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By Times Staff | Monday, October 06, 2008 | (No comments posted.)
: After the seventh week of the season, Calumet has seemed to finally have found the right combination to keep its team as healthy as it is hearty.
"We have about 45 guys on the team and guys are stepping up," Warriors coach Ivan Zimmer said after his team beat Whiting 14-13 Friday night. "It's the seventh game and we've been practicing for nine weeks, and we have guys who are starting to fill different roles. We're much deeper than we were two weeks ago. We're much deeper than we were a week ago."
Though athletes like George Ezell rarely, if ever, leave the field, the Warriors are working to keep fewer players from becoming iron men.
"When we were playing the first third of the season we were playing kids both ways," Zimmer said. "We were in pretty good shape but I think we were wearing them down. Last week with Bishop Noll throwing the ball all over the block, we started to notice, hey our kids are getting tired. I think that was important, too."
-- Hillary Smith
Portage shows it can pass, too: File this under the category of "Where did that come from?"
Trailing 14-7 with 7:22 remaining in regulation last Friday against Michigan City, Portage got the ball back and proceeded to complete five consecutive passes in an 11-play, 80-yard drive that tied the score at 14 and helped the Indians escape with a 20-14 overtime victory.
Indians quarterback Eric Melcic, who entered Friday with 25 completions this season, was 11-of-23 for 143 yards on the night. It was a breakout performance for the sophomore signal-caller, who continues to develop in coach Mark Peterson's clock-controlling, ground-oriented option offense.
"It's always a philosophy of mine to keep their offense off the field," Peterson said. "The way we were running some things, we didn't need to pass. I think our pass protection has gotten better. And the things we've done with our reads and check-downs, we're continuing to come of age there.
"We felt like (Michigan City was) doing some things coverage-wise down the stretch that we could take advantage of."
The Wolves, who stacked the box to stop the run all night, dared the Indians to beat them with the pass. And they did.
"They couldn't get anything running-wise," Wolves coach Craig Buzea said. "We probably didn't do as good a job as we wanted to as far as putting pressure on (Melcic). They made some plays at the end when they had to."
-- David Robb
C.P.'s offense starts to click: Crown Point entered last Friday's Duneland Athletic Conference shootout against LaPorte averaging 10 points per game.
But the Bulldogs offense came to life, gaining more than 400 yards in a 35-28 victory.
Much of C.P.'s offensive success could be attributed to the connection between senior quarterback Marcus Shrewsbury and senior receiver Danny Osojnicki. Shrewsbury completed seven passes for 150 yards, and Osojnicki had six receptions, including a 24-yard touchdown catch, for 116 yards.
"A couple times during crunch time we had two fourth downs that Marcus and Osojnicki converted," C.P. coach Chip Pettit said. "Those were big plays."
-- Nate Ulrich
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