Week
2 - Football Game of the Week PreviewCrown Point (0-1) at Hobart (1-0) |
8-27-2008
When: Friday, August 29, 2008
Where: Hobart's Brickie Bowl - Hobart Middle School - 36 East 8th St, Hobart, IN
Tickets: $5
TV/Radio/Internet: WKIF (92.7) FM, WWLO (89.1) FM, www.USA-365.com
Weather:
Disappointing. Some of the early
part of the week was cooler, but
Friday's high will be in the
mid-80s, which means a very warm
mid-70s at kickoff. There's no
one to blame. It's still
mid-summer on the calendar. But
it's going to be about 15 degrees
warmer than the boys need it to
be and what's warm at Crown
Point is even warmer in the Brickie Bowl, which is truly a
bowl, set down below ground. Players are going to need a
lot of ice water again on this
night and all backups need to be
ready to go in at any moment.
JV game:
Saturday, Aug. 30 at Hobart - 10:00
a.m.
Freshmen:
Thursday, Sept. 4 at Crown Point - 6:00 p.m.
Numbers: Crown Point
- Class 5A, enrollment 2,510;
Hobart - 4A, enrollment 1,315
Parking: Sorry.
There isn't
any.
Hobart's old stadium is tucked
away in a neighborhood near the
center of town. You are going to
have to find a spot on the
streets that doesn't block anybody's driveway. There is a
grassy hill south of the bowl
behind the railroad tracks that
can be used if it doesn't rain.
I use that because the walk over
the railroad tracks (the tracks
that run behind the visitors
grandstand) to the stadium is a
visual highlight.
Try to avoid blocking someone's
driveway and do the best you
can. One group of people that
will be VERY happy with the new
Hobart high school that's set to
open in January are the
residents of the area around the
Brickie Bowl. The people I've
talked to over the years
consider simply leaving the
neighborhood on football night
because of the kids, the cars and
the noise. There's a bank
drive-up parking lot a couple of
block from the Bowl, but don't
let me kid you. There is no
parking lot here and there never
has been.
The SERIES: Hobart has
dominated this 58-game series
45-11-2 even though in
the 1980s, when Hobart was at
its football peak, CP was not in
the Duneland Athletic Conference
and rarely saw Hobart. CP
didn't miss them. In the
1970s, CP was 0-10 against the
Brickies and they
were 0-4-1 against the Brickies in the 60s.
It was long CP walk with a drink
of water for most of the second
half of the 20th Century. After
a 27-13 CP win in October of
1952, Crown Point did not defeat
Hobart for 46 years until CP won
24-7 on Sept. 11, 1998.
Crown Point high school existed decades before Hobart did, but Hobart has always been a football powerhouse. Hobart, Indiana goes back almost 160 years and the football teams' nickname is more traditional than I thought it was. Hobart was founded by a man named George Earle who bought 3,000 acres of land from the early Potawatomi Indians in the mid 1800s in what is now Hobart and Lake Station. Earle was an architect and house builder in Cornwall, England and he came to America to fulfill a contract to build new brick houses in the new country.
Originally targeting a place he'd heard from in west Lake County called Liverpool on the Deep River, Earle bought land there in the hopes that would be the County Seat. When the county seat moved to Crown Point, Earle began developing an area five miles south of Liverpool (there is a Liverpool road that splits Hobart to this day) and settled, building a dam across Deep River and a saw mill. George Earle named the town in honor of his brother, Fred Earle. Fred Earle's middle name was Hobart.
Hobart has always been a 'blue collar' town, known for its production of brick, pottery and later lumber. The original Brickyard was the Kulage Brick Works, established in the 1880s. The brickyard ran along where Lake Park Avenue is in Hobart now. The Pennsylvania Railroad (now the CF & E Railroad) that runs behind the Brickie Bowl, used to carry bricks to Valparaiso and Chicago. No other Indiana school, or any school in the country that in know of, is called the Brickies. But the name not only refers to boys who worked in the brickyards in the early part of the 20th Century (as I have thought for years), the founder of Hobart actually made bricks and that's why he came here and started the town. To build brick houses. In some respects, everyone who is a long time descendent of a Hobart resident is a Brickie.
Hobart and CP were within
500 students of each other in
enrollment 30 years ago, but now, CP
is twice the size of Hobart. The football results reflect
that. Since CP joined the DAC in
1993, Hobart leads the series 8-7
and the Bulldogs have won seven
of the last 10 games.
This is Crown Point's final
visit to Hobart's Brickie
Bowl, the 69-year-old
neighborhood stadium that was
the home to Hobart's four
(1987, 89, 91 and 93) state
football champions. When CP plays
at Hobart in 2010, it will be at
˜the Brickyard", Hobart's
new 5,500-seat stadium being
constructed on the campus of the
new $84 million dollar Hobart
high school at the south end of
town. So us old folks
might want to take a lot of pictures of the Mecca of Indiana high school
football this Friday night.
Coaching icons Don Howell
(314-73-2, 33 years) and Russ
Deal (114-49-6, 18 years) helped
the small Lake County town
southeast of Gary's steel mills
roll up an incredible all-time
record of 536-244-19 in high
school football. The Brickie
Bowl, built in the post World
War I era, was a feared place to
play in the 60s, 70s and 80s.
After struggles in the mid-90s, Hobart coach Wally McCormack and his staff have
been able to lift the Brickies back to state power with big winning seasons in
2004 (9-2), 2006 (10-2) and in 2007 (8-4).
I believe that moving into the new high school will increase the population of Hobart, which is said to be about 25,000. Families like new high schools and they want to live near them. I can see a day when Hobart returns to the Duneland Athletic Conference, because I can see a day when Hobart gets back over the 1,500-student level.
When Indiana football's class 6A comes about in 2009, Hobart will probably be a large 4A, which will be a tremendous boost to their post-season hopes. I can also see a day (not soon) when River Forest high school closes, which would boost Hobart's enrollment to nearly the 2,000 mark. Hobart's bold move to build a new school and to spare little expense means the city will continue to be one of the tradition-rich jewels of Northwest Indiana.
But unless we go back to the county seat debate in 1840, I can't make up some deep rivalry between Crown Point and Hobart. Recent games have been competitive. CP's 22-20 win on a late field goal by Michael Lipton is indicative of the last 15 games, which more often than not, have been worth battling for a rare Brickie Bowl parking spot to see.
Crown Point Bulldogs (0-1)
Head varsity coach Chip Pettit,
49-29 (8th year)
DAC games in CAPs
8-22 (L) 0-1 Lowell
(1-0)
8-29 (F) at
Hobart (1-0)
9-5 (F) at MERRILLVILLE
(0-1)
9-12 (F) LAKE CENTRAL (1-0)
9-19 (F) PORTAGE (1-0)
9-26 (F) at VALPO (1-0)
10-3 (F) at LaPORTE (1-0)
10-10 (F)
CHESTERTON (1-0)
10-17 (F) at
MICHIGAN CITY (1-0)
5A Sectional 1
10-24 (F) quarterfinals vs. LC,
Valpo, Portage, Munster,
Chesterton, Michigan City or
MERRILLVILLE
10-31 (F) 5A Sectional
semifinals
11-7 (F) 5A Sectional 1 final
11-14 (F) 5A Regional
11-21 (F) Northern 5A Semistate
championship
11-29 (S) 2008
Class 5A state championship (7:00
p.m. EST) - Lucas Oil
Arena - downtown Indianapolis
Hobart
Brickies (1-0)
Coach Wally McCormack (48-23)
6th year
Northwest Crossroads games in
CAPs
8-22 (F) 40-13 West Side (0-1)
8-29 (F) CROWN POINT (0-1)
9-5 (F) GRIFFITH (1-0)
9-12 (F) at KANKAKEE VALLEY
(0-1)
9-19 (F) ANDREAN (0-1)
9-26 (F) at LOWELL (1-0)
10-3 (F) at MUNSTER (0-0)
10-10 (F) Morton (0-1)
10-17 (F) HIGHLAND (0-1)
Class 4A Sectional 9
10-24 (F) quarterfinals vs. Morton, Gary
West Side, Highland, East
Chicago, Hammond, Griffith or LW.
10-31 (F) Sectional one
semifinals
11-7 (F) Sectional one
championship
11-14 (F) 4A Regional
championship
11-21 (F) Northern 4A Semistate championship
11-29 (S) 2008 Class 4A state
championship - Lucas Oil Arena
(4:00 p.m. EST) - downtown
Indianapolis
Bulldogs wide receiver Nate Haverstock (1) caught three passes for 38 yards against Lowell, 8-22-2008. (All photos by Mark Smith) |
Crown Point junior pass rusher Steven Strong (94) putting pressure on Lowell QB Kurt Monix (2), 8-22-2008. (All photos by Mark Smith) |
Crown Point head football coach Chip Pettit and offensive coordinator Brett St. Germain in the Bulldog sidelines, 8-22-2008. |
KEYS TO THE GAME:
1. Hobart four-year veteran
receiver Bobby James
Hobart wants to get the ball to big senior receiver Bobby James (6-3, 220), who caught 41 passes for 639 yards last year. He'll split wide and word is, this season he's lining up in the tight end slot, which is probably his college position. The key is to rush QB Matt Barras (74 of 135, 1,302 yards in 2007) and make him throw bad balls. CP has a good secondary, but they don't have one player who can stop James. The Bulldogs need to put a linebacker over him, not only to try to defeat his blocking, but to keep him from getting off the line on pass plays.
The Bulldogs have a lot of
quickness defensively to rush
the QB and that's how they'll
stop Bobby James. You don't want
to defend good passes to good
receivers. You want to try to
stop bad passes to good
receivers.
2. Be more conservative than
the FOX NEWS network
This is a night when you
probably take the field goal on
4th-and-1. Not only do both
Crown Point (Michael Lipton) and
Hobart (Michael Josifovski) have
good kickers, but both teams
have new running backs and
offensive line issues. Hobart
won't make a living throwing 25
times into the CP secondary and
CP quarterback Marcus Shrewsbury
is a better runner than passer. I just cant see either side
blowing a fuse in the Brickie
Bowl scoreboard with frequent
touchdowns.
3. Play hungry
That might be a motto for CP all season. The Bulldogs have a lot of seniors who are starting for the first time. They want to get the most out of every week, much less a game in the prestigious Brickie Bowl. Hobart has lost three in a row to Crown Point and the seniors have to see this CP team as beatable. They're tired of losing to the Bulldogs. Plus, there may be an unsaid goal for Hobart to go undefeated at home in their final season in the Brickie Bowl.
CROWN
POINT (0-1) at Hobart (1-0)
Sagarin
computer rating: Crown Point by 3
HOBART (8-29-2009) The Sagarin ratings are usually off early in the year, but they may have this one slotted pretty well. This is truly Hobart's season opener since the match with West Side is rarely competitive. I think CP always has an edge playing the Brickies because Hobart's opener is a walk-over, while CP opens with a state-rated school. This is also Hobart's final home opener at the Brickie Bowl, so they will play with great enthusiasm, especially early. The Brickies may be able to overpower the CP defensive front and score early so the Bulldogs will have to rally on this night.
A TD by Cory Talian will make it 7-0 and field goals from Hobart's Mike Josifovski and Crown Point's Michael Lipton will make it 10-3 at halftime in a game that the Brickies control.
Look for the Bulldogs to tie the game at the start of the second half, probably on a QB run by Marcus Shrewsbury, who will have limited success passing against an athletic Hobart secondary. But Hobart's combination of QB Matt Barras and wide receiver Bobby James will hook up to boost the home team to a 17-10 edge.
CP's depth matters and in the heat, the Bulldogs will take control of the game in the late going. CP will find simple offense in multiple runs by Shrewsbury and Nick Bruno, plus key short passes to Mike Kozlowski.
CP will mount multiple second half drives, but they will not be able to push the ball into the end zone due to their inexperienced front. As the score narrows, the Brickies will become conservative and a long kick return by Nate Haverstock will set up CP for a Lipton boot to cut the lead to 17-16 in the fourth quarter.
The CP defense will hold on downs, and after a ball control drive, Lipton will connect again, from about 35 yards out. I'm seeing a dramatic finish with Hobart throwing deep into the CP secondary repeatedly as time runs out.
Truthfully, many signs point Hobart to winning this game and had CP won the season opener, I'd have picked the Brickies this Friday. This game is that close. But nothing motivates like defeat and CP is desperate this week. They cannot be 0-2 going to Merrillville, or odds are they'll be 0-3.
In a game dominated by punters and place-kickers, CP survives for their first win of the season.
CROWN POINT 19, Hobart 17