Week 3 -  Football Game of the Week Preview

Kankakee Valley (0-2) at Lowell (2-0)

A USA-365.com Special Report by Mark Smith

09-04-2008
 

When:  Friday, September 5, 2008

Where:  Lowell Valley High School  - 2501 E. Commercial AVE., Lowell, IN

Tickets:  $5

Kickoff:   7:00 p.m.
Radio-TV:  WTMK (88.5) FM

JV GAME:  Saturday, Sept. 6  - Kankakee Valley at Lowell - 10:00 a.m.

FRESHMEN:  Thursday, Sept. 11. - LOWELL at Kankakee Valley - 6:00 p.m.

ENROLLMENT:  KV - Class 4A, enrollment 1,120;  LOWELL - Class 4A, enrollment - 1,247

WEATHER:  65 with a chance of rain.  Wet field.  Thank your lucky stars.  It was 92 degrees Tuesday and almost unplayable.  Since then the temperature has plummeted to the point where game-time temperature Friday should be in the mid-60s; still a little too warm for football but much, much better.  Mid-60s is perfect for fans though, and anyone who wants to attend Friday should be able to unless there is rain.  The 72-hour forecast says it's a 40% chance.

PARKING:  Lowell will have some parking near the softball fields this week for Jasper County visitors who figure to fill the new visitors' bleachers at Lowell a little better than Morton's fans did last week.  The Kougars are expected to bring a good crowd, despite an 0-2 start.  Lowell has a new parking lot behind the home grandstand, but this game should draw a few more fans than the Devils drew last week.

THE SERIES:  This game is for the "Milk Can", an old piece of dairy equipment that somehow became the traveling trophy for football games between these two neighbor schools.  The can, which has rested in the Lowell trophy case for years, has never been won by KV in the "Can era", which began when Lowell joined the Northwest Hoosier Conference in the 1980s.

Kankakee Valley high school is a consolidation of the old DeMotte and Wheatfield high schools after the 1969 school year.  There is no record of Lowell ever playing DeMotte or Wheatfield (Wheatfield teams were also called the Red Devils), possibly because Wheatfield and DeMotte played 8-man football prior to 1965 due to a lack of students.  In 1965 there was a Kankakee Valley Conference with South Newton, Morocco (the predecessor of North Newton), North White, DeMotte and Wheatfield.  Among the schools DeMotte played in the 1960s were Klondike high (1926-1970) and Mount Ayr high which was midway between Morocco and Rensselaer.  Last time anybody counted, Mount Ayr had a population of 137.  Lowell is New York City compared to Mount Ayr.

So Kankakee Valley high has very rural roots, but they have a big future.  As of this fall, KV (which was built to hold 1,000 students) is well over capacity and talks are ongoing for a $60 million dollar building project.  There are acres of open space in south Jasper County.  It isn't far-fetched for KV to be a Class 5A school someday.  KV is tied to Lowell in that they wonder why Hobart, which is west of Jasper County, is in Sectional 9 with Lake County teams while KV and Lowell are in Sectional 10, which includes five teams in the South Bend-Elkhart area.  But it's arguable which sectional is stronger.  Sectional 9 favorite Griffith and Sectional 10 favorite Concord are very strong teams, but very different teams.  KV, which has never won a sectional title in their 40 years of existence, may feel they have a chance between the perimeter-based spread Concord offense and the more physical, ground-based Griffith attack.

Two weeks after claiming the 'Old Leather Helmet" trophy from Crown Point, the Devils will try to retain the 'Milk Can'.  I'm not sure a beaten up old milk bucket is legitimately symbolic of amateur competition between two very fine high schools, but the kids seem to like it.  It has been 24 years since Kankakee Valley defeated Lowell.  The Devils have a 17-2 edge in this series, with KV's only wins coming in 1983 and 1984.  So if KV can somehow pull an upset this week, they will celebrate like they just won an Olympic Gold medal.

It's hard to call Lowell and KV a rivalry when KV never wins.  But there will come a day when Kankakee Valley and Lowell are larger than every other school in what is now the Northwest Crossroads Conference.  That's obvious because the other public schools in the NWCC are land locked while Lowell and KV are the residential new frontier for the 21st Century.  There will come a day when KV defeats Lowell.  The Devils just hope that day isn't Friday.

Kankakee Valley Kougars (0-2)
Coach: Mike Peo, 12-11 (3rd year)
Northwest Crossroads Conference games in CAPs
8- 22 (L) 14-35 Rensselaer (2-0)
8- 29 (L) 14-17 Wheeler (2-0)
9-5 (Fri) at LOWELL (2-0)
9-12 (Fri) HOBART (2-0)
9-19 (Fri) GRIFFITH (1-1)
9-26 (Fri) at Clark (2-0)
10-3 (Fri) ANDREAN (1-1)
10-10 (Fri) at HIGHLAND (0-2)
10-17 (Fri) at MUNSTER (1-1)       
Oct 24 (F) Class 4A Sectional 10 quarterfinals vs. Northridge, Plymouth, (SB) Washington, (SB) Clay, Concord , Logansport or LOWELL
Oct 31 (F) Sectional 10 semifinals
Nov. 7 (F) Sectional 10 finals
Nov. 14 (F)  4A Regional championship
Nov. 21 (F) Northern 4A Semistate  championship
Nov. 29 (S) 2008 Class 4A state championship - Lucas Oil Arena (4:00 p.m. EST), downtown Indianapolis



Lowell Red Devils  (2-0)
Coach Kirk Kennedy, 137-67 in (18th year)
NWCC games in CAPs
8-22 (W) 7-0 at Crown Point  (0-2)        
8-29 (W) 47-20 Morton (0-2)      
9- 5 (F) KANKAKEE VALLEY  (0-2)  
9-12 (F) at GRIFFITH (1-1)
9-19 (F) at HIGHLAND (0-2)
9-26 (F) HOBART (2-0)
10-3 (F) at Hammond (1-1)
10-10 (F) MUNSTER (1-1)
10-17 (F) at ANDREAN (1-1)
Oct 24 (Fri) Sectional 10 quarterfinals  vs. KV, Northridge, Plymouth, Logansport, Clay, Washington or Concord.
Oct 31 (F) Sectional 10 semifinals
Nov. 7 (F) Sectional  10 finals
Nov. 14 (F) 4A Regional final
Nov. 21 (F)  Northern 4A Semistate championship
Nov. 29 (S)  Class 4A state final - Lucas Oil Arena  (4:00 p.m. EST), downtown Indianapolis

Lowell QB Kurt Monix (2) rolls out in a play against Hammond from the 2007 season.  (All photos by Mark Smith)

Lowell running back Brandon Grube (25) shown in action against Hamond in 2007, will be called on to run hard on KV this week. (All photos by Mark Smith)

KEYS to the GAME

1. Special teams
Kankakee Valley does not appear capable of moving the football consistently on Lowell's defense.  But the Red Devil special teams gave up a first half kickoff return TD last week and Kougar coaches will note that fact.  Senior Kankakee Valley halfback Adam Mandeville has good speed and the Devils must put the handcuffs on him when he tries to steal an early kick return TD.

Lowell also has not busted off any scoring kickoff or punt returns in two weeks and that should be a feature of this team.  The Devils are loaded with speed.  Great teams return half a dozen kicks a year for TDs and there are half a dozen guys on the 2008 Devils who can go coast-to-coast.  Lowell should be excited about kick returns and see them as a chance for a quick six this week.

2. Understand how much KV would like to win this game
Lowell has been successful in the season opener and the home opener and they may not be that excited about this week.  That would be a mistake, because if KV wins this game, they will celebrate for months.  The Kougars'  players will be hearing inspirational speeches about how no one gives them a chance Friday.  They'll be lectured about the historical fact that none of them were alive when KV last beat Lowell.

Meanwhile Lowell will look past this game.  They know that rival Griffith is next week and the Devils will have to make up some intensity for this game.  KV has good running backs, and if they get some turnover or special teams points, their backfield of Adam Mandeville and Kale Popp can make it stand up for the win.  In the pre-season preview in the Times newspaper, KV defensive tackle Donovan Czarnecki (6-1, 225), who may be used as a fullback near the goal line Friday said: "I really want to beat Lowell because everyone thinks we can't beat them.  I think we can."
 

Every Lowell boy needs to know that.  Lowell needs to find a reason to play Friday night because Kankakee Valley has a dozen reasons and they will know all of them by heart by 7:00 p.m. Friday.  Lowell has to match the intensity of the visiting team and they may have a tough time doing that Friday.

3. Defend the home turf
Unfortunately, Lowell only has four regular season home games this season.  Home playoff games are not guaranteed.  The Red Devils have got to make every play count, especially at home.  Lowell boys have only so many times to run out on the home turf.  Seniors realize that, but I'm not sure how many underclassmen do.  Lowell always loses a game at home.  The Devils have shook down the thunder on NW Indiana teams for almost two decades now in this generation of excellence.  But they always lose a home game some time.

Since the start of the 2000 season, Lowell has lost 31 games.  One in the RCA Dome, 13 on the road and 17 at home.  I was very surprised to read that no Lowell team has gone undefeated at home for an entire season since 1994?  That should be a goal of the 2008 Red Devils and it is a very reachable goal.  To be totally honest, because Griffith and Andrean are road games, Lowell almost has to win all their home games to compete in their league.

LOWELL 40, Kankakee Valley 14