Merrillville holds on to beat Bulldogs 13-7 in rainy Sectional semifinal

A USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith

10-27-2007

Friday, October 26, 2007,  55 degrees, steady rain at MERRILLVILLE, IN

1st Qtr:  MERRILLVILLE (3-0)  Ryan Stokes, 37-yard field goal. 68-yard drive, 7 plays. 2:00 left.
CROWN POINT (7-3)  Zach Cecich, 22-yard pass from Blake Mascarello.  54-yard drive, 4-plays.  Michael Lipton kick.  0:27 left.
2nd Qtr:  MERRILLVILLE (10-7)  Roosevelt Williams, 13-yard run.  92-yard drive, 5 plays.  Ryan Stokes kick.  5:52 left.
MERRILLVILLE (13-7)  Ryan Stokes, 28-yard field goal. 1:14 left.
3rd Qtr:  NO SCORING.
4th Qtr:  NO SCORING.

RUSHING:
CROWN POINT (33 carries, 114 yards, TD, fumble) Russell Chick (HB) 15-49 yards; Blake Mascarello (QB) 6-12 yards, Nick Bruno (HB) 12-53 yards.
MERRILLVILLE (32 carries, 192 yards, TD, fumble)  Roosevelt Williams (HB) 14-102, TD; Ronneal Williams (HB) 9-49 yards; Dolapo Macarthy (QB) 9-41 yards

PASSING:
Blake Mascrello (QB) 9-20, 124 yards, TD;
Dolapo Macarthy (QB) 2-13, 28 yards

RECEIVING:
CROWN POINT: Zach Cecich (TE) 3-30 yards, TD; Michael Lipton (WR) 1-25 yards; Joe Maginot (TE) 1-27 yards;  Nick Bruno (HB) 1 (-1); Danny Osojnicki (WR) 3-53 yards; MERRILLVILLE: Clay Cooper (WR) 1-26; Jonothan Lee (WR) 1-2.

TOTAL YARDS:
CROWN POINT ( 238 yards, 12 first downs, one turnover):  MERRILLVILLE (220 yards, 9 first downs, one turnover)

PENALTIES:
CP (2-10 yards);  MERRILLVILLE (9-85 yards)

MERRILLVILLE (10-26-2007) -  I definitely have a feeling the better team won.  The higher-ranked team.  The team with the better record.  You have a feeling that on a dry field, under clear skies, that the game would have come out approximately the same way.

But I sure wish we could have seen THAT game.  That Merrillville-Crown Point rematch that could have been a blockbuster in front of 8,000 roaring fans.  The Class 5A Sectional 1 semifinal that was highly anticipated.  The one both the Times and the Post Tribune newspapers did full page stories on Friday in Northwest Indiana.

Instead, we saw a much more soggy game.  But a quality game.  One that was very dramatic.  A worthy game.  Merrillville's 4th-ranked Pirates (10-1) battled the arch-rival Crown Point Bulldogs and a steady, game-long rain until a classic defensive stand in the final two minutes secured the win for the Pirates 13-7 in front of 3,500 rain-soaked friends of the programs in Merrillville's Demaree Stadium.

And while the legend continues for these two 21st century South Lake County football giants who are tied 31-31-1 all time, the season continues only for the Pirates who take their eight-game winning streak to Lake Central (7-4) for the sectional title game on November 2.

"The thing about this series," said a very happy and somewhat relieved Pirate coach Zac Wells, who got his first win over CP in four tries, "every time the game is for something.  Even if it's in the third week of the season.  There's always something on the line.  It was worth the five bucks (admission)."

"They just made a few more plays than we did," said Crown Point coach Chip Pettit, whose boys shared the Duneland Athletic Conference (DAC) championship with the Pirates.  "That defense doesn't give you much. They made the plays at the end."

The great thing about a game like this is that both sidelines seemed legitimately confident they'd win and both were afraid they'd lose.  Both defenses locked in on the attack troops during a scoreless second half and the game came down to four play for CP from the Pirate 20-yard-line after a pass interference call against Merrillville junior defensive back Keith Dockery.

CP junior halfback Nick Bruno, who replaced CP all-time single season rushing champion Russell Chick when Chick suffered a second quarter knee injury, was knocked down by Dionte Day and Jarrett Rucker for no gain before a high arching 'jump ball' pass behind the Pirate defense in the end zone bounced off the hands of a falling Zach Cecich.  On third down, Mascarello's well-thrown ball to junior Danny Osojnicki into the visitors' corner of the south end zone was knocked away by Dockery.  CP's 4th down play, a quick pass by Mascarello was batted down by Merrillville's tall junior defensive end Aaron Kaczmarski (6-6, 230), who was able to break through the CP line enough to get in the face of Mascarello (6-0, 205) on his last pass.  It was fitting that the final plays involved the Pirate defense defending CP.

Eight weeks ago, Merrillville could not protect a 14-0 fourth quarter lead in the final six minutes and they eventually lost in overtime 20-17.

"For Keith it was a big thing," said Wells, "because he was one of the guys who was victimized when we played them before.  He redeemed himself.  On the final play, I don't know what defense we were in (Wells is the offensive coordinator), but we made a play.  We worked hard the last four weeks to improve and it's been showing."

Chick, who gained an unofficial 49 yards on 13 carries before he was hurt, was gang tackled by the Merrillville defense in the second quarter with the Pirates leading 13-7.  The halfback who carried 280 times in the first 10 games for 1,767 yards and 21 TDs, did not play at all in the second half.

The Bulldogs might have won with Chick in the game for four quarters, although they were already trailing when he was hurt.  The colder truth is that once your top rusher and scorer suffers a post-season knee injury, your season is probably over anyway.  CP also played without center Matt Polus, who pulled a hamstring in practice during the week.  Injuries to top players are almost always a message from heaven that your time is up.

Mascarello was a respectable 12-of-25 in the game-long rain including first half passes of 29 yards to Joe Maginot, 25 yards to surprise wide receiver/place kicker Michael Lipton and 22 yards for a touchdown to Zach Cecich with 27 seconds remaining in the first quarter.  The water and mud changed the game, but Mascarello would not use that as an excuse.

"As soon as we came out and warmed up in it, we got used to it," he said.  "It really didn't have anything to do with the outcome of the game."

One player who was not affected by the muddy field was Pirate senior halfback Roosevelt Williams, who started the game with 1,033 yards and 15 TDs on 141 carries.  The 185-pound runner, who splits time at halfback with twin brother Ronneal Williams, continually broke and slipped tackles in the soggy conditions.

"He was very good running the football," said Wells.  "He really made some great runs.  His balance was great tonight in bad conditions.  Our line did a good job for him, too."

Pirate QB Dolapo Macarthy did not throw as well as Mascarello (2-13, 25 yards) in the rain but the 6-foot-6 quarterback made up for it with a good ball-handling night.  Runs of 21 yards by Macarathy and 18 yards by Roosevelt Williams set up Ryan Stokes' 37-yard field goal with two minutes left in the first quarter.  Macarthy completed a 26-yard pass to Clay Cooper in the second period, setting up Roosevelt Williams' 13-yard TD run with 5:52 left before half-time.

Unsung hero Ryan Stokes (10 field goals this season) booted his second field goal in the final minute of the first half and made his 39th extra point in 39 tries this season.  More unsung was Pirate center Nick Diehl, who executed the shotgun snap well all night long on a field that, in some spots, was as solid as cream of wheat.

The final Bulldog fourth down play may have been open.  Cecich, the Bulldogs' leading receiver all season, was to be used as a decoy.

"We were going to send Zach to the sidelines," Pettit said, "and we were going to throw over the middle.  A quick slant."

Mascarello fired quickly, indicating he thought the play was there.  Kaczmarski, a junior with good future potential, batted the ball back at the quarterback.  On the previous play, CP tried to pick on Dockery, who had just been called for pass interference.  The Pirate junior, who reportedly runs a 4.53 second 40-yard-dash, got off the ground in the end zone to slap the third down pass away.

CP almost won the game on second down of the final possession as Mascarello's high-arching lob, a CP staple over the past couple of years, hung in the air which Cecich, CP's basketball center jockeyed for position.  As the ball came down, Cecich got behind the Pirate defenders but the ball spun to his left.  He got one hand on it, maybe two, but didn't ever have possession.

"I just throw that up there," said Mascarello.  "He goes up and gets a lot of balls like that."

The Pirates drew nine penalties, two of which erased long punt returns by Clay Cooper.

"We had so many big plays," said Wells, who didn't seem to recognize that this was a landmark win for him as a coach.  "And they (CP) made a lots of big plays.  When you're going  against a big program, you have to make the plays at the end.  We are built on our defense.  This was tough weather tonight, but we made some plays at the end."

This is a Merrillville team that has now defeated Warren Central (8-3), Griffith (8-3) and Crown Point (8-3) and held all of them to 10 points or less.  CP led 7-3 and had a first down at the Pirate 8-yard-line in the second quarter, but a fumble by Chick (just his third of the season) turned things around and a 92-yard drive by the Pirates put the home team ahead in front of a sea of umbrellas that looked like hundreds of colored mushrooms all over Demaree Stadium.

Mascarello, who finished his 30th and final game as the Crown Point starting quarterback, spoke for the team as he stood on the muddy field at the end and accepted the verdict the way an athlete should.  No excuses.  No tears.

"We did everything we could," he said.  "We knew it would come down to us and them.  I don't have any regrets."

SECTIONAL NOTES:  The point totals for both teams were season lows.  The Pirates had big tackle Steve Lohse (6-6, 320) available for this game.  Lohse missed the earlier CP victory with a leg injury.

CP coach Chip Pettit took the time to say that this was the best senior class in his time at Crown Point and the win-loss numbers, among other things, back that up.  CP is 31-5 over the last three years, by far the best three-year span in record CP history.  CP was 10-1 in 1987 and 10-3 in 1988 but just 26-7 over a three span, 1987-89.  The Bulldogs were also 26-6 from 1983-1985.  CP records indicate that the school never won more than eight varsity football games in any season from 1900-1980.

To say that Merrillville athletic officials were a little frustrated with the rain would be an understatement.  Friday's game was expected to draw a crowd of nearly 8,000 at Merrillville's giant Demaree Stadium.  But in a virtual replay of the August season opener matching Merrillville and defending state champion Warren Central, a steady rain started in the middle of the afternoon and convinced a lot of people to stay home.

"We lost at least half our crowd tonight," said Merrillville athletic director Janis Qualizza, shaking her head.

The Warren Central game also expected a capacity crowd and rain knocked that down to about 2,000.  There may have been 3,500 in the stands for CP-Merrillville Friday.  While the Indiana High School Athletic Association (IHSAA) owns the state tournament, all sectional money is split among the schools in that sectional.

"And since we share the sectional profits with the other teams in the conference," added assistant athletic director Amy Beckham, "everybody lost tonight.  Our sectional is one of the highest grossing in the state."

Merrillville has one more chance for a blockbuster gate.  If the Pirates beat Lake Central for the Sectional championship and Penn wins at home against Goshen (and both are favored to do so) the undefeated Penn (11-0) squad will bring their giant fan base across two counties to the Pirates big purple palace.

Coach Chip Pettit said that Russell Chick wanted to reenter the game after he was injured in the second quarter but that he was outvoted.

"He just didn't have that look in his eyes," said Petit.  "He just didn't look like he was ready to go back in.  And with the conditions the way they were, I don't know how much he could have done."

Michael Lipton's 25-yard pass reception after a pump fake by Mascarello in the second quarter was Lipton's first varsity play other than kicking.  The junior is the leading scorer on the Crown Point boys soccer team and was the junior varsity point guard in basketball last season.