Published: October 23, 2009 12:44 am      

Unbeaten vs. undefeated

Showdown awaits Pioneer; Logan hosts Concord

This year Pioneer has one of its once-in-a-lifetime, senior-led, dominant football teams.

The problem is, so does its first-round sectional opponent, Lafayette Central Catholic.

The Class A No. 2-ranked Panthers (9-0) travel to No. 1-ranked Central Catholic (8-0) for a colossal sectional showdown at 7 o’clock tonight.

“They’re No. 1 in the AP poll and we’re No. 1 in the coaches’ poll,” Pioneer coach Mike Johnson said, “so we assume there’s probably just going to be a very good crowd despite the fact it looks like there might be some rain now. So yeah, I would assume that Royal Center would be a good place to visit [tonight] if you’re a crook, if you’re a burglar and you want to find some place to rob. Yeah, I would imagine there’s going to be a lot of people from Royal Center there. There ought to be a huge crowd, there ought to be a lot of excitement.”

Pioneer is a defending sectional champion and has won five sectional titles overall. Central Catholic has won four sectional titles, the last coming in 2005. Pioneer has won one state title (1997) and CC has won two (’76, ’99).

Over the last decade the Panthers are 6-2 against the Knights, including 3-1 in IHSAA tournament play.

The 2009 editions of both teams have been dominant. There’s only been one game for either team that has been within four touchdowns. That was when Pioneer knocked off Class 2A No. 9 Lewis Cass 21-14 in Week 1. Cass, on paper, is the strongest team either squad has faced.

Central Catholic’s closest game was in Week 8, a 42-0 win at Culver Academies, a Class 3A school whose only other loss this season was a 28-21 setback against Class 3A NorthWood.

“Lafayette CC, they are an outstanding team,” Johnson said. “They’re not 8-0 like they are and put up the points like they have, stop teams like they have, if you’re not an outstanding team.”

Central Catholic has only played eight games because its game last week at Clinton Prairie was called off as Clinton Prairie was hit hard by the flu bug.

The lone common opponent of Pioneer and CC was Tri-County, a team that was no match for either of them. So perhaps the most accurate gauge would be to look back at last year’s sectional. Both teams had three-time defending state champ Sheridan on the ropes, but Pioneer lost 21-19 in a regional game and CC lost 34-28 in a sectional semifinal game.

This season the Knights have averaged 58.4 points per game while allowing a minuscule 1.3 per contest.

“They’ve put up a lot of points and everybody looks at their offense, and their offense is outstanding, but their defense is unbelievable,” Johnson said. “[They have allowed] 10 points all season, a touchdown and a field goal, that’s unheard of. I don’t care who you’re playing. I don’t care if their competition isn’t where it should be or where it ought to be. ... They are very fast on defense. Their up-front people are very tough, they’re very difficult to block. Then their linebackers are just outstanding. They run to the ball and they know what’s going on. They don’t make mistakes over there. They put a lot of pressure on offenses.”

CC quarterback Chris Mills has passed for 1,799 yards and 25 touchdowns. He’s completed 69 percent of his passes and has thrown just six interceptions. His main targets are Cody Christopher (30 catches, 506 yards, 5 TDs), Danny Anthrop (29, 449, 7) and Marc Withers (18, 434, 7).

Tom Almond is the leading rusher with 474 yards, which includes 8.6 yards per carry, and 11 touchdowns. Mark Strong has a team-high 48 tackles while Jake Milakis has 46. Greg Burns has five interceptions.

Pioneer has averaged 50.8 points per game while allowing just 3.7.

Bryce Kiser broke the school’s career rushing record last week and also own’s the school’s career scroring mark. The bruising fullback has rushed for 1,320 yards and 27 TDs this season, and averages 8.7 yards per carry. Nate Grigsby has rushed for 657 yards and eight TDs and Aron Holcomb has ran for 552 yards and nine TDs.

Tyler Miller has passed for 813 yards and nine TDs. He’s spread the ball around, with Deven Lee (7 catches, 220 yards, 1 TD), Nate Grigsby (7, 209, 2) and Logan Brock (6, 159, 3) being the leading receivers. John Rance has a team-high 60 tackles and Andrew Glassburn is second with 45. Lee and Brock each have three interceptions.

Class 4A

Concord (6-3) at Logansport (6-3)

The Berries are hosting their first home sectional game since 2005, which was also the last time they won one.

They are facing a Concord squad that won its first six games this season but has dropped three in a row heading into tonight. The Minutemen’s losses were to Plymouth, Northridge and Warsaw.

“Concord has a very good program,” Logan coach Bucky Kramer said. “They’ve hit a rough spot lately, but don’t let that fool you. They’re a solid football team. They like to spread it out and throw the ball all over the place, and defensively they have some kids who can flat out play. It’s gonna be a battle for us, but I think we have a good plan.”

The last time Logan faced a spread offense was in Week 4 in a 32-27 win at Richmond.

“We played one game against the spread this year and we played a solid football game against Richmond,” Kramer said. “Concord has had nine games to work on doing what they do better. We’ve been playing against running teams the last couple weeks. We’ll have to switch gears and get back into that passing mentality. We’ve been solid against the pass most of the year, so hopefully that continues.”

Kramer said Concord has a talented quarterback with a talented supporting cast.

“Their quarterback leads northern Indiana in passing,” he said. “He’s a pretty good athlete. His ability to move and not just sit back in the pocket is one of his strengths. They’ve got a couple of other kids who are very athletic as well. No. 15, No. 2 and No. 3 are his main targets. They’ve got a huge offensive line. On the defensive side of the ball, some of those guys move over and play defense too.”

Logan is coming off a 34-6 loss at Class 5A No. 5 ranked Kokomo. Although it was a lopsided defeat, it was still one of the Berries’ best performances of the season because of the way they competed against a dominant, highly ranked Class 5A team. Logan’s Lamarr Stovall was credited with a team-high 14 tackles in the contest.

One downside of the Kokomo game was that the Berries will be without a starting linebacker because of a one-game suspension due to him being ejected during the game. Kramer said the Berries will fill that spot by committee.

Derrick McQuiston leads Logan with 724 yards rushing has found paydirt nine times overall. Wilmer McGill has 611 yards rushing and six TDs. Tanner Hess has passed for 300 yards and six TDs. Nick Weinstein has 10 catches for 261 yards and three TDs. David Hayden has 87 tackles and 5.5 sacks.

Class 2A

Frankton (3-6) at Cass (6-3)

Cass opened 1-3, dropping games to Class A No. 2 Pioneer, Class 3A No. 2 West Lafayette and Hamilton Heights by a combined 11 points. The Kings shook off the tough start to win their final five games. They claimed a share of their second straight Mid-Indiana Conference championship in the process.

“I think we’ve made a lot of progress,” coach Scott Mannering said. “We thought going into the season that we had some talent, but we knew we were pretty thin and I think that hurt us a lot early in the season. We depended on too many kids playing both ways. … Our goal is to improve every week and the last five weeks, we have played a lot better. We overcame some injuries during that stretch.

“Looking back, I wish we could have won a couple of those games early that were close, but we did compete and we’ve improved. I think we’re in pretty good position to start the tournament now.”

Cass hosts Frankton (3-6) in a Sectional 28 game at 7 p.m. today. The Eagles average just 12.7 points per game. They allow 23 ppg.

“They’re hard to figure,” Mannering said. “They’re 3-6 and they were 1-9 a year ago. I think the [Central Indiana Conference] might be a little down this year, but they look to us on film like they play very physical.”

Mannering noted the Eagles start a sophomore at quarterback.

“They like to throw the deep ball a lot. They have a lot of different formations offensively and they try to get their skill players in good matchups,” Mannering said. “Defensively, they’re a 3-3 team that blitzes a whole lot and shows a lot of different looks. It’s hard to predict what we’re going to see. We’ll have to play mostly our base offense and not make many adjustments early at least and hope that will work.”

Cass averages 29 points per game. Dual-threat quarterback Damon Foreman has completed 33 of 57 passes for 579 yards and five touchdowns. He has thrown four picks. In addition, he has gained 262 yards and seven touchdowns on 60 rushing attempts.

Derrick Worden leads the squad in rushing (739 yards on 10.7 yards per carry) and receiving (13 catches for 279 yards). He has scored nine touchdowns.

Defensively, Cass is holding opponents to 14.6 ppg. Josh Knutson tops the squad in tackles with 63. Cody Larimore follows with 45 tackles and a team-high 10 tackles for loss. Foreman and Evan Depew share the team lead in interceptions with four apiece.

Cass (6-3), Northwestern (7-2) and Tipton (7-2) headline Sectional 28. Cass and Tipton could meet in the second round.

“I really like the idea of playing someone you haven’t seen before. From that standpoint, I think we got a really good draw,” Mannering said. “We open against Frankton, which is a team we’ve never played in football. … And if we can get by them, we’d probably be playing Tipton [which Cass hasn’t faced since 1997].

“Any draw is fine — I’ve been around long enough that I don’t get too worked up about it. But the way it came out, I’m pretty pleased with where we’re at.”

Class A

N. White (3-6) at Caston (6-3)

The game is a rematch of the Comets’ 24-0 win in Week 6 in Fulton.

“My biggest concern is it’s a team we’ve already beaten once,” Caston coach Chris Ulerick said. “When we’ve had to beat a team twice in the past, it’s been proven especially tough to do. ... It’s sectional time, so hopefully our kids are hungry enough to do that.”

The Comets have already recorded their first winning season in five years after last week’s 40-7 throttling of Tri-County.

“[A winning season is] a credit to them playing hard and doing the little things right,” Ulerick said. “They’ve played well.”

The Comets’ six wins are actually one more than they’ve had the last four seasons combined.

“I think our offensive line has done a really good job all year of making minor adjustments during games,” Ulerick said. “A lot of that has to do with them having played the last three or four years, and they have a better understanding of that.”

Trevor Hoover leads Caston’s balanced rushing attack with 530 yards and six TDs. Eric Goller has 473 yards and a TD, Austin Ault has 463 yards and five TDs and Wil Holloway has 338 yards and two TDs. Holloway has 431 yards passing and eight TDs. Goller has 17 catches for 168 yards and three TDs, and Hoover has 16 catches for 237 yards and four TDs. David McMenamin has a team-high 71 tackles. Ault has three interceptions.

The Vikings enter with a five-game losing streak after winning three of four to start the season. They have a young backfield with a pair of freshmen handling the ball most of the time according to Ulerick, who added the Vikes’ single wing has sort of transformed into a shotgun spread towards the end of the season.

“They’ve switched some personnel,” he said. “They moved their quarterback to guard. He’s now one of their better offensive linemen. They moved his [younger] brother to quarterback and have another freshman in the backfield. They have decent speed and can make some plays. They are quicker in the backfield now.

“[North White’s offense] looks more like a shotgun with a halfback and four wideouts. Then they’ll jump into a wishbone-type offense and run some of the craziest combination of plays.

“They have a lineage of good football. At times they look like they’re improving and at times they’ve struggled. Our kids have been there, done that. I’m hoping our kids don’t want to return to that anytime soon.”

The Comets are seeking their first sectional win since 2003.

Winamac (8-1) at Triton (3-6)

The No. 7 ranked Warriors are playing their first Class A Sectional game in quite awhile, after dropping down from Class 2A.

“Since back in the early ’80s when there were three classes and we played in a cluster,” Winamac coach Tim Roth said. “I think that’s the last time we played Triton, back in ’83, ’84. At one time you had to beat all the teams in your cluster. Other than that, we don’t have any ties with them, period. Not in any other sports have we gone in that direction to see them in anything. This will be something new.”

Triton has been a basketball power of late and has won back-to-back sectional titles in football.

“Our kids see a 3-6 record and think they can just show up and win, but we know that’s not the case,” Roth said. “Their league really benefits them in basketball, but in football they just don’t have the numbers to beat the likes of Jimtown and New Prairie. When you watch them on film, they definitely have athletes. They run a wing-T variation and give the ball to No. 3 as many times as they can to try to break a big one.

“They’ve collected their lumps throughout the season and stayed healthy, so that will surely be a benefit to them. We have to go up there and worry about what we’re going to do and do the little things better than we did last week.”

Winamac has won seven in a row but needed a fourth-quarter comeback in a 13-6 win at Frontier last week. Eric Sass leads the Warriors with 1,219 yards rushing and 11 TDs. Andrew Malott has 713 yards passing and nine TDs. Sass is also the leading receiver with 11 catches for 288 yards and three TDs. Matt Kolish has 73 tackles and Tucker Webb 71. Scott Benzing has four interceptions.

The Warriors have won their sectional opener in each of the last two seasons.