Goalkeepers: Chris Lomeli  (CP); Brandon Tate (HC)

CROWN POINT, IN (10-11-2008) -  In that fake football that Indiana high schools play, fans of smaller schools often pretend that small schools who try really, really hard can defeat big schools with far more depth, coaches and facilities.  In real football, that fantasy is not something you hear every often.

Lake Central, the biggest Lake County school and the dominant franchise, bowled over undefeated small school Boone Grove 3-1 and rejected rival Crown Point 6-1 to win the annual Crown Point sectional last weekend, LC's sixth consecutive sectional championship.

"When you do every thing you possibly can," said Crown Point coach Jeff Fairbairn, perhaps speaking for everyone else in the field, "and then they (LC) come out on top, there's not much you can do."

LC trailed just once, when CP sophomore Danny Relinski chipped the ball in front of the net and senior Michael Lipton popped a header into the hands of LC senior goalie Tony Halterman, who had to angle back over the goal line to catch the shot.  LC disputed the call but CP, which lost the regular season finale to Lake Central 6-0 just five days earlier, led 1-0 just 8:35 into the game.

"That really got us going," said Halterman, who debated the call because he thought he kept the ball outside the goal line. "It's always about who gets the first goal.  But we were able to answer right back (at 16:32, on a goal by Fabian Urquiza) and then we got another one right after that so it was no problem.  We were a little shaky at the start but our defense tightened up and it all worked out really well."

LC took the lead for good late in the first half when freshman Manuel Rios beat a CP defender and dribbled around CP goalie Christian Lomeli to score at 33:39. This was the key goal of the game. Had CP held a 1-1 tie into the halftime break, they might have kept the game close until the end.  As it was, when Geoff Bowman scored on a penalty kick after Jake Lacea was ruled to have been fouled in the penalty box early in the second half, the Bulldogs (7-8-1) seemed to lose spirit in the 80-degree heat.  LC, with 12 seniors on the roster, dominated the second half.

Boone Grove (15-1-1) could have led early in the semifinal, but a hard shot by junior Mitch Aguilera was grabbed on a diving save by Halterman just 6:40 into the game.  Both sides pointed to that as the key play of the game.

"Just like last year," said Boone coach Brian Sherwin.  "He made a great save early in the game (won by LC 2-0) where we could have had the lead."

"He's just a tremendous goalie.  I know that Boone's keeper (Trevor Spangenberg) gets a lot of publicity, but I think our guy's just as good.  I used to do training with Boone Grove's keeper, "said Halterman of Spangenberg, who had nine shutouts this year.  "So, I know a lot of things about him and he knows a lot about me.  I know a lot of Crown Points guys. Everyone here knows their weaknesses."

Does he feel bad about eliminating 'soccer friends'?

"As long as we keep going," said Halterman. "I don't feel too bad about it.  This is four in a row for me.  So this was very big for me.  We knew it would be different from last time because it's win or go home."

Crown Point turned back neighbor and rival Hanover Central (12-4) for the second time this year in the late Thursday semifinal. Lipton scored two goals as the Bulldogs jumped to a 4-0 lead in a 4-2 victory.  Again the perspective was, small school-big school.

"We looked a little inexperienced at the start," said Hanover coach Steve Krager.  "Just like the first time we played them (a 6-2 loss in September).  We were better in the second half. They have more depth than we do and our team is young.  We were happy just to get the goose egg off the scoreboard."

Krager admitted that his team was a little out of place in this sectional with a 3,000-team school and a 2,500-teen school.

"I wish there was class playoffs in soccer," he said.  "Look at the Lowell Sectional.  We beat every team (Lowell, Kankakee Valley, Rensselaer, Kouts and Morgan Township) in that sectional.  But those are schools close to our size."

SECTIONAL NOTES:  For the record, Boone Grove (557) and Hanover Central (610) have less than one quarter of the students that Crown Point (2,442) and Lake Central (3,173)  have.  The first semifinal, matching LC and Boone Grove, was carried live on radio station WWLO (89.1) FM, which is soon to be taken over by Lakeshore Public Television and renamed WLPR (89.1) FM.