Crown Point regroups to win convincingly, 42-7 over previously unbeaten Lake Central

 

A USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith

9-17-2021

 

Crown Point QB JJ Johnson (2) fires a screen pass to Boedy Burandt (16) early in last week's game. Johnson had nine completions in 18 attempts, three for touchdowns. (All photos by Mark Smith)

The west grandstand looms in the background as Crown Point and Lake Central begin to battle in week four of the 2021 season.

Alex Skabala (45) and Elijah Davis (48) know they have to key on Lake Central halfback Xavier Williams (26) early in last Friday's DC game.

Liam Begley (28) is loud and proud of his first quarter fumble recovery at Lake Central last Friday. Jaelynn Kelley (10) and Dominic Sopczak (14) flank Begley as they head to the sidelines following the LC turnover, 9-10-2021.

Junior Boedy Burandt (16) has the ball in the end zone on Crown Point's first touchdown at Lake Central as Jack Davenport (75), Randy Lach and Nic Cicero (77) bear witness.

Crown Point shifts tight ends Randy Lach (88) and Seamus Malaski (85) prior to the snap at Lake Central.

CP's Boedy Burandt (16) looks to block Lake Central junior Ace Henry (1) in last Friday's game. The Bulldogs ran for over 200 yards.

CP coach Craig Buzea watched his team improve to 2-0 in road games. CP goes for 3-0 this coming Friday at Portage, where Buzea began his career as a varsity football coach in the 1990s.

Crown Point junior quarterback JJ Johnson (2) is 34 of 61 passing in four games for 435 yards, six touchdowns and four interceptions.

Crown Point halfback Elijah Tiawhan (5), here getting past LC's Dominique Cotton (4) last Friday, has carried 58 times for 360 yards in four games.

Crown Point's Niko Paic (52) is hunting down Lake Central quarterback Luke Niedy (3) in last week's game at Lake Central.

Crown Point senior Liam Begley (28) sees a path to the quarterback in the week four game against Luke Niedy (3) and Lake Central. The Bulldogs allowed just one first half touchdown at LC.

Here is Crown Point's strength. The offensive line of Nic Cicero (77), Jackson Ruess (70), Logan Pokropinski (73), Aidan Duerig (72) and Jack Darlington (75) averages 280 pounds per man and has helped the Bulldogs gain 663 yards on 132 carries (5.1 yards per carry) through the first four weeks of the 2021 season.

Two CP fans put America 1st at the game in St. John on the eve of the 20th anniversary of the 9-11-2001 terrorist attacks in New York, Washington DC and over the skies of Pennsylvania.

But at the end of the day, snacks are what matters most. There's no shortage of chips, even on the road, on the sidelines at most games.

It was a short but happy trip home in week four for CP senior Brett Croell (22). Crown Point has a 2-2 record after four games for the sixth consecutive season after a 42-7 win at Lake Central last week. (All photos by Mark Smith.)

Copyright © 2021 USA-365.com and Meyer Multimedia Services, a division of Meyer Broadcasting Corp.  All rights reserved. Revised: September 17, 2021 .

Team	1	2	3	4	F
CROWN POINT (2-2)	7	14	7	14	42
LAKE CENTRAL (3-1)	0	7	0	0	7

Friday, September 10, 2021 -  70 degrees (at kick-off) in ST. JOHN, IN
 

1st Qtr: CROWN POINT (7-0) Boedy Burandt, 11-yard pass from JJ Johnson. 24-yard drive, 6 plays. Sammy Brewer kick. 10:01 left.
2nd Qtr: CROWN POINT (14-0) JJ Johnson, 2-yard run. 93-yard drive, 11 plays. Sammy Brewer kick. 6:31 left.
LAKE CENTRAL (14-7) Xavier Williams, 1-yard run (4th down). 48-yard drive, 5 plays. Owen Denny kick. 4:06 left.
CROWN POINT (21-7) Landen Delich, 24-yard pass from JJ Johnson. 67-yard drive, 4 plays. Sammy Brewer kick. :27 left.
3rd Qtr: CROWN POINT (28-7) JJ Johnson, 8-yard run. 80-yard drive, 13 plays. Sammy Brewer kick 6:39 left.

4th Qtr: CROWN POINT (35-7) Elijah Tiawhan, 5-yard run. 25-yard drive, 5 plays. Sammy Brewer kick. 2:42 left.
CROWN POINT (42-7) Nate Woodrick, 50-yard pass from JJ Johnson, 63-yard drive, 6 plays. Sammy Brewer kick. 7:53 left.

ST. JOHN (9-10-2021) I’m going to try to explain to you how Crown Point could lose 50-13 at home to Merrillville in week three of the 2021 season and then win 42-7 at Lake Central seven days later in week four.

In the end, I’m pretty sure I will not succeed.

Obviously, there is a world of difference between Merrillville (4-0) and Lake Central (3-1). But it was a different Crown Point team Friday. More confident. And the Bulldogs knew they had control at Lake Central early on.

“I think we knew in the first couple of drives,” said CP senior offensive tackle Jack Darlington after the game. “If you’re putting up points, then the O-line is working. That’s how I look at it.”
 

‘Putting up points’ was also the job of CP rookie quarterback JJ Johnson, who threw two of his three touchdown passes before halftime.

“He’s pretty awesome,” said Darlington. “He’s a tough guy. We gave up way too many sacks the first three games. So our job (in the offensive line) is to protect him better like tonight. But with that said, he’s a tough guy.”

CP coach Craig Buzea is displaying a habit of ‘going for it’ on 4th down. The Bulldogs were 4-for-4 on fourth down runs at Lake Central, rejecting the option of a punt or field goal.

The fourth down conversions led to the high score for the Bulldogs

“If we don’t (go for it)," Buzea confirmed, “I want to. That’s the mindset I want to have. We’re going to build this program on the offensive line. I think at Crown Point, we’ve got to build our program on strong offensive linemen because that’s something you can have each and every year. We may not have the skill players everyone else does, but we’re building this thing with the line.”

“We’ve got a really good line right now, but having those guys (3 starters) out last week really hurt us even though we did move the ball some.”
 
Week one of the Duneland Athletic Conference (DAC) schedule was clearly not a Crown Point high point and week two just not Lake Central’s night. Top running back Xavier Williams fumbled on the Indians’ first play from scrimmage and Crown Point’s Liam Begley recovered at the LC 24-yard-line.
 
Five plays later, CP quarterback JJ Johnson tossed a little ‘bubble screen’ (a quick lateral toss to the wide side of the formation) where junior Boedy Burandt grabbed it, cut back to the middle of the field and scored an 11-yard TD with just 1:59 gone in the first quarter.

In front of a near capacity home crowd, LC (3-1, 1-1 DAC) had three possessions with the score 7-0 but could not tie it up even after safety Max Welty’s interception of Johnson at the LC 46-yardline.

In the second quarter, Crown Point mounted an 11-play, 93-yard drive that included a 38-yard pass from Johnson to Nate Woodrick. On 4th-and-goal from the Lake Central 2-yard line, CP hurried to the line and snapped the ball quickly allowing Johnson (6-0, 165) to slip into the end zone and make the score 14-0 at 6:31 before halftime.

LC came back strong with a 49-yard kickoff return from sophomore Amarion Brooks. LC senior quarterback Luke Beidy zipped a long pass down the middle of the field 40 yards to junior Ace Henry (5-10, 170) at the Crown Point nine yard line.

Three plays later, on fourth down, Williams (5-11, 200) LC’s big sophomore halfback, scored from the 1-yard line to cut the lead to 14-7 with 4:06 to go before halftime.

After Lake Central could not capitalize on a second pass interception of Johnson, Crown Point increased their lead again in the final minute of the half.

Johnson fired a long ‘fade’ pass down the visitors’ sidelines to sophomore receiver Landen Delich (6-3, 175), a 38-yard gain to the LC 24-yard line. The Bulldogs then appeared to call the exact same play, a wide side pass to Delich who grabbed the ball for a 24-yard touchdown and a 21-7 lead just 27 seconds before halftime.

In the second half, Crown Point (2-2, 1-1 DAC) wore down the home team. The Bulldogs took the second half at their own 20 and moved the ball 80 yards in 13 plays as Johnson had runs of 11 and 19 yards and CP upped their lead to 28-7 on a 2-yard Johnson run with 6:39 left in the third quarter.

CP’s Matt Woods sacked LC quarter Luke Niedy three plays later and the Indians had to punt again. The punt was very short and CP took over at the Lake Central 25-yard line. Five plays later, CP junior Elijah Tiawhan ran into the end zone standing up for a 35-7 lead with 2:42 left in the third period.

Another 3rd down sack by Woods led to CP getting the ball at the LC 37-yard-line with 10:29 left in the fourth quarter.

Six plays later Johnson threw the wide receiver screen to Nate Woodrick, who roared down the field untouched for a 50-yard TD with 7:53 to go in the game.

Darlington couldn’t say what CP’s 2-2 record means considering the fact that the losses are to 2A No. 7 Andrean 21-0 and 6A No. 2 Merrillville 50-13.

“Those are two quality opponents. Two tough opponent. After losses like that you just have to go to practice and work. We used that as fuel.”

DOG NOTES: The 42-7 victory last week was the largest margin of victory in the CP-LC series since Crown Point won 45-0 at Lake Central on September 8, 2017.

There is no meaning to this fact, but Friday’s win gave Crown Point a 2-2 record after four games. This is the sixth consecutive season that Crown Point has completed the first four weeks of the varsity football season with two wins and two losses. The Bulldogs were also 2-2 in 2011, 2012 and 2013.

The Bulldogs are playing noticeably faster this season, meaning they go ‘no huddle’ more, especially in short yardage situations like 3rd and 2 or 4th-and-1. They seem to run plays earlier in the game clock. Now, they’re 2-2 so they haven’t dazzled all opposing defenses. But they have been able to rush some defenses into penalties.

CP coach Craig Buzea is high on junior rookie Bulldog running back Elijah Tiawhan who put up 123 yards on 19 carries at Lake Central.

“He’s a load,” he coach said of Elijah, who is 6-foot-1 and 215 pounds.

“He's got some guys up front, too. Don’t forget about the holes he has to run through. I think he gets stronger as the game goes on. He’s raw. He’s just learning how to play the game. His better days are ahead of him. We’re glad he’s only a junior. Really our whole offense (nine of 11 starters) are juniors or underclassmen. We’re going to get better as we go along.”

If you don’t remember Crown Point senior linebacker Matt Woods from last year’s team, I don't either.

“Matt’s a guy who missed all last season,” said Buzea. “He was hurt in the scrimmage and he missed the whole year. So he’s just rounding into shape. I think the whole defense is like that.”
 
“He ‘freelances’ some but he’s a playmaker. (Senior linebacker) Liam Begley is, too. The fact that they’re playing together for the first time. It's showing. Our defense made big plays tonight.”

“I don't want to make any excuses, but we were missing some guys and we had points put on the board last week (against Merrillville) and it was a gut check for our guys. I thought they answered the bell tonight.”

Crown Point has not utilized one of its best weapons in kicker Sammy Brewer, who booted 10 field goals in his two varsity seasons. But coach Buzea likes to go for the first down in fourth down and short yardage situations.

“When I took over,” coach said, “I knew we had a great kicker. I know he can make them, but six is bigger than three. Sammy will definitely have (his) time, but right now we’re trying to establish toughness in the blocking up front.’”