Bulldogs match LaPorte score for score and more, capitalize on fumble for 35-28 win over Slicers

A USA-365.com Special Report by Dave Woodworth

10-06-2008

Friday, October 3, 2008,  51 degrees, dry, DAC at LaPORTE, IN

1st Qtr:  LaPORTE (7-0)  Carlton Austin, 26-yard TD run. 72 yard drive, 17 plays, 8:05 min. Time of Possession (TOP).  Keegan Parker kick.  3:55 left.
2nd Qtr:  CROWN POINT (7-7)  Evan Nikrin 1-yard TD run.  65 yard drive, 8 plays, 5:03 min. TOP.  Michael Lipton kick.  10:46 left.
LaPORTE (14-7) Dustin Demuth, 69-yard broken play TD run.  73-yard drive, 3 plays, 1:01 min. TOP.  Parker kick. 9:38 left.
CROWN POINT (14-14)  Danny Osojnicki, 24-yard TD pass from Marcus Shrewsbury.  90-yard drive, 7 plays, 4:15 min TOP.  Lipton kick.  5:23 left.
LaPORTE  (21-14) Carlton Austin, 67-yard TD run. 67-yard drive, 1 play, 11 sec. TOP.  Parker kick.  5:09 left.
3rd Qtr:  CROWN POINT (21-21) Evan Nikrin, 4-yard TD run.  67-yard drive, 8 plays, 4:00 min TOP.  Lipton kick.  7:53 left.
4th Qtr:  CROWN POINT (28-21) Marcus Shrewsbury, 8-yard TD run.  60-yard drive, 10 plays following CP fumble recovery from LaPorte's Bryce Holland, 5:42 min. TOP.  Lipton kick.  9:25 left.
LaPORTE  (28-28) Bryce Holland, 3-yard TD run. 76-yard drive, 12 plays, 6:45 min. TOP.  Parker kick.  2:40 left.
CROWN POINT (35-28) Shrewsbury, 7-yard TD run.  63-yard drive, 7 plays, 2:10 min. TOP.  Lipton kick. 0:30 left.
 

GAME TOTALS
TOTAL YARDS:   CROWN POINT - 417, LaPORTE  - 393
AVERAGE GAIN PER PLAY:  CROWN POINT - 8.7, LaPORTE - 8.2
FIRST DOWNS:  CROWN POINT - 22, LaPORTE  - 17
TIME OF POSSESSION:  CROWN POINT - 24:37;  LaPORTE - 23:23
TURNOVERS:  CROWN POINT - 0, LaPORTE - 1

RUSHING:
CROWN POINT (38-266 yards, 4 TDs)  Evan Nikrin (HB) 18-114 yards, 2 TDs; Marcus Shrewsbury (QB) 13-106 yards, 2 TD; Nick Bruno (TB) 5-43 yards; Mike Kozlowski (HB) 2-3 yards;
 
  LaPORTE (38-329 yards, 4 TDs) Carlton Austin (RB) 25-196, 2 TDs; Dustin Demuth (QB) 3-81, TD; Bryce Holland (RB) 10-52 yards, TD.

PASSING:
CROWN POINT (7-10, 151 yards, TD, 0 INT)  Marcus Shrewsbury (QB) 7-10, 151 yards, TD, 0 INT.
LaPORTE (4-10, 65 yards)  Dustin Demuth (QB) 4-10, 65 yards, 0 TD, 0 INT.

RECEIVING:
CROWN POINT: Danny Osojnicki (WR) 6-117 yards, TD;  Evan Nikrin (HB) 1-34.
LaPORTE:  Scott Vaughn (WR) 1-25 yards; Bryce Holland (HB) 1-20 yards, Bret Wade (WR) 1-8 yards, Kevin Upp 1-8 yards; Carlton Austin (WR) 0-4 yards.

LaPORTE, IN (10-03-2008) -  These Crown Point - LaPorte games in LaPorte County can be kind of crazy.  Two years ago CP beat the Slicers in the rain 42-41 in the regular season and lost in overtime in the 2006 Regional 28-21.  Friday night's game seemed eerily similar to those back-and-forth games of 2006 as Crown Point held on to win an offensive showcase game 35-28.

LaPorte scored four rushing touchdowns on their Homecoming night and the offensively-challenged Bulldogs from early this season answered the challenge with five sustained drives in the best offensive output of the 2008 season.  They needed to win to put them into position to mount a serious effort with two games remaining before the post-season, and Chesterton coming to town with the Duneland Athletic Conference lead this Friday for the Bulldogs' Homecoming game of 2008.

The Bulldogs (3-4, 3-2 DAC) trail the DAC-leading Trojans (6-1, 5-0 DAC) by two games, but theoretically could tie for the conference with a win this Friday and a Merrillville win at Chesterton in the final regular season game Oct. 17. 

LaPorte ran an impressive ground game and started out the contest with an opening drive of 79 yards over 17 plays and 8:05 minutes time of possession (TOP) that was caped off by a Carlton Austin 26-yard TD run with 3:55 left in the first quarter.  Keegan Parker converted on his first of four point after touchdown (PAT) kick attempts for a 7-0 1st quarter LaPorte lead.

Crown Point countered with an almost equally impressive drive that began with the ensuing kick-off and which carried over into the 2nd quarter when senior running back Evan Nikrin (5-11, 200) pounded the ball in from the one-yard line with 10:46 left in the second quarter.  The drive covered 65-yards over 8 plays and 5:03 minutes TOP.  The drive was highlighted by a Nick Bruno 37-yard run.  A near-disaster was averted when running back Mike Kozlowski's earlier scoring attempt from the one yard line resulted in a fumble, but which was quickly covered up by quarterback Marcus Shrewsbury.  Nikrin scored on the next play to tie up the game at 7-7 following Michael Lipton's first of five PAT kicks on the night.

The game would produce a lot of scoring and LaPorte quickly responded, on a 3rd-and-6 play of the next drive Slicer Quarterback Dustin Demuth rolled out looking to pass, but seeing no open receivers but an open lane down the right sidelines, he proceeded to scramble 69 yards untouched for a touchdown with 9:38 left and it looked like it might be a long night for the Bulldogs.

But Crown Point was able to counter with some effective running and passing to march the ball 90-yards over 7 plays and 4:15 min. TOP, and which was capped off by a beautiful 24-yard touchdown pass from Shrewsbury to a leaping Danny Osojnicki in the right corner of the endzone to tie up the game 14-14 with 5:23 left in the half.

Just as Crown Point's spirits were rising, LaPorte's Carlton Austin took off on a 67-yard run from scrimmage on the first play of the next drive that took just 11 seconds off the clock for the Slicers to go up 21-14, a score that would hold through halftime.

Crown Point had elected to defer on the opening coin-toss and received the second half kickoff, with Danny Osojnicki returning the kick-off to the Bulldog 33 yard line.  CP ran a well-executed 67-yard drive over 8 plays, including a 20-yard pass to Osojnicki down to the 4-yard line where Nikrin scored his second TD of the night with 7:53 remaining in the third quarter to again tie the game at 21-21.

The next drive saw the Slicers again moving the ball downfield from their own 27 to the CP 46 when a penalty moved them back to their own 40 yard line where it was 1st-and-24.  The Slicers and Bulldogs each threw the ball only 10 times, but this screen pass Bryce Holland covering 20-yards resulted in a fumble that was recovered by the Bulldogs and appeared to open the door for CP to finally take the lead in this back-and-forth ballgame.

Shrewsbury quarterbacked the Bulldogs on a 10-play, 60-yard drive that was capped by the senior wrestler's 8-yard TD run with 9:25 lft in the final quarter to give Crown Point their first lead of the night at 28-21.

But the Slicers had plenty of time to come back and they used 6:45 minutes of play clock to march 76-yards in 12 plays to set up a 3-yard TD run by fullback Bryce Holland and that again tied the game at 28-28, with just 2:40 minutes remaining in the contest.

The Bulldogs had not shown this much offense in their first six games of the season, but CP efficiently moved downfield 63 yards over 7 plays and 2:10 of playing time where Shrewsbury ran around end and into the end zone for a 35-28 lead with just 30.1 seconds remaining.

The Slicers mounted a heroic attempt in the closing seconds, moving from their own 36 yard line to the CP 41, including a "hook-and-ladder" play, to set up a last second "hail Mary" pass from QB Demuth into the end zone where three Slicers receivers were bunched up and defended by a couple of Bulldogs, but the well-thrown pass was broken up by at the goal line by the defending Bulldogs.

Elsewhere in the DAC, giant Valparaiso remained within a game of the conference lead with a convincing 24-14 win over Merrillville, while DAC-lading Chesterton beat Lake Central 28-10 to stay unbeaten in the conference at 5-0 and 6-1 overall.  Crown Point hosts Chesterton for their Homecoming game this Friday and closes out the regular season October 17 at Michigan City.

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Revised: October 06, 2008 .