Chesterton's Schmidt hits 20-yd field goal to beat Bulldogs 16-13 in Sectional opening round

A USA-365.com Special Report by Dave Woodworth

10-25-2009

 

Team 1 2 3 4 F
Chesterton (7-3) 13 0 0 3 16
CROWN POINT (3-7) 0 7 0 6 13

Friday, October 23, 2009,  52 degrees, windy & light rain, Class 5A, Sectional 1 Quarterfinal at CROWN POINT, IN.

1st Qtr CHESTERTON (3-0) Kyle Schmidt, 46-yard field goal.  1-yard, 5-play drive.  1:34 time of possession (TOP).  6:09 left.
CHESTERTON (10-0) Andrew Bobrowski, 39-yard pass from Jon Watson.  59-yard, 4-play drive.  1:42 TOP.  2:40 left.
CHESTERTON (13-0) Kyle Schmidt, 44-yard field goal.  1-yard, 4-play drive.  1:21 TOP.  1:11 left.
2nd Qtr:
 
CROWN POINT (7-13) Travis Woosley, 12-yard pass from Joe Hopman.  70-yard, 6-play drive.  2:08 TOP.  Btrett Bayer Kick.  7:48 left.
3rd Qtr:
  No scoring.
4th Qtr:  CROWN POINT (13-13) Austin Atherton, 9-yard pass from Joe Hopman.  95-yard, 18-play drive.  5:39 TOP.  Kick wide left.  4:34 left.
CHESTERTON (16-13) Kyle Schmidt, 20-yard field goal. 63-yard, 12-play drive.  4:29 TOP.  0:05.4 left.

STATISTICS

RUSHING:
CHESTERTON (39 carries, 185 yards; 6 fumbles, lost 1) Jon Watson 17-82 yards, Justin Jenks 7-43 yards, Taylor Brown 5-16 yards, Frank Raudry 4-13 yards, Greg Nowak 2-14 yards, Sam Lindquist 4-25 yards.
CROWN POINT (19 carries, 98 yards; 4 fumbles, lost 2) Mason Popovich (RB) 3-2 yards; Joe Hopman (QB) 14-93 yards, Travis Woosley 1-0 yards, Chris Klein 1-3 yard.

PASSING
:
CHESTERTON - Jon Watson (QB) 4-10, 63 yards, TD;
CROWN POINT - Joe Hopman (QB) 11-27, 138 yards, 2 TDs, 3 INTs; Joel Johnson 1-1, 22 yards.

RECEIVING:
CHESTERTON - Andrew Bobrowski 1-39 yards, Taylor Brown 1-14 yards,
CROWN POINT - Auston Atherton 7-84 yards, TD; Travis Woosley 1-12 yards, TD; Chris Klein 1-10 yards, Pete Parks 1-4 yards, Nathan Haase 2-30 yards, Brad Qualizza 1-22 yards.

TOTAL YARDS:
CHESTERTON (248 net yards, 8 first downs and 0 turnovers)
CROWN POINT (258 net yards, 12 first downs and 3 turnovers)

TURNOVERS:

CHESTERTON (3) 1 fumble; CROWN POINT (5) 2 fumbles.


CROWN POINT (10-23-2009) If you've got to go down, you might as well go down in a blaze of glory.  That's one way to look at the Bulldogs' incredible fourth quarter comeback that almost resulted in the biggest win of the year, only to fall to Chesterton on a late game winning 20-yard field goal by sophomore place kicker Kyle Schmidt.

The final 16-13 score can only hint of the chain of events that played out on Bulldog Turf last Friday.  The game began with Chesterton taking advantage of prevailing southwesterly winds that were blowing at 17 mph and gusting to 23 mph.  The Trojans took advantage of having the wind to their backs through the first quarter en route to building a 13-0 lead.  Kyle Schmidt hit field goals of 46 and 44 yards, both coming after the Trojans recovered Bulldog fumbles.  The Chesterton touchdown scoring drive took just 4 plays covering 59 yards, with quarterback Jon Watson connecting with tall 6-foot-4 wide receiver Andrew Bobrowski for a 39-yard TD strike.

Crown Point finally got on the board when they had the wind to their backs in the second quarter, when the Bulldogs put together a nice 6-play, 70-yard drive that was capped by a 12-yard TD pass to junior wide receiver Travis Woosley.  Brett Bayer's PAT closed the gap to 13-7, a score which remained unchanged until the 4th quarter. 

However, Crown Point lost Woosley for the rest of the game on the ensuing kickoff, as he was covering Peter Fouts' 43-yard kick-off return.  Woosley had to be assisted off the field and appeared to suffer a knee injury.  Attempts by Crown Point to further close the gap in the second quarter was thwarted by two interceptions of Joe Hopman passes in Chesterton territory.

Crown Point finally pulled everything together in the fourth quarter after a punt and related penalty pinned the Bulldogs back on their own 5-yard line.  The Bulldogs put together a long 18-play drive into the wind, which had died down to sporadic gusts. A key play cameon a fake punt on 4th-and-9 from the CP-18 yard line where junior quarterback Joel Johnson took the snap and connected with junior tight end Brad Qualizza on a 22-yard pass that seemed to rejuvenate the Bulldogs and which kept the drive alive.  The pay-off came on a 3rd-and-goal play-action roll-out pass from Joe Hopman to Austin Atherton from 9-yards out.  That tied the game 13-13 with 4:34 left.  But the point after touchdown kick by Bret Bayer was affected by the southwesterly wind gusts and fluttered wide left of the uprights on the south end of the field.

Chesterton then took the ensuing kick-off and began a drive from their own 35-yard line  Keeping the ball on the ground for 12 consecutive plays, the trojans ate up 4:29 minutes of the clock and drove to the two yard line where Schmidt kicked his game-winning 20-yard field goal, leaving just 5.4 seconds on the clock.

A final attempt at heroics came as Austin Atherton took the kick-off from the 5 yard line to the 35 and just before being tackled, he pitched the ball back Spencer Rapchak, who was trailing the play, but who was also tackled at about the 30-yard line as time expired.

DOG NOTES:  The Bulldogs finish the season with a 3-7 record.  With the win over Crown Point, Chesterton will host Portage in the Class 5A, Sectional semifinal next Friday, Oct. 30.  Kick-off is at 7:00 p.m.  On the other side of the bracket, Lake Central avenged their opening season loss to Munster by beating the Mustangs 7-3 at the Burial Grounds Friday.  That means LC (2-8) will host Merrillville (9-1 after defeating Valparaiso 31-0 in round one) Oct. 30 at 7:00 p.m.


CLASS SECTIONAL ORDER YOUR INDIANA FOOTBALL DIGEST RECENT SEASONS
5A 1 E-MAIL CORRECTIONS MAP TO SCHOOL 3-7
TOURNAMENT HISTORY
CROWN POINT
BULLDOGS
Coach: Chip Pettit, 55-43 in 9th year at school, 60-48 in 10th year overall
DATE OPPONENT CENTRAL TIME OA 14.0, DA 26.6
Aug. 21 at Lowell {4A}   L   0-19  
Aug. 28 Hobart {4A}  W 14-  7  
Sep. 4 Merrillville {5A}   L 14-38  
Sep. 11 at Lake Central {5A}  W 23-21  
Sep. 18 at Portage {5A} L 22- 43  
Sep. 25 Valparaiso {5A} L 21- 56  
Oct. 2 LaPorte {5A} W 27-  7  
Oct. 9 at Chesterton {5A} 7:00 pm  
Oct. 16 Michigan City {5A} 7:00 pm  
Oct. 23 Chesterton {5A} L 13- 16  sectional
DUNELAND ATHLETIC CONFERENCE GAME
DUNELAND ATHLETIC
ALL TIMES CENTRAL
  CONF. PTS OPP ALL PTS OPP
Merrillville   7-  0 222   88     9-  1 297   151  
Chesterton   4-  3 187   142     7-  3 275   155  
LaPorte   4-  3 152   158     6-  4 254   226  
Michigan City   4-  3 147   121     6-  4 223   154  
Valparaiso   4-  3 195   134     5-  5 246   192  
Portage   3-  4 167   179     5-  5 255   214  
Crown Point   2-  5 113   224     3-  7 140   266  
Lake Central   0-  7 67   204     2-  8 98   235  
Friday, Oct. 23
Portage 42, East Chicago Central 0
Chesterton 16, Crown Point 13
Merrillville 31, Valparaiso 0
Lake Central 7, Munster 3
Elkhart Memorial 23, Michigan City 0
Mishawaka 27, LaPorte 14
Friday, Oct. 30
Portage at Chesterton, 7 pm
Merrillville at Lake Central, 7 pm
‡Conference game

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Revised: October 25, 2009 .