Renegade 2008 Week-2 NW Indiana High School Football Poll

MERRILLVILLE (8-25-2008) In the opening week of the season you look for something amazingly unexpected happening, and in northwest Indiana, you just didn't see it.

1) Valparaiso stopping Penn on a two-point overtime conversion for a 10-9 upset win.

2) Marian fumbling the snap on the conversion and losing 20-19 to South Bend Washington, Washington's first win since the 2006 season.

3) Goshen's Alex Aguilar hit a 45-yard field goal on the final play of the game to beat Carroll 24-21.

Overall, you cannot make snap judgements on the season opener. Though they would never say this, I think some coaches don't mind a season-opening loss because it kills any overconfidence and gets the boys to understand what they need to get done.

Since, in theory, you improve the most between week one and week two, an opening night loss puts a little hunger in the boys. Maybe a little desperation. I think Merrillville got a jolt of unimaginable proportions with the blowout loss at Warren Central. The Pirates may play as if their entire season is on the line Friday at Griffith and that's not what the Panthers want to see.

Hobart might also have liked it if Crown Point had defeated Lowell. CP will be hungry for a win when they invade the Brickie Bowl.

There's no way young players work as hard as when they were surprised or embarrassed in a game they thought they'd win. Teams that win in week one fight overconfidence. Teams that lose in week one fight for their lives.

MERRILLVILLE: Everybody's going to go all knee jerk on Merrillville this week after they lost 42-0 at Warren Central to begin the 2008 season. What's odd is that no one would have been surprised had Warren beaten Merrillville 42-0 last year, when the Pirates won by seven. It is not logical that Merrillville is less a team this week after getting beaten on the road by one of the nation's high school superpowers. The Pirates were held to just 22 total yards and Warren Central gained 502 total yards. But keep in mind, this is the school that won an unprecedented four consecutive state football titles from 2003-2006. The only good news for the Pirates is, if there is a rematch before 2009 (when Warren returns to Merrillville), it would be in the state title game. The only folks more unhappy than Merrillville about the outcome of the Pirates-Warren Central game is Griffith, Merrillville's next opponent. Let's wait until after the Griffith game. A lot of you know that Merrillville is probably still NW Indiana's No. 1 team.

2.) 4A Lowell (1-0)
2007 (13-2), 2006 (7-6), 2005 (11-4), 2004 (9-4), 2003 (11-2)

LOWELL: A good road win for the Devils at Crown Point. Junior halfback Brandon Grubbe ran 29 yards for the game's only score with six seconds left in the first half as the Devils won 7-0. Not counting the state title game (which was a neutral site game), Lowell has won 10 road games in a row. Nothing in this game indicated Lowell should be rated above Merrillville, but this is always a treasured win for the Devils beating the neighbor school that's twice their size. Lowell looks solid defensively, although Morton may be more of a test for the Devil defenders because of their experience. The focus this week will be to get the running game going. Lowell gained 169 yards rushing last week and they may need 250-300 to beat Morton. They may get it. Griffith ran for 400 yards on Morton last week. Lowell's offense has potential they did not show last week.

3.) 4A Griffith (1-0)
2007 (9-4), 2006 (12-2), 2005 (12-1), 2004 (9-3), 2003 (7-5)

GRIFFITH: Griffith just owns Morton. The 40-13 win last week was the 13th consecutive Panther win over Morton. New QB Greg Joyce ran for four TDs and soph halfback Ed Johnson carried 16 times for 196 yards. Linebacker Mark Butkus played fullback and ran for 104 yards and two TDs. The Panthers liked the new 'Field Turf' at Morton to the level of 400 rushing yards. But few expected Morton to hang with Griffith early in the season. They'll meet again in October. Now, here comes the kind of game that Griffith likes. They host Duneland Athletic Conference (DAC) favorite Merrillville for what I believe is the first time ever.

4.) 5A Lake Central (1-0)
2007 (7-5), 2006 (4-6), 2005 (2-8), 2004 (1-9), 2003 (1-9)

ST. JOHN: I wasn't too sure about LC being rated this highly when Munster took a 19-7 lead in the third quarter Friday. But the Indians rallied for a 20-19 win on a 70-yard interception TD by Justin Nesbitt and a two-yard run by halfback Dillon Jamrosz. LC didn't look good. They only had 49 yards rushing and that is a shock. Since very few teams who faced anyone were impressive in NW Indiana in week one, LC stays fourth. But if the Indians don't have a better running attack than they showed, it's going to be a painful year in the DAC. The good news for LC is that East Chicago shouldn't be able to handle the LC offensive line this Friday (8-29-2008). We'll see.

5.) 5A Michigan City (1-0)
2007 (2-8), 2006 (1-9), 2005 (6-5), 2004 (4-6), 2003 (3-7)

MICHIGAN CITY: The Wolves got a bye, basically, in a 60-8 win over Gary Roosevelt. Adam Harmon ran for four TDs. What helped here is that MC was able to hold out starting players in the extreme August heat to get ready for the real home opener; on the road this week at South Bend Washington (1-0). I'm telling you that you better watch this team. But, for the future. This is an embarrassing match-up. Michigan City needs to seek another opponent because Gary public schools don't take football seriously and Michigan City, these days, certainly does.

6.) 5A CROWN POINT (0-1)
2007 (8-3), 2006 (12-1), 2005 (11-1), 2004 (4-7), 2003 (5-5)

CROWN POINT: CP lost 7-0 to Lowell and that's no shame. But the Bulldogs drop here because of some injury concerns. Linebacker Kyle Qualizza, projected as a starter, may miss the entire regular season with an elbow injury and senior defensive tackle Kyle Land also couldn't play due to injury. CP did well defensively against the Devils, but they are younger than they projected to be. Senior QB Marcus Shrewsbury showed promise at QB going 10-for-18 in his first start against Lowell's speedy defense. The Bulldogs should improve on offense for week two and they'll need to as they head to the tradition-rich Brickie Bowl to play Hobart. This team knew the first half of the season would be rough, but if the Bulldogs can hang with Lowell, they'll be Ok against most everyone on their schedule. Trouble is, they've gotten used to being more than OK.

7.) 5A Portage (1-0)
2007 (5-5), 2006 (6-5), 2005 (2-8), 2004 (8-4), 2003 (11-2)

PORTAGE: Portage had a tough pre-season with some eligibility issues, but they were ready on opening night, smoking Andrean 40-7. The new QB was Eric Melcic who threw just three passes, but didn't need to, as the Indians snatched four Andrean turnovers and led 21-0 after one quarter.

A worry is that the Indians only gained 179 yards. I talked about the quality of the sophomore class at Portage and soph safety Jake Dixon grabbed two of Portage's four interceptions Friday. Like LC, the running game here has to get better or this will be Portage's last win. Whoops. Sorry. Portage plays Highland next Friday. They'll be 2-0.

8.) 3A ANDREAN (0-1)
2007 (9-4), 2006 (8-3), 2005 (8-2), 2004 (13-2), 2003 (12-1)

MERRILLVILLE: Andrean's new QB Demitri Blanco threw four interceptions in his debut as the 59ers QB, and although folks don't really say this very much, that is the norm. Many QBs bite the dust in their first game.

Andrean only gave up 179 total yards. They'll be fine. They dropped in the poll because a couple of other teams were better than initially expected. No reason to panic. The Niners host Bishop Noll (1-0) Friday and that's almost a must-win. I expect Blanco to bounce back with a 200-yard passing game this week.

9.) 5A LaPorte (1-0)
2007 (3-7), 2006 (10-4), 2005 (9-2), 2004 (7-4), 2003 (6-4)

LaPORTE: The Slicers did as good a job as you can here against a tough small school neighbor as QB Dustin DeMuth tossed an 82-yard TD pass on the first series in the Slicers' 35-14 win over neighbor New Prairie. Halfback Carlton Austin (17 carries, 194 yards) had a 98-yard run in the second quarter. LaPorte won 35-14 even though they gave up 214 yards rushing and committed 12 penalties.

This is a good sign. The Slicers have struggled with New Prairie in the past. But they know that Elkhart Central will be tougher this week. Nobody gets too excited after week one.

10.) 5A Valparaiso (1-0)
2007 (6-5), 2006 (3-6), 2005 (5-5), 2004 (6-5), 2003 (5-6)

VALPARAISO: Valpo pulled out a dramatic 10-9 overtime win at Penn and that's always a huge plus. New QB Zach Lilovich completed 17 of 25 for 145 yards and Tomny Hite booted a 34-yard field goal.

Valpo gained 281 yards and, although they did not score a REAL touchdown (Overtime TDs come on series that start at the 10-yard-line) that production is impressive. Three Viking fumbles are a cause for concern, but next week's opponent: Gary Roosevelt, simply is not.

CHESTERTON: Chesterton rolled up 429 yards in a 34-8 romp over Clay. But Clay lost the last five games last year and they have hard times ahead. Track hurdler Phil Frech scored two TDs in the easy win. The Trojan defense intercepted four passes and Clay's TD was a 94 yard fumble return, so the Chesterton defense gave up nothing.

'Nothing' is exactly what I know about Chesterton's next foe: West Ottawa, Michigan.

The RENEGADE 2008 Poll

Week-2: NW Indiana High School Top-10 Football Poll