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3A No. 8 Andrean (6-2) at 4A No. 7 Lowell (7-1) |
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Week
9 - Football Game of the Week Preview|
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3A No. 8 Andrean (6-2) at 4A No. 7 Lowell (7-1) |
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A
USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith
10-11-2007
When:
Friday, October 12, 2007
Where: Lowell High School - 2051 E. Commercial AVE (Route 2), Lowell, IN.
Tickets: $5 - (for everybody).
Kickoff:
7:00 p.m.
Radio-TV:
WTMK (88.5) FM.
Weather: Upper 40s, windy. Don't pretend it's not
cold.
Take your 'serious' coat. The one you wear
when it's below zero.
You're going to be sitting in the middle of
an open field for two hours.
Junior Varsity: Lowell at Andrean, Saturday,
Oct. 13 - 10:00 a.m.
Freshmen: Andrean at Lowell, Thursday,
Oct 18 - 6:00 p.m.
Parking: Traditionally, Andrean fans
prefer home games and they don't travel for
non-playoff matchups. With the intimidating
playoff game with New Prairie on the road
seven days later, 59er fans figure to take
the weekend off. Lowell fans may also
choose the warmth of home because this wont
be the Devils' final home game. They host
Logansport to start the state playoffs on
Oct. 20.
Here's a game where you can stroll up at
6:45 and still get a good parking space.
The Series: Andrean has defeated Lowell the last
seven times they have met, but it would not
be accurate to say that the Devils are
overly upset by that.
In those seven years, Lowell has won four
sectional titles and the 2005 state
championship.
I doubt if they would give any of it back
just to beat the 59ers.
And the Niners probably didn't consider the
spectacular 35-28 win over Lowell in 2004 a
key to the Class 3A Andrean state title.
The truth is, Andrean's natural rivals, neighbors Crown Point, Lake Central and cross-town rival Merrillville, are schools they do not play. The region's most trumped-up rivalry is Andrean and Griffith, but when Griffith and Andraen both went to the state finals in 1997, they didn't meet. They were not on each others schedule in the 70s, 80s and most of the 90s. Andrean and Griffith have only met 16 times in history. Last week's 28-27 Niner win over Griffith will be forgotten when the playoffs start, as will the outcome of Friday's Andrean-Lowell game.
Andrean football isn't about regular season rivalries. They always have bigger fish to fry. The 59ers are very playoff oriented in all sports and if they don't win the sectional title, they don't consider it much of an achievement. Why? It goes back to the beginning. Andrean has always been successful in football. The small Merrillville Catholic school has had only 10 losing seasons in nearly five decades of varsity football. The Niners were 7-3 ('61), 7-3 ('62) 8-1-1 ('63) and 7-3 ('64) in the school's first four seasons. Before the IHSAA started the state tournament in 1973, Andrean was 10-0 in both 1968 and 1969 and one of the great intrigues at the start of the state tournament in NW Indiana was, how would Andrean do?
In the 1970s, playing largely Gary schools (which were much tougher then), Andrean was 62-35-2. The 80s were a down time, but coach Ivan Zimmer rebounded from an 0-10 season in 1988 to go 10-2 in 1990. But the best was yet to come. Under three different coaches: Jeff Karras, Wally McCormack and Brett St. Germain, Andrean went to the state finals three years in a row in 2001 (13-2), 2002 (14-1) and 2003 (12-3). I would doubt that's ever been done at any other school in the state of Indiana.
Ironically, the 2003 team, which was certainly not the best of the three, won the state championship game over Heritage Hills after the Niners had gone 0-3 in three previous state finals matchups against Indianapolis-area Andrean clone Bishop Chatard.
Andrean is a Catholic school of less than 700, which draws students from Lake and Porter County. The advantage of being a private school is that they usually get achievers or, at least, kids whose parents want them to achieve. The down side is that Andrean doesn't have an eighth-grade junior high team walk into school every August. The rosters are usually talent-rich, but small. Andrean could not compete in Class 5A because they don't have the depth of players, but the 59ers should do well in the 3A playoffs because they play in a 4A league.
Unlike some other Catholic schools (like Chatard), Andraen has almost always had a multiple, pro-set offense. That is unusual because, again, you don't have a 7th and 8th grade system where you can teach the high school system. It's easier to run the ball 90% of the time because you do get top athletes at a private school. How they consistently put together fairly sophisticated passing offenses with boys who didn't know each other before high school is a mystery to me.
How ever they do it, Andrean is the No. 1 football school in NW Indiana in this decade with a record of 79-18 since the start of the 2000 season. But there is a sense of urgency. With Griffith temporarily in Class 4A (that only figures to be for 2007 and 2008), the Niners have only one 3A equal in NW Indiana right now and that's LaPorte county power New Prairie (66-24 in this decade), which unfortunately, is the first matchup in Sectional 17 quarterfinals on Oct. 19.
Andrean wants to go to the state finals every year. They are the only school I know of that admits that is their goal in all team sports every year. Others talk about winning the sectional. Athletes go to Andrean so they can play in the state finals. A sectional title only means they're two wins short of the goal. In that respect, they want tough final games and to play a ranked 4A team should be exactly what they need Friday night seven days before they face elimination.
Class 4A Lowell (7-1)
Coach: Kirk Kennedy (127-65, 16 years)
Enrollment: 1,247
2006 record: 7-6*
Sectional titles: (7) 1992, 1994, 1999,
2003, 04, 05, 06
Regional titles: (3) 1994, 1999, 2005
Semistate titles: (1) 2005
State titles: (1) 2005
*Lost 33-14 to 4A state finalist Concord in
the regional championship game
Lowell Red Devils (7-1, 4-1)
(W) 23-14 Crown Point (6-2)
(W) 3-0 at Morton (4-4)
(W) 38-0 at Kankakee Valley (2-6)
(L) 28-29 (OT) GRIFFITH (5-3)
(W) 39-0 HIGHLAND (0-8)
(W) 10-7 at HOBART (6-2)
(W) 24-0 Hammond (7-1)
(W) 37-19 at MUNSTER (2-6)
10-12 (F) ANDREAN (6-2)
4A Sectional 10 Playoffs
10-20 (F) vs. Logansport (6-2)
10-27 (F) at Plymouth (4-4)*
11-2 (F) at Concord (5-3)*
*the only four winning teams in Sectional 10
are Logansport, Plymouth, Concord and
Lowell.
SECTIONAL WATCH: Lowell didn't get the draw they'd hoped for. There are four teams in Sectional 10 that have winning records. Lowell is one and they must play the other three to win the sectional. The saving grace is that Lowell gets the toughest team in the sectional, Logansport, to travel 100 miles on a Friday night. Plymouth is only one hour down Route 30 and they've struggled this year. There is no chance that Northridge beats Plymouth. Plymouth beat Northridge 38-8 earlier this year. But Concord is a double-digit favorite against Washington, Clay or KV. And Concord, which is 100 miles and two hours east of the Lowell city limits, would host the Devils in a sectional championship game.
Class 3A Andrean (6-2)
Coach: Brett St. Germain - 5th season
(46-11)
Enrollment: 668
2006 record: 8-3*
Sectional titles: (10) last in 2004
Regional titles: (5) 1997, 1998, 2001, 2002,
2004
Semistate titles: (4) 1997, 2001, 2002, 2004
State titles: (1) 2004
*Lost 26-7 to Griffith in the 3A Sectional
17 semifinals in 2006
Andrean (6-2, 4-1)
(L) 14-16 at Portage (4-4)
(W) 46-22 at Bishop Noll (3-5)
(W) 41-6 at East Chicago (5-3)
(W) 31-28 at Munster (2-6)
(L) 0-16 Hobart (5-3)
(W) 42-0 Highland (0-8)
(W) 48-28 Kankakee Valley (2-6)
(W) 28-27 Griffith (5-3)
Oct 12 at Lowell (7-1)
3A Sectional (17)
Oct. 19 at New Prairie (6-2)
Oct. 26 (home) vs. Knox (5-3)
Nov. 2 at Clark (6-2)
SECTIONAL ANALYSIS: Andrean didn't get a good draw. They face a powerful team in New Prairie in New Carlisle, a long drive and a very difficult place to play. The winner of that game has a huge edge in Sectional 17, especially if it is Andrean, because the Niners would go home for the sectional semifinals against Gavit (2-6) or (more likely) Knox, a team that does not have the weapons to challenge the 59ers. Clark (6-2) is a lock to get to the Sectional 17 finals, but they have played one of the state's softest (228th lamest of 316 teams) schedules and would need a great game on their home field to pull an upset. Realistically, the winner of the Andrean-New Prairie game probably plays Eastbrook (7-1) or undefeated West Lafayette (8-0) in the semistate.
3A No. 8 ANDREAN (6-2) at
4A, No. 7 LOWELL (7-1)
Sagarin
computer ratings: Lowell by
10
LOWELL
(10-12-2007) -
I
think this spread was accurate at midseason, but I'm not sure it is now because
Andrean has closed the gap. Senior rookie quarterback Austin Sutter
(104-176, 1,462 yards, 18 TDs, 13 TDs) has stepped up to the plate and come out
swinging in his first and final year as the Niner QB. The 18 TDs is the
top total in the Northwest Crossroads Conference and Sutter (6-2, 170) has also
run for 200 yards.
Andrean has top receivers in senior John Kennedy (33 catches, 560 yards, 10 TDs) and Jonothan Bronisz (37 catches, 550 yards). The secret weapon is freshman Demetri Blanco (5-9, 155), who has caught just six passes for 147 yards. Blanco averages 40 yards per kickoff return in a season where he's had some injuries. I believe he is healthy for this game.
The Niner running game has not been what they'd hoped for, but fullback David
Brant (5-9, 215), with 81 carries for 326 yards and halfback Kyle Kovach (5-8,
160) with 67 carries for 446 yards, give the Niners a change of pace when they
aren't passing. I'm not sure of the Andrean offensive line. They
have rushed for just 1,263 yards and the next two teams they play have rushed
for 2,000 yards.
Andrean's defense has been very good. The Niners have given up a total of 1,542
yards, less than 200 per game. Linebacker Cortland (CJ) Colbert (5-11, 200) has
a team-leading 83 tackles and linebacker Steve Brosius (5-8, 205) has 61
tackles. The Niners are similar to Lowell in that they are not very large
defensively and rely on quickness and strength. They gave up less than 200
yards to Griffith and Hobart, two top rushing teams. The Niners run the risk of
being overwhelmed on the defensive front only if their pass friendly offense
gives the other side a lot of possessions.
Kicker Cameron Panther averages only 27 yards a punt but he's a quality place-kicker. His 29-yard field goal beat Munster 31-28.
Lowell has four shutouts in eight games. Lowell has allowed just 69 points and 1300 total yards all season and they are giving up less than 100 yards rushing per game, even including 240 the yards against Griffith. The Devils will match their defensive speed against Andrean's offensive quickness.
The great matchups will be on the corners where senior TJ Lukasik will be asked
to stay with John Kennedy and linebacker-turned-corner Danny Remboski may be
asked to defend the larger Jonothan Bronisz (6-1, 175).
Lowell must get a rush on Sutter and that brings defensive ends Joe Carlson and
Jeff Barker to the front. The Devils held Munster QB Joe Gill to 7-of-21
and 118 yards last week, although Gill did toss two TDs, a season-high against
the Devils.
Kicker David Lang has six field goals including a school-record 46-yarder.
Brandon Grubbe has over 800 yards rushing and senior Steffan Peck is over 550
yards on the ground, despite missing two games with a concussion.
The Devils got two TD passes from junior QB Kurt Monix (7-of-10, 134 yards) last
week and Lowell totaled 350 total yards. What encourages you about the Devils
is that their offense is geared for fast fields and cold nights and that should
be what we have the rest of the way.
The Devils have fumbled nine times and that is unsettling, even though four of them came in one game against Highland. Lowell has good depth at most all positions and they have some seniors who were on the 2005 state championship team. Those boys have won a state title, but they will be reminded this week that they've never beaten Andrean.
WHAT WILL HAPPEN...
LOWELL - The motivation level here should be high, even though neither
Lowell or Andrean can win an outright Northwest Crossroads Conference title.
The Niners will totally ignore Lowell QB Kurt Monix's passing success against
Munster and bring eight or nine men up front to shoot the gaps and tackle Lowell
backs Steffan Peck and Brandon Grubbe. Lowell's line performs better against
bigger, slower foes and they could be stymied against Andrean.
The wind could be a factor and Niner QB Austin Sutter may have problems throwing when he doesn't have friendly South Lake County breezes at his back. I think the Niner QB does some fancy scrambling for first downs to get Andrean moving after a scoreless first quarter. The Niners score first on a short run by Sutter after a short drive.
Eventually, Lowell will slow Andrean's pursuit with misdirection plays and perhaps even option runs. David Lang's first field goal of the night cuts the lead to 7-3 at the half. An interception by TJ Lukasik will set up the Devils deep in Lowell territory and a short run by Steffan Peck will put the Devils ahead 10-7. Andrean will have no success running the ball inside and the game will come down to chasing Sutter on pass-run options. A short punt will set up a long TD run by Brandon Grubbe to put the Devils ahead 16-7.
Demetri Blanco will spark Andrean with a long kickoff return and Sutter will toss a short one to speedy Kyle Kovach who will run for the Niners second TD, cutting the edge to 16-14. Late in the fourth quarter, Monix, Peck and Grubbe will all run for key first downs and Lang's second field goal of the game will create the final score.
This game probably goes the other way on a windless, 70-degree night. But that's not what you get this time of year. Lowell has waited a long time to beat Andrean and the wait ends Friday night.
LOWELL 19, ANDREAN 14