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5A No. 6 Crown Point (3-0)at Lake Central |
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Week
4 - Football Game of the Week Preview |
5A No. 6 Crown Point (3-0)at Lake Central |
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9-8-2005
When:
Friday, September 9, 2005.
Where: US 41, 1/4 mile south of US 30, St. John.
Tickets:
$5 .... But you need to get there before 6:30 p.m. or you'll be standing.
TV/Radio/Internet: www.USA-365.com. No over the air coverage (yet).
Weather: Mid-70s, Chance of rain. Good for mosquitoes. Far too warm for players.
Parking:
Crown Point will bring a large crowd. They are 3-0 and it's a 10-minute drive.
There is parking on all sides of the school building and (but you didn't hear it
from me) there are parking spaces in businesses on the east side of US 41 after
closing time. The school doesn't want kids crossing US
41 but if you show up late, that's your last option.
The series: Crown Point defeated Lake Central twice last season, taking the lead in the all-time series 24-22-1. These schools are arch rivals in some sports (baseball, softball, swimming) but oddly, football is not one of them. LC and CP were rivals in the old Lake Suburban Conference (LSC) from 1970 to 1992 but CP joined the Duneland Conference in 1993 while LC was left to go independent. LC's athletic program was hurt by the DAC taking 10 years to accept them after the breakup of the LSC. Football may have been hurt more than any other program. LC was a power when the LSC broke up and they were at a low ebb on the gridiron when they joined the DAC in 2003.
LC was 65-37 in the 1980s and 52-46-2 in the 70s but Lake Central is only 40 years old. LC became Lake Central in 1966 taking in the entire Tri-Town (Dyer, Schererville, St. John area). Before 1966, Lake Central was Dyer Central and the results were up-and-down. Dyer Central, which reportedly began football in 1949, was 7-1-2 in 1950 but 0-9 in 1953. The quick expansion of Dyer Central to cover the entire Tri-Town community indicates the rapid growth of the area bordering Illinois on both sides of Route 30 and east and west of US 41. Some of the problems with facilities LC has probably comes from the rapid growth of the school. Lake Central is a sleeping giant in football because of the school's size but new school buildings and major renovations at Crown Point, Hanover Central, Merrillville, Hebron and Lowell have taken migrating students from Illinois who formerly went to LC. A large percentage of Andrean students come from the LC school district. The long range future of LC is probably two schools because enrollment is still going up.
LC lost the 1993 state title game 34-27 to Bloomington South and they defeated CP 64-34 in 1998, the highest scoring NW Indiana game in state tournament history. But that's a distant memory as the Indians are coming off consecutive 1-9 seasons. Playing a wide-ranging independent schedule has hurt LC's fan base and probably hurt football turnouts. It was a positive that LC joined the Duneland Athletic Conference (DAC) in 2003 but they have lost the first 15 DAC games they've played. That's why a win over an undefeated Crown Point squad on their home field for their first-ever league victory would be a landmark night for Lake Central.
Junior varsity game: Lake Central at CP - Sat, Sept. 10 - 10 a.m.
Freshmen games: Merrillville at CP - Thurs. Sept. 10 - 6:00 p.m.; CP at Lake Central - Thurs. Sept. 15 - 6:00 p.m.
5A No. 6 Crown Point (3-0, 1-0 DAC)
Coach: Chip
Pettit (22-25, 5th year)
Enrollment:
2,190
Sectional
titles (2) 1981, 88
Regional
titles (1) 1988
2004
record: 4-7
Lost
Sectional 1 semifinal at home 34-19 to eventual
sectional
champion Merrillville.
Crown
Point Bulldogs (3-0)
8-19
(W) 16-6 at Lowell (1-2)
8-26
(W) 26-0 Hobart (2-1)
9-2
- (W) 13-0 Merrillville (2-1)
9-9
- at (5A) Lake Central (2-1)
9-16
- at (5A) Portage (2-1)
9-23
- (5A) Valparaiso (1-2)
9-30
- (5A) LaPorte (3-0)
10-7
- at (5A) Chesterton (0-3)
10-14
- (5A) Michigan City (3-0)
5A
Sectional 1 playoffs
10-21
(F) quarterfinals
10-28
(F) semifinals
11-4
(F) championship
Class 5A Lake Central (2-1, 0-1 DAC)
Coach: Bill Melby (1st year)
Enrollment: 2,743
Semi-State titles: (1) 1993
Regional titles: (1) 1993
Sectional titles (4) 1990, 93, 94, 99
2004 record: 1-9
Lost the 5A Sectional one quarterfinal 46-3 at Crown Point
Lake Central Indians (2-1)
8-19 (W) 17-6 at Goshen (1-2)
8-26 (W) 21-20 East Chicago (1-2)-
9-2 (L) 10-33 Portage (2-1)
9-9 - Crown Point (3-0)
9-16 at LaPorte (3-0)
9-23 MICHIGAN CITY (3-0)
9-30 at Chesterton (0-3)
10-7 Merrillville (2-1)
10-14 at Valparaiso (1-2)
5A Sectional 1 Playoffs
10-21 (F) quarterfinals
10-28 (F) semifinals
11-4 (F) championship
ST. JOHN - This is a tough game for Crown Point, which will be heavily favored on the road for the first time this season. LC's record is deceptive because they trailed Goshen 6-3 in the fourth quarter. They could be 0-3. They are still hungry for a meaningful win and, at home, they have a real chance here.
CP will continue to be conservative with the passing game as new QB Blake Mascarello (12-23, 221 yards, 0 TDs, 0 INTs) works against an LC defense that gave up five pass plays of 25 yards or longer last week. Neither Hobart, Lowell or Merrillville could run on CP. Merrillville got just 57 yards on 25 carries and those three perennially strong rushing teams totaled 179 yards on 83 carries. I would be very surprised if LC seriously tries to run the ball.
Indian junior QB PJ Gbur (15-34, 207 yards) will spread the defense with four and five receivers and find big Joe Wingis (6-5, 187) against the CP's linebacker-dominated '35' (three linemen-five linebacker) defense, which is the local prep football story of the year so far. Conventional logic says to run off tackle against the 3-5 but no one has been able to. Great running teams probably will eventually do that but LC is not a great running team. So the Indians want to get wide receivers on Bulldog linebackers and they will.
CP goes with a three-man secondary of Ryan Forney (5-8, 160), Jeremy Plummer (5-8, 155) and Jon Sertich (5-9, 170) and this could be the first night that someone mounts an all-out assault on the Bulldog deep backs. CP leading scorer Keiser will give CP a 6-0 lead with two first half field goals as blitzing LC linebackers Matt Foust (5-9, 200), Kenny Cook (6-0, 205) and Jeff Ruzich (5-9, 180), who has 30 tackles, slow the Bulldogs' scoring drives. Bulldog backs Jon Sertich (50 carries, 230 yards) and Donny Keiser (35 carries, 197 yards) have carried the ball on 85 of CP's 135 offensive plays (not counting punts) so there's no secret that CP wants to wait for a turnover or a favorable exchange of punts.
LC, which does not have 300 yards rushing all season, will throw 30 or 40 times in an attempt to wear out the CP defenders and find good coverage matchups. The Indians will take a lead on a pass from Gbur to Wingis but the Bulldogs will score on a long pass from Mascarello to Ryan Forney. Jon Sertich will gain 100 yards rushing and Keiser will boot a third field goal as CP wins the time of possession battle.
CP's takeaway-turnover ratio is 13-2 and while the 13 takeaways might be a little lucky, the two turnovers isn't. The Bulldogs know they have an ace field goal kicker in Keiser (7 goals in 11 attempts) and they don't call many plays which can result in turnovers. Without school-record breaking QB Matt Jansen and all-state wide receiver Matt Ernest (both out until October at least) unavailable, CP doesn't and shouldn't gamble much. LC needs a break early in this game, a CP fumble or a blocked punt. Without it, they are going be forced to try a high-risk attack.
One of CP's five linebackers will score the Bulldogs' first defensive TD of the season on a fumble or interception. LC has 10 turnovers in three games so odds are, they won't be mistake-free. Both teams will lack the emotion they had last week for the DAC opener and in hot weather, this could be an ugly, mistake-prone game. But Crown Point has too many quick defenders for Lake Central to put very many points on the board.