Bulldogs' late game drive falls short of goal, fall to Lake Central 10-5

A USA-365.com Special Report by Dave Woodworth

9-13-2008

Friday, September 12, 2008,  75 degrees, light rain & humid at CROWN POINT, IN

1st Qtr:  No Scoring.
2nd Qtr:  CROWN POINT (3-0) Michael Lipton, 30-yard field goal.  78-yard, 10-play drive covering 5:15 min.  9:29 left.
3rd Qtr:  LAKE CENTRAL (3-3) Erik Bisson, 25-yard field goal. 71-yard, 7-play drive covering 2:40 min.  9:13 left.
4th Qtr:  LAKE CENTRAL (10-3) Ryan Hennessey, 1-yard run. 76-yard, 7-play drive covering 3:23 min. (following fumble recovery of QB option pitch from Marcus Shrewsbury to running back Nick Bruno).  Bisson kick.  4:32 left.
CROWN POINT (5-10) Hennessey, intentional safety (2 points) on final play of game following four-down LC goal line stand inside two yard line with 1.7 seconds left, as QB ran out of end zone as time ran out.

UNOFFICIAL STATISTICS

RUSHING:
LAKE CENTRAL (26 carries, 113 yards, 1 TD, 0 fumbles)
Dillon Jamroz (HB) 5-8 yards; Ryan Hennessey (QB) 2- (-5 yards), (1 sack, -6 yards), TD; Pat Robinson (HB) 19-110 yards,.

CROWN POINT (36 carries, 164 yards, 2 fumbles)
 Mason Popovich (HB) 13-65 yards; Nick Bruno (HB) 7-49 yards; Mike Kozlowski (FB) 3-3; Nate Haverstock (WR) 5-35; Marcus Shrewsbury (QB) 8-12 yards.

PASSING:
LAKE CENTRAL -  Ryan Hennessey (QB) 8-13, 108 yards, 0 TD, 1 INT;
CROWN POINT - Marcus Shrewsbury (QB) 7-14, 88 yards, 0 TD, 0 INT.

RECEIVING:
LAKE CENTRAL - Drew Dumont (WR) 4-24, Loai Issa (WR) 1-27; Pat Robinson (HB) 1-10; Andy Arellano (WR) 2-47;
CROWN POINT - Nate Haverstock (WR) 1-5 yards; Mike Kozlowski (FB) 2-53 yards; Danny Osojnicki (WR) 4-30.

TOTAL YARDS:
LAKE CENTRAL (226 yards, 11 first downs and 1 turnovers)
CROWN POINT (252 yards, 17 first downs and 2 turnovers)

TURNOVERS:
LAKE CENTRAL (1) 1 interception; CROWN POINT (2) 2 fumbles.

CROWN POINT (9-12-2008) -  For much of the game it looked like Michael Lipton's second quarter, 30-yard field goal would be the only scoring in this hard fought defensive battle under a light rain between the Bulldogs and Indians.  But the underdog Lake Central Indians matched that field goal in the third quarter and capitalized on a Bulldogs turnover to take a 10-3 lead late in the fourth quarter.  Then, after a heroic late game 10-play, 65 yard drive to within inches of the goal line, the LC defense held the Bulldogs on downs in the closing seconds to seal the win by a final score of 10-5.

The Indians (3-1) actually came into the game as the 6-point underdog to Crown Point (1-3), according to the Sagarin ratings, even though the Indians had a better record.  But the Bulldogs lost the slippery ball at least three times during the game, including one in the opening drive of the game, which led to a 23 yard field goal attempt by LC's Erik Bisson that went wide right with 8:01 left in the first quarter.

After a scoreless first quarter, Crown Point took a 3-0 lead on a 30-yard Mike Lipton field goal with 9:29 left in the first half, following a 10-play 78-yard drive.

Lake Central got on the board on the opening drive of the third quarter, quickly moving 71 yards over 7 plays in just 2:40 minutes to the CP 8-yard line, when on 4th and 5, Erik Bisson tied the game on a 25 yard field goal with 9:13 remaining in the third quarter.

The punting game proved to be important as Mike Kozlowski of CP and Andy Arellano exchanged booming punts in the second and third quarters.  One bad punt came in a pinch for Kozlowski in the third, when the Bulldogs were pinned back in the shadow of their own goal line and he had to punt from deep in his own end zone, which went out of bounds at he CP 28-yard line.  But on 1st and 10 from the CP 25 yard line, Nick Bruno stepped in front of a pass for his second interception of the season to end the LC scoring threat.  A ate third quarter LC drive was also upset by a blitzing CP junior defensive lineman Ben Cottrell, who sacked the Indians' QB Ryan Hennessey for a loss of six yards near midfield, which eventually forced LC to punt on the final play of the third quarter.

Early in the fourth quarter, the Indians forced the Bulldogs to punt after a short 5-play drive, but the long snap to punter Mike Kozlowski on 4th-and-6 was fumbled, and while it appeared from the stands that he still had time to punt the ball away, Kozlowski tucked the ball under his arm and tried to run to his left for a first down.  He didn't make it and the was tackled short of the first down and the ball turned over to Lake Central for a 1st-and-10 at the CP 34 yard line.  A short 6-play drive by the Indians stalled and Bisson's 5 yard field goal attempt fell short, and it appeared the Bulldog defense had prevailed again.

But on the very next play, a 1st-and-10 from their own 20-yard line, a quarterback option run to the right and pitch from Marcus Shrewsbury to a trailing halfback Nate Bruno led to a fumble and was recovered at the CP 24 yard line by Lake Central with 7:55 left in the fourth quarter.  It took just 7 plays and 3:23 minutes to score the go-ahead touchdown on a 1-yard quarterback sneak by Hennessey.  Lake Central then led 10-3 with 4:32 left in the fourth.

Crown Point's final drive of the night with both exciting and inspiring as the crowd of about 2,200 in the stands held on to the bitter end it looked like the Bulldogs might pull off a miracle comeback as they have at times in the past.  Nate Haverstock returned the kick-off following the LC touchdown from his own 4 yard line to the CP 32 yard line.  Then the Indians put on a strong defensive showing, to force a 4th down and 3 from the CP 39 yard line.  That's when Shrewsbury hit wide receiver Danny Osojnicki with a short pass for 12 yards that was enough for a first down, but a trailing Nick Bruno took his lateral on a classic "hook-and-ladder" play and raced down the visitor's sidelines to the LC 32 yard line where he was knocked out of bounds.  The 29-yard play seemed to breath a new air of confidence into the stands and the home fans came to life with cheering.  On the very next play Shrewsbury threw perhaps his best pass of the game over the middle to fullback Mike Kozlowski for 30-yards and who was tackled just short of the end zone for a first-and-goal at the two yard line.

But three quarterback keepers by Shrewsbury (5-11, 205 lbs and a state runner-up champion wrestler) over the next four plays and one run by Nick Bruno could bring the Bulldogs no closer than inches from the goal line as the Lake Central defense held the line and took over the ball with 1.7 seconds remaining in the game.  On the final play of the game, Hennessey took the snap from center and simply ran backwards out of his own end zone for an intentional safety, which gave a meaningless two more points to the Bulldogs, but which secured the victory for Lake Central with a 10-5 final score.

Next Friday (Sept. 19), the Bulldogs (1-3) host Portage (4-0), who defeated Merrillville (1-3) in a close contest, 22-20, despite the reappearance of Dolapo Macarthy at quarterback for the Pirates.  Macarthy had been inexplicably absent from the Pirates' last two games, as he stood on the sidelines during a 24-15 win at Griffith, and a 10-7 loss at home to the Bulldogs.