can get some confidence here and the draw of KV in the state tournament has to encourage them.  The Mustangs must end the 5-game losing streak here.  But Hammond did draw Calumet (2-5) in the state tournament so they have a chance to stop what will be a 17-game losing streak. Hammond football can't wait for the LAC breakup.


Gavit (2-5) 42, Lake Station (1-6) 21

LAKE STATION – I don't know if Lake Station can finish strong with the roster depth they have and Gavit has to be encouraged by the draw of Wirt in the state tournament. Lake Station has allowed 205 points in the last five games.


Morton (5-2) 28, Highland (3-4) 20

HIGHLAND  -  Morton has been fortunate enough to face more than one team that was missing key players.  Lowell without Jeff Clemens. Hobart without several injured players. That continues here as Highland QB-FS Andrew Helmer should again be out. The Governors need to win and win big. They drew Andrean (7-0) in the state tournament and they must be rolling at that time.


West Central (7-0) 42, North Newton (3-4) 28 

MOROCCO -  Whiting scouts will be in the stands as the Spartans try to stop WC's running game. The Trojans average 40 points a game and are 7-0 for the first time in seven years. QB Jake Fritz (90 carries, 986 yards) will go over 1,000 early on this night.


Bishop Noll (3-4) 28, Calumet (2-5) 26

GARY -  An entertaining game between two teams that are desperate for wins.  Noll has scored just 94 points all year while Calumet has allowed an incredible 283 (40.4). This is clearly the game of the weak. 

Lowell (3-4) 14, Hobart (4-3) 7

HOBART -  We're not talking about end to end action here. These are hard-hitting run-oriented squads. The wild card is 220-pound Andrew Jackson, a new Brickie running back. This is REAL football. Scoreless at the half. 38 yards passing. Cold fans in the cold stands.
Lowell has played the toughest schedule of all 16 LAC teams but Hobart isn't far behind.

Michigan City (5-2) 28, LaPorte (6-1) 23

LaPORTE - If QB Lance Juergensen (ribs) does not play for LaPorte, MC will pull the upset of the week.  Ryan Fics gained 300 on Portage and everybody runs on LaPorte.  Look for a temperature drop of 40 degrees between mid-day Wednesday and game time Friday and running backs Ryan Fics (MC) and Airrence Shark (LaPorte) will like that fine. MC has a better line.

Valparaiso (3-4) 28, Portage (2-5) 14

PORTAGE – Here are two desperate teams at another level. Both of these squads are looking for a playoff revival.  All of Valpo's losses are to Top-20 5A teams.  Valpo drew CP in the state tournament and that should lift them. They came a lot closer to beating CP (13-10) than they did Merrillville (30-0).

Crown Point  (7-0)  35, Chesterton (2-5) 17

CHESTERTON - Chesterton isn't good enough defensively to win here, but the Bulldogs may have a letdown against a team that's certainly not a rival. Chesterton will throw 30 passes and the Bulldogs will try to make all completions short ones.  The expected drop in temperatures will affect this game.

Griffith (7-0) 27,  Andrean (7-0) 13

MERRILLVILLE - I don't think anybody outside of Lake County believes that Andean and Griffith are the two best 3A teams in the state of Indiana (Ever heard of 7-time state champ Bishop Chatard. Look at their record.), but that's what the state polls say. Andrean is not yet a prolific offensive team and it will be tough to score unless Griffith turns the ball over three or four times. Griffith, which needs a big game from an offensive line that did not dominate at Lowell, could throw 15-20 passes and lose, but the Panthers will win with 250-300 yards rushing.  The weather is a wild card here and colder weather favors the running attack of Griffith. The 59ers must remember that this game, no matter how over hyped it is, does not count. The rematch on Nov. 3 is the one that matters.

STATE GAME of the WEEK...

4A No. 3 Bishop Dwenger (7-0) at Class 5A No. 2 Snider (7-0)

FORT WAYNE - With apologies to the Lake County hype-masters, here is the top game in the state this week. Cross-town undefeated rivals and multiple time state champions Dwenger and Snider meet for the championship of the powerful Summit Athletic Conference.

In the computer rankings, less than half a point separates these teams (on the computer, Griffith is a 14-point favorite over Andrean) which are both among the top-20 in any class state wide.

Snider won 66-10 last year when they reached the state title game. The Greyhounds have taken nine of the last 10 meetings with Bishop Dwenger and are 132-16 in the last 11 years. They are well-named, a high speed team with a quick, destructive defense. Dwenger averages 35 points a game and reportedly is more physical.

Snider will roll with senior HB MiQuale Lewis (5-7, 183), one of the state's fastest players who ran a 4.45 at Fort Wayne football legend Rod Woodson's football camp this summer.  He ran for 29 TDs and 1,330 yards on 118 carries (an insane 11.8 average) last season even though he broke an ankle in the first quarter of the final regular season game and missed SIX playoff games. No one has numbers like that in this state.  Teammate JC martin was also a 1,000-yard rusher last year, much of it in the playoffs, including a 35-23 5A title game loss to Warren Central.

This year Lewis (107-779 yards) and Martin (48-426 yards) have run for lesser yards partially due to a new Snider offensive line.  QB David Ludwig (23-57, 308 yards) has struggled as a passer.  Snider runs the I-formation and plays a 4-4-3 defense but all three deep backs return from last year's 14-1 team. Snider had to overcome a 14-7 deficit last week to beat FW South  21-14.

Dwenger is led by LB Jason Schmeiman (6-1, 215), the team captain and middle linebacker and they've allowed just 61 points, the second lowest total (Delta has allowed 60) for a 4A team state wide. But they have yet to play SAC superpowers Snider and Bishop Luers (Oct. 14).  Dwenger nipped Concordia 20-12 last week in their closest game of the year.

Snider traditionally is great early and then gets slowed as their one-dimensional nature is exposed.  But we haven't gotten to that point yet. It's hard to hold the speed down.  It'll be close most of the way. But on a dry field, Snider is hard to defense for four quarters.

     Snider 32, Bishop Dwenger 21

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Revised: October 06, 2005 .