Lowell overcomes Rockies' 2nd half surge to win Sectional Semifinal 20-14 in Overtime

LOWELL (10-31-2008) - There are moments in high level athletic events when you realize you're seeing something out of the ordinary.  Undefeated Lowell led unbeaten Plymouth 7-0 midway in the third quarter when both teams suddenly showed a standing room only crowd why and how both had gotten to this point.  First Plymouth scored on 10 consecutive running plays to tie the game, and after quickly forcing a Lowell punt, drove 60 yards in three plays to take a 14-7 lead.

With their entire season on the line, Lowell immediately went 80 yards in five plays, the last one a dramatic 57-yard run where the Devils' Cody Midgett outran Plymouth's high speed cornerback Curtis Ivy, who was closing from across the field, to the goal line.

That sequence, which created a roller-coaster of emotions on both sidelines, set off a slugfest down the stretch worthy of a state final.  It was almost unfair for anyone to lose.  But a grandstand full of Halloween hometown fans sitting and standing in summer weather Friday saw an overtime interception by safety Ryan Russnak.  Then a TD run by Lowell star Brandon Grubbe gave the Devils a 20-14 victory in a classic Class 4A Sectional 10 semifinal game.

Lowell now hosts Clay (6-5), a 14-7 win over Northridge, in the November 7 sectional championship game, the end game in Lowell's quest for an almost unbelievable sixth consecutive sectional championship.  This was a memorable game where two big winning, senior-dominated teams had to stare the end of their season in the eye and come back fighting.

"That's why it takes a lot of courage to play this game," said a relieved Lowell coach Kirk Kennedy, looking at Plymouth players on their knees on the Lowell field trying to accept the narrow loss.  "Every time you put the uniform on, you could end up like that."

Some Plymouth boys put on the uniform for the last time, but if you've got to go, you might want your final game to be a match-up of undefeated teams in front of 3,000 fans on a perfect 60-degree weather night.  Two hard-hitting defenses forced 11 punts and that's with Plymouth going for the yardage three times on fourth down.  Lowell began the night averaging 36 points a game and Plymouth averaged 30, but it was obvious early that neither team was going to reach that level in this match-up of Top-10 teams.

"They're just like us," said Lowell linebacker David Eastling.  "They reminded me of us.  They're very physical.  Only difference is, they have a huge line."

Lowell's Justin Juarez, who got a headache from so much pounding as the Rockies ran the ball 47 times agreed. 

"They only had a couple of guys going both ways.  I think we have seven.  The fullback (John Popi) was just like a bowling ball.  It was a crazy game."

Lowell came ready to play.  Plymouth gained just two first downs in the entire first half and Lowell took the lead, driving 51 yards for a second quarter Brandon Grubbe 3-yard run after a short punt rolled dead at the Lowell 49-yard-line.  Had not Trent Keyser intercepted Lowell QB Kurt Monix at the Plymouth 47-yard-line, Lowell would have led 10-0 or 14-0 at halftime.

"I thought we played a really good first half," said Eastling.  "Except for a couple of penalties, we were great in the first half.  But they're a great team, too.  They came back strong."

"At the half, we talked about it," said Plymouth coach John Barron, who was calm at the end despite the painful defeat.  "Lowell was taking it to us and I asked them if they wanted to go out like this.  We didn't.  They started to play 'Rockie football' and play a little harder.  We had a heckuva third quarter.  But you've got to hand it to them.  They made plays when then they needed them."

"Midgett got away from us on a counter play.  In overtime we had trouble moving the ball.  The one thing you can't do in overtime is turn it over."

Plymouth, which gained 125 yards rushing in the third quarter, scored twice in a span of 2:32 minutes to lift the fairly-large red-clad Plymouth fans to their feet.  They seemed to be quicker than Lowell.

But on a 3rd-and-8 play at the Lowell 22, Grubbe, who gained 102 yards on 26 carries, squeezed out nine yards on a draw play.  The Red Devil first down seemed to give them new life. Grubbe, who is now over 1500 yards for the second consecutive season, then gained 12 yards to the Lowell 43.  On a quick misdirection play, Midgett, who carried the ball only three times all night, broke away off left tackle and outran a very quickly closing Ivy to the goal line.  Lowell only trailed for 1:42.

Lowell safety Ryan Russnak may have saved the game even before he intercepted Holloway's misguided overtime toss into the end zone.  Plymouth had a 4th-and-14 at the Lowell 30-yard-line with four minutes to play in the game and the score tied 14-14.  Holloway got decent pass protection and lifted a high-arching pass towards the goal line on the visitors' sidelines at the south end of the Lowell field.  Senior Brandon Elliott, a Division I baseball player, was slightly behind the Lowell defense and ready to catch a potential game-winning score.  But Lowell's Russnak (6-3, 180), in his first year as a defensive back, arrived on the scene  just in time to tip the ball away with his right hand.  It was almost a professional caliber defensive play.

"When you see a guy with number 54 on his back," smiled Barron, "you figure you can beat him over the top.  But he made the play.  Lowell's a good team.  There's a reason they've had all that success the past five years."

"He's always been a linebacker," said Eastling of Russnak.  "They put him at safety and he's done a lot.  It's crazy.  He's really impressed me."

Lowell continues to be impressive when you step back and look at the last few seasons.  Lowell's win pushed the Devils to 11-0 for the first time in school history.  Lowell has won 27 of the Devils' last 30 games and a sectional championship win over Clay would give Lowell six sectional champions in a row, the longest streak since Hobart won 19 consecutive sectionals from 1979-1997.  To win 17 consecutive sectional games in two different sectionals is as great a team achievement as you're going to find in Northwest Indiana high school team sports.  Six consecutive sectional titles is probably a bigger deal for the Lowell football program than even the 2005 state title.

"We haven't won the sectional yet," reminded Lowell defensive coordinator Jim Carlson of this season.  "I know the people sometimes have to look ahead, but I just don't want to think about it.  I learned a long time ago you have to play one game at a time."

SECTIONAL NOTES:  The Red Devils' sectional championship streak is a very big deal to Lowell's players.  Since the Devils have won five sectionals in a row, the sectional championship has almost become a minimum requirement for a Lowell varsity player.

"If we'd have lost tonight," said Justin Juarez, "I don't know if I'd even have been in school for a couple of days.  I don't know if I could have shown my face.  This was awesome.  It felt like the sectional championship at Hobart a couple of years ago."

Plymouth was very impressive.  They did not fumble once in 47 running plays and they hit hard all night.  The Devils extended themselves full out for more than 60 minutes to survive.  While local fans worry about other local teams, coaches lose sleep over teams outside the area.

"You work all week on what you think will work," said Kirk Kennedy, "based on what you see on film.  With the teams we play every year, you know pretty much what will work.  But with teams you don't play regularly, you don't know how big they are or how fast they are.  How hard they hit.  You don't know until the game starts.  Everything you worked on all week might go right out the window.  You've got to have a 'Plan B' and a 'Plan C' and a 'Plan D'."

I hesitate to say this, because we're not supposed to be looking ahead.  But there is an outside chance that Lowell won't have to play on the road again this season.  The Devils host the sectional championship game against Clay on Friday, Nov. 7.  If they win and Griffith wins at home, as expected, over Morton, the regional championship will be Nov. 14 in Lowell, according to the IHSAA's often confusing playoff structure.  Why?  Because both Lowell and Griffith will have played their final two sectional games at home and the tiebreaker then is the higher number sectional.  Lowell is in Sectional 10.  Griffith in Sectional 9.

At that point, the Devils would need a monumental, but not impossible, upset to play the 4A Northern Semistate at home on Nov. 21.  Delta (11-0) would have to eliminate second-ranked Bishop Dwenger (11-0) at Delta on Nov. 14.  If Lowell were to then beat Griffith, Lowell would host Delta.  Why?  Because Lowell and Delta both would have hosted regional title games and the semistate tie breaker is the LOWER sectional number.  Lowell is Sectional 10 and Delta is Sectional 12.

Understand that twisted IHSSA logic only works for Lowell in exactly the way I just described it.  If Morton beats Griffith, Lowell plays the regional title game on the artificial turf at Morton on Nov. 14.  There is very little chance that Lowell could host Bishop Dwenger, the team they defeated in the 2007 4A Northern Semistate title game.  Not only would Morton have to beat Griffith, a school the Governors have not defeated since disco.  But Muncie South would also have to upset Delta, a team that crushed them 40-7 in September.

The last overtime game Lowell played in was on Sept. 7, 2001 when they lost 24-21 at Highland.  The last playoff overtime game goes back to Oct. 22, 1999 when the Devils came from behind in overtime to win at Highland 20-17.  The Devils lost an overtime regular season game 15-14 at North Judson on Aug. 30, 1996.

In overtime, Plymouth fullback John Popi was stopped for no gain by David Eastling and Ray Skamay on first downs before halfback Austin Hodges was held to two yards on a sweep. Eastling also was in on that tackle.  On third down, Plymouth QB Gordy Holloway, who was 0-for-7 on the night, threw a risky pass into the end zone, which Russnak intercepted and ran downfield as if the rules allowed him to return an overtime pass (they don't) for a TD.

Lowell ran Brandon Gruibbe three times, gaining three, five and then the final two yards over right guard and tackle, which is Justin Juarez (6-3, 227) and Nick Schultz (6-0, 238).  Lowell tried a couple of trick plays, including a halfback pass with sophomore Justin Juarez and a 'throw back' pass from Brandon Grubbe to quarterback Kurt Monix.  Both were dismal failures.

"The throw back was open," insisted Kennedy, who watched the pass being under-thrown considerably.  "Even back in the 90s when we tried those plays a lot we never seem to have much success with them."


Freshman QB Justin Laureys tossed two TD passes, the second to all-South Bend area star Danny Smith (6-4, 190) with 6:11 to play Friday to give Clay a 14-7 victory over Northridge in the other Class 4A Sectiional 10 semifinal.  Laureys was 11 of 18 for 137 yards with two TDs and two Interceptions.  Smith, who is also a basketball starter for Clay coach (the former East Chicago coach) Joe Huppenthal, caught six passes for 69 yards.

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Revised: November 05, 2008 .