Hammond Morton wins 42-41 in overtime at Lowell, following
90-minute rain delay

A USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith

09-02-2014

 

Team 1 2 3 4 OT F
Hammond Morton (2-0) 7 14 14 0 7 42
LOWELL (0-2) 14 0 13 8 6 41

Friday, August 29, 2014 -  (90-minute rain delay) 75 degrees, humid in LOWELL, Ind.

Morton's Bryan Tate (23) chases Lowell's Trevor Espravnik (13) in Friday night's overtime game in Lowell. The Devils and Governors combined for over 800 total yards. (All Photos by Mark Smith)
Ike James (32) comes to the sidelines after scoring one of his four touchdowns against Morton. James has five TDs in Lowell's first two weeks.
Morton sophomore QB Tevin Armstrong (7) runs into the secondary on the option play.
Armstrong also rushed for four TDs in Friday night's game at Lowell.  (
All photos by Mark Smith)
Lowell offensive coordinator Jim Carlson gives the play call to senior quarterback Zach Bobos (18). Bobos threw the game-tying fourth quarter touchdown 18 yards to Austin Belt, tying Friday's game 35-35 and sending it to overtime.
Lowell senior Rob McInnis (69) played on the offensive and defensive line through four quarters and overtime Friday. The Devils scored 41 points but fell short on the game's final play.
A Lowell boy tries to explain to a Lowell girl how they could still be here at the football game at 11 o'clock. After a weather delay of almost two hours, Morton and Lowell played a 2-1/2 hour overtime game with the visiting Governors winning 42-41. (All photos by Mark Smith)

1st Qtr: MORTON (7-0) Tevin Armstrong, 35-yard run. 65 yard drive, 5 plays after the opening kickoff. Brandon Grasha kick. 9:23 left.
LOWELL (7-7)
Ike James, 6-yard run. 70 yard drive, 2 plays. Colton Wilkey kick. 8:43 left.
LOWELL (7-14)
Ike James, 62-yard run. 66 yard drive, 2 plays. Wilkey kick. 2:58 left.

2nd QtrMORTON (14-14) Tevin Armstrong, 5-yard run. 74 yard drive, 11 plays. Grasha kick. 3:47 left.
MORTON (21-14)
Tevin Armstrong, 1-yard run. 67 yard drive, 5 plays. Grasha kick. 1:05 left.
3rd Qtr: LOWELL (21-21) Ike James, 9-yard run. 65-yard drive, 4 plays. Wilkey kick. 10:28 left.
MORTON (28-21)
Devin McHenry, 34-tyard pass from Nick Przespolewski. 66-yard drive, 7 plays. Grasha kick. 6:53 left.
LOWELL (28-27)
Ike James, 1-yard run. 60-yard drive, 12 plays. Kick wide. :00 left.

4th QtrMORTON (35-27) Tevin Armstrong, 5-yard run. 48 yard drive, 5 plays. Grasha kick. 9:52 left.
LOWELL (35-35)
Austin Belt, 18-yard pass from Zach Bobos. 54-yard drive, 6 plays, 2-point conversion pass Bobos to Belt. 7:03 left.
1st OVERTIME: MORTON (42-35)
Mark Snorton, 10-yard run (1st down) Grasha kick.
LOWELL (41-42)
Darion Hornickel, 9-yard run (4th down) Run failed.
 

RUSHING:
MORTON (40 carries, 213 yards, 4 TDs): Tevin Armstrong (QB) 14-85 yards, 4 TDs; Mark Snorton (HB) 16-102 yards, TD; Nick Przespolewski (QB) 3- (minus-8) 3 sacks); Devin McHenry (HB) 1-1 yard.

LOWELL (45 carries, 335 yards, 5 TDs, one fumble):
Ike James (HB) 38 carries, 256 yards, 4 TDs;
Darion Hornickel (QB) 2-73, TD; Zach Bobos (QB) 1 (minus-80) one sack; Trevor Espravnik (HB) 3 (minus-3) yards.

PASSING:

MORTON: Tevin Armstrong (QB) 2 of 2, 21 yards' Nick Przespolewski (QB) 8 of 13, 207 yards;
LOWELL: Zach Bobos (QB) 2-for-2, 15 yards, TD; Darion Hornickel (QB) 1 of 4, 16 yards.

RECEIVING:
MORTON: Jarrett Dicket (WR) 6-139 yards, Mark Snorton (HB) 1-52 yards,
Devin McHenry (WR) 1-34 yards, Jerome Donald (WR) 2-16 yards.

LOWELL: Ike James (WR) 1-3 yards; Austin Belt (WR) 2-34 yards, TD.

TURNOVERS:

MORTON (1) fumbled punt; LOWELL (1) fumble.


LOWELL (08-29-2014) Sitting through a 90-minute rain and lightning delay on a warm, humid late summer Friday night, a lot of us wondered what we were still doing at Lowell late Friday. Was it was really football season yet? About 11 p.m., those of us who remained all agreed that it was.

The big dogs definitely walked late in the evening as Morton and Lowell traded big plays until bedtime. In a memorable game that came down to one play, Morton's defense stopped Lowell halfback Ike James on a two-point conversion deep in the night and the Class 4A No. 7 Governors escaped south Lake County with a hard-earned 42-41 victory.

Morton had been almost unstoppable all night and had taken a 42-35 lead on a 10-yard first down, first play of overtime run by senior rushing star Mark Snorton. Lowell struggled in their first three tries to reply, but finally did score on a tackle breaking fourth down run by junior quarterback Darion Hornickel.

With about 500 of the original crowd still in the stands and the midnight hour close at hand, Lowell coach Keith Kilmer decided the game would end right here one way or another.

As the remaining night owls rose to their feet, Lowell called power running play to the right side. James, the 175-pound junior who had run for over 250 yards, seemed to slip as he was confronted by senior safety Davion Haywood and outside linebacker Anthony Brison, who knocked him down to end the 2-1/2 hour game.

"That was a really cool," said Morton coach Roy Richards, who saw his team win in Lowell for the first time in six years.

"That was really something. We were down. They got the momentum and we were playing their pace. We won't, but you could easily be over there talking to them about the two-point play if they'd have gotten in."

Lowell coach Keith Kilmer isn't happy about being 0-2 for the second season in a row, both times after close losses to undefeated teams Crown Point and Morton.

"I'm not a moral victory kind of guy," he noted. "But we'll be a good football team when it matters."

Kilmer said there wasn't much question Lowell was going for the two-point conversion in overtime.

"I thought he did," said Kilmer of whether James lost his footing before being stopped on the two-point carry. "But he played with so much heart tonight. I'll take it. We weren't going to stop them and we didn't have too many plays left in us offensively."

"So we were going for two. Our bread and butter player. I didn't know how close it was."

Morton scored in five plays after the opening kick-off with Tevin Armstrong running 35 yards for the score. Lowell came back when junior QB Darion Hornickle broke away for a 64-yard run to the Morton 6-yard-line and James scored one play later to tie the game 7-7.

Morton punted and Lowell took the lead when James, who has gained 350 yards in his first two games as Lowell's halfback, broke loose for a 62-yard TD run.

In the second quarter, Morton, which topped Griffith 50-15 in week one, tied the game on a 5-yard option run by Armstrong. The Governors took a 21-14 lead when Przespolewski fired a 51-yard pass to top receiver Jarrett Dickey, who was caught from behind at the Lowell 2-yard-line. Armstrong then scored his third TD of the half on the next play.

Lowell tied the game quickly in the third quarter, driving 64 yards in four plays, all runs by James. But Morton then regained the lead, going 66 yards in seven plays with Przespolewski firing a 34-yard TD pass behind the Lowell defense to junior Devin McHenry.

By this time, drifting past 10 p.m. the remaining crowd caught on to the fact that they were seeing a total shootout.

Lowell drove 60 yards in 12 plays, including 11 runs by James (5-11, 175), who scored to cut the Morton lead to 28-27 on the final play of the third quarter. A bad snap contributed to a missed extra point, leaving Morton in the lead.

The Governors' Dickey ran the kickoff back to the Morton 48-yard-line and the Governors scored again in five plays. Armstrong recorded his fourth TD of the night from five yards out for a 35-27 lead with 9:52 left.

But Lowell's Austin Belt ran the ensuing kickoff back to the Morton 46. On 3rd-and-9 from the Morton 16, Lowell senior QB Zach Bobos rolled out to his right and fired a 23-yard TD pass to Belt with 7:03 left.

The two-point conversion was the same play-action pass combination and the game was tied 35-35.

Both teams could have won in dramatic fashion at this point. A controversial fumbled punt (Morton argued that the Lowell special team players interfered with the kick returner) gave the Devils the ball at the Morton 37 with two minutes to go.

Lowell gained one first down, but as they tried to run the clock down and get the ball in the middle of the field for a game winning field goal of about 30 yards, James was hit hard and fumbled. It appeared that DeMario Johnson, who scooped the ball up, stumbled to the ground or he'd have run the length of the field to win for the Governors with just 13 seconds to go.

In the overtime, Mark Snorton, who was over 100 yards rushing for the second week in a row, scored easily on a 10-yard run for a 42-35 lead. Hornickel broke three tackles on his fourth down run to make it 42-41 before Morton stopped James to end the game. The Governors have some work to do defensively, but it's going to take a mighty defense to shut them down.

"It helps when you have playmakers like Jarret (Dickey) and Mark (Snorton) and Devin (McHenry) and those two quarterbacks," said Richards.

Morton's two quarterback system ran flawlessly on this night with sophomore option specialist Tevin Armstrong (14 carries, 85 yards) running for first downs and touchdowns and senior passer Nick Prezespolewski (8 of 13, 207 yards) going over the top for big plays.

Lowell felt they defensed Crown Point well the week before in a 24-10 loss. The Devils didn't slow down Morton very often.

"I scratch my head as to why other teams don't do it," said Richards of his two quarterback rotation. "You do it with running backs and you do it with guards. Why not with quarterbacks? You have a fresh one every other play. If one gets hurt, you don't have a problem. If one gets sick during the week, you lose nothing in practice. And they're never both seniors so you always have one returning."

"Nick throws a good ball and Tevin is really a scatback out there. It's a good combination."

Lowell is using a two quarterback rotation with senior Zach Bobos and junior Darion Hornickel. The idea from a Red Devil standpoint is that both of them are linebackers as well.

Bobos threw for a TD against Morton while Hornickel ran for one.

"This week they made me look like a genius," said Kilmer. "Last week everybody thought I was crazy."

Lowell went with a new offensive line alignment as well with Cody Munster at center and sophomore Max Steward (6-0, 205) and Mitch Sacco (6-0, 238).

The Devils had some absences in the lines (Andrew Fallon, Alex Wiler and Nino Vasquez) and the backfield was lesser for Friday when Gordon Sharkey left the team and Jeremy Suroweic missed Friday's game with illness.

But there was a feeling that the Devils found combinations and rotations that worked, especially on offense.

"We had two kids making their first varsity start against Morton," said Kilmer. "I haven't seen the tape obviously, but I think they did OK. We had some adversity this week. The kids had to deal with it and I think they came well."

"We're going to be a really good football team in four or five weeks."

DEVIL NOTES:
Friday's game was nearly postponed when lightning was still flashing in the eastern skies an hour after the scheduled 7 p.m. starting time.

But neither team wanted to comeback at 5 p.m. Saturday (the projected postponement replay time) and with favorable weather radar, everybody concerned waited out the lightning. The 2-1/2 hour games was played on a damp field, but with no further rain or lightning problems.

Five northwest Indiana games were postponed or suspended from Friday to Saturday.

Morton looks different on offense. They use a tight end more and a closed formation which is meant to give the quarterback time to run misdirection and counter plays.

Richards emphasized how close Lowell and Morton appear to be and how even he expects the Class 4A Sectional 9 rematch to be this post-season.

"Realistically, we're 2-0," he said, "and they're 0-2 but we're both maybe a yard and a half from being 1-1. We'll see each other in November. That one play won't determine who wins when we play in November.

"I went to school on myself," Richards said. "I thought we'd gotten a little stale. Teams were running us down from behind. We were spreading teams out, but we weren't getting to the point of attack. Now with the extra tight end (on the back side) it solidifies the formation and allows us to get into our counter without getting chased."

In the last quarter century, Lowell football has been 0-2 four times (1991, 1992, 2011, 2013) and they were 0-3 just once: 1991. Lowell was 0-2 last season and finished the year at 6-4.


 
CLASS SECTIONAL JOHN HARRELL'S INDIANA HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL RECENT SEASONS
4A 17 E-MAIL CORRECTIONS MAP TO SCHOOL 0-2
TOURNAMENT HISTORY
LOWELL
RED DEVILS
Coach: Keith Kilmer, 22-20 in 5th year at school
DATE OPPONENT CENTRAL TIME OA 25.5, DA 33.0
Aug. 22 at Crown Point {6A}   L 10-24   
Aug. 29 Hammond Morton {4A} ot  L 41-42   
Sep. 5 Kankakee Valley {4A} 7:00 pm   
Sep. 12 at Griffith {4A} 7:00 pm   
Sep. 19 at Highland {4A} 7:00 pm   
Sep. 26 Hobart {4A} 7:00 pm   
Oct. 3 at Hammond {3A} 7:00 pm   
Oct. 10 Munster {5A} 7:00 pm   
Oct. 17 at Andrean {3A} 7:00 pm   
NORTHWEST CROSSROADS CONFERENCE GAME

 

CLASS SECTIONAL JOHN HARRELL'S INDIANA HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL RECENT SEASONS
4A 17 E-MAIL CORRECTIONS MAP TO SCHOOL 2-0
TOURNAMENT HISTORY
HAMMOND MORTON
GOVERNORS
Coach: Roydon Richards, 110-64 in 16th year at school, 133-89 in 21st year overall
DATE OPPONENT CENTRAL TIME OA 46.0, DA 28.0
Aug. 22 Griffith {4A}  W 50-15   
Aug. 29 at Lowell {4A} ot W 42-41   
Sep. 5 at Hammond Clark {4A} 7:00 pm   
Sep. 12 Hammond {3A} 7:00 pm   
Sep. 19 at Munster {5A} 7:00 pm   
Sep. 26 East Chicago Central {4A} 7:00 pm   
Oct. 3 Gary West {4A} 7:00 pm   
Oct. 10 at Hobart {4A} 7:00 pm   
Oct. 17 at Hammond Gavit {4A} 7:00 pm   
GREAT LAKES CONFERENCE GAME

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Revised: September 02, 2014 .