[Southsider2k12]

http://heraldargus.com/archives/ha/display.php?id=383832

Passing flurry starts the Buzea era right
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Zack Eldridge, 1-866-362-2167 Ext. 13868, zeldridge@heraldargus.com

MICHIGAN CITY — A new period of Michigan City football began on Friday night.

And it began in grand fashion.

Junior quarterback Nathan Scully threw five touchdowns, senior wide receiver Prentice Lee caught four, as the Wolves jumped out to a 28-0 lead and beat Gary Roosevelt 42-12 at Ames Field in Michigan City coach Craig Buzea’s first game at the helm.

Scully’s first touchdown came on a 30-yard strike to Lee to give the Wolves (1-0) a 7-0 lead.

Scully’s second touchdown pass to Lee occurred late in the second period and was 35 yards to give the home team a commanding 21-0 halftime advantage.

The Panthers (0-1) never seriously threatened in the second half.

Michigan City’s passing-heavy attack was in stark contrast to its offense last year, when running the ball was the primary offensive choice.

“That’s not how it was designed,” Buzea said. “But we came out and they basically sat in a goal-defense the entire time. We were going to have a little trouble running the ball because they had one extra defender in the box.

“That’s always been my philosophy, we’re going to take what they give us.”

Lee’s third touchdown catch of the night was 38 yards and made it 28-0 with 8:26 left in third. Lee’s fourth and final touchdown reception of the game was 32 yards late in the third.

Lee finished with 135 yards receiving on four catches, all touchdowns.

“You know you don’t have to put it in a perfect spot for him to make the catch,” Scully said of Lee. “You have to be somewhere in the area. With a guy like Prentice, if I put it somewhere in the area you can believe he’s going to get it.”

Besides throwing four touchdowns to Lee, Scully added a 12-yard touchdown pass to senior wide receiver Derek Devereaux midway through the second period.

Scully finished 11-for-18 passing for 212 yards.

To compliment Scully, senior running back Travis Harmon rushed for 103 yards and scored a late touchdown, a 5-yard dive.

“Our fullback can be just as efficient as our tailback,” Buzea said. “It seemed like anything that was a little bit slower-hitter basically goes to the tailback, that wasn’t what we needed to do, so we started running a lot of traps with Travis.”

With a potent passing attack and a 100-yard rusher, Roosevelt didn’t have any answers on Friday.
Scully to Lee proved especially effective for City.

“Coach told me to go to him because Prentice was on fire really, he was really on fire,” Scully said. “Me and Prentice always really had sort of a connection. Me and my brother would take him to practice everyday and we hang out.”

Lee said he is looking to show people he can be a playmaker on the field.

“Last season I really wanted to show I could stay in the season for a long period of time,” Lee said. “It’s just great. I like the offense, I love the offense. It’s great to feel the ball.

“When I caught the ball most of the time the defender wasn’t there.”

Both of Roosevelt’s touchdowns happened in the second half. The first one in the third was set up on quarterback Yancey Harrison’s 35-yard pass to Cedric Ridle. Amos Littles finished the drive with a 9-yard touchdown reception.

Michigan City hosts South Bend Washington next Friday.

[Ang]

GO WOLVES!!!!

[Southsider2k12]

http://thenewsdispatch.com/main.asp?Sectio...;ArticleID=3676

Wolves Run To 2-0

Adam Parkhouse
Sports Editor, The News-Dispatch

MICHIGAN CITY - Only time will tell what effect Craig Buzea will have on Michigan City football's future.

But one thing is for certain: Buzea has his Wolves where they belong, at 2-0 heading into Duneland Conference play.

City played fairly steady throughout, ending up with a 29-13 victory over South Bend Washington (1-1) on Saturday at Ames Field. The game was originally scheduled to be played Friday, but Thursday's storms pushed the contest back nearly 24 hours.

"We've still got a lot of work to do," Buzea said. "But I'm happy for the kids because they get to experience another win.

"But we're still making mistakes that are totally unacceptable."

City was 2-0 going into conference play from 1999-2005, but that string was snapped last season with a loss at South Bend Clay.

To get to 2-0 in 2007, City turned to its running game after having five touchdown passes in a 42-12 rout of Gary Roosevelt in Week 1. Sophomore running back Adam Harmon had a career night, rushing 25 times for 182 yards and two touchdowns.

"That was fun," Harmon said. "But next week we've got the DAC. We'll have to practice real hard."

Harmon had 137 of his yards and both scores after halftime.

"We just went to double tights, pretty much our goalline set," Buzea said. "His effort was good tonight."

In the first half, City's offense was sluggish. Just before the end of the first quarter, Nathan Scully ended the war of attrition with a 4-yard touchdown strike to tight end Ryan Sosinski. On the next drive, in the second quarter, City's Blair Young picked off a pass from Washington quarterback Patrick Borlik, rumbling 44 yards to paydirt to give City a 13-0 lead.

Borlik was replaced with Andy Kazmierczak, who led the Panthers on their only offensive scoring drive, converting on a fourth-and-goal from the 13 with a touchdown pass to Jarrett Fleming, who would later score on a 40-yard fumble return.

In between Fleming's touchdowns, it was a whole lot of Harmon. He scored from 7 yards out with 4:53 to play in the third, then caught the two-point conversion pass from Scully.

With 1:51 left in the third, Harmon bursted loose for a 41-yard gain, but fumbled into the hands of the Washington defense. However, Borlik, who reentered after halftime, fumbled on the next play with City's Michael Brooks recovering. That led to Harmon's second TD, a 10-yard scamper with 11:12 to play in the game.

Fleming's fumble return came at the 5:18 mark of the fourth, but City had plenty of cushion to withstand the blow.

City's Derek Devereaux had two fourth-quarter interceptions, each of them ending possible Washington scoring drives in Michigan City territory.

Buzea was happy to get the win, but not thrilled with a handful of mental mistakes the Wolves made. They lost two fumbles, were flagged for a couple of false starts and had a penalty for too many men on the field.

"Those are the things that are unacceptable for a championship team," Buzea said. "We've gotta iron those out."

Notes: City amazingly got down to its fourth kicker. The starter, Jacob Mallon, got a red card at his most recent soccer game, and had to sit out his next contest per IHSAA rule. That contest happened to be the football game. Also, his brother Ben Mallon was injured during the game, and Wesley Higdon came in injured. Freshman quarterback Rodney Washington handled kickoff duties for the first time in his football career. ... Eight different Panthers were credited for a carry, with none earning more than eight.

[Ang]

WHOOOO-HOOO!! RAH-CHEER!! GO WOLVES!!

[Southsider2k12]

Time to start a new winning streak tonight! The boys played well against the team that has been rated the second best football team in the Region, and only losing by two.

They seem to have a lot of confidence.

[Ang]

I'm with ya SS'der. While I was disappointed at the loss, I was equally impressed that they only lost by 2 points.
Who are they playing tonite?

[Southsider2k12]

Tonight is Valpo. It would be huge for them to get a win, and a confrence win tonight. It could set up a special season. The DAC is tough, and this is a winnable game.

http://thenewsdispatch.com/main.asp?Sectio...;ArticleID=4100

Buzea Set to Resume Valparaiso Rivalry

Adam Parkhouse and Peter Daining
The News-Dispatch

Gearing up for last week's Duneland Conference opener wasn't much of a problem for Craig Buzea, given his coaching history.

Michigan City's first-year coach has even more familiarity with this week's opponent, as his City team travels for the first time this season to take on Valparaiso tonight at 7 p.m.

"There's no question when Portage and Valpo played it was a huge game," Buzea said. "Fortunately we got the best of them most of the time. I take a lot of pride in competing against those guys. I have a lot of respect for coach (Mark) Hoffman."

In 13 seasons at Portage, Buzea squared off against Hoffman and the Vikings an astounding 22 times, winning 14 of those contests. Obviously the chore is a bit different this time around.

City (2-1, 0-1 DAC) comes in off a heartbreaking, 22-20 loss to Chesterton at Ames Field. The Wolves had a two-point conversion near the end of regulation that could have forced overtime. But quarterback Nathan Scully couldn't connect with tight end Ryan Sosinski, ending City's chances at the upset.

"Everything happened exactly the way it was supposed to happen," Buzea said of the conversion play. "But then the protection broke down on the back side, and (Scully) got hit as soon as he threw it."

Buzea thinks the experience of playing Chesterton last week will serve his team well tonight. The Vikings (1-2, 0-1 DAC) are similar to the Trojans in that they'll throw the ball around effectively with their senior quarterback Alex Sarkisian (30-of-47 passing, 479 yards, seven touchdowns). His favorite target is Scott Rastovic, who leads the state with 305 yards receiving on 14 catches with five touchdowns.

"In the years I've been coaching in the DAC, they're the most consistent in what they do," Buzea said of the Vikings. "Year to year they'll do the same thing and do it well."

Buzea doesn't plan to deviate from his offensive philosophy of taking what the defense makes available. But defensively, he'd like to see his Wolves play more effectively between the 20s.

Last week, Chesterton racked up more than 450 yards of total offense, though City tightened the screws in the red zone. One of the Trojan's touchdowns came after a long punt return to the Wolves 11-yard line, and another came on a miraculous conversion on third-and-goal from the 41.

"Big plays hurt us, and there's no question we're not nearly where we want to be," Buzea said. "But we'll keep fighting and by the time the year's out, hopefully we'll be a pretty stout defense."

La Porte (2-1, 1-0 Duneland Conference) at Chesterton (3-0, 1-0 DAC), 7 p.m. - La Porte and Chesterton each started the conference schedule with close Duneland Conference wins, but Slicers coach Bob Schellinger knows that every DAC game is a challenge, and this one will be no different.

One of the biggest challenges, according to Schellinger, will be to curb the Trojans' offense.

"We have to stop their offense and (Alex) Beierwalter. He's one of the premiere quarterbacks in our area, and he's also a threat because he scrambles," Schellinger said.

Last week, La Porte topped Valparaiso at home 21-17, and Chesterton came out of Ames Field with a 22-20 win over Michigan City.

La Porte has beaten Chesterton in each of the last two years, winning 34-21 last season and 38-27 in 2005.

Culver (3-0, 1-0 Northern State Conference) at New Prairie (2-1, 1-0 NSC), 6:30 p.m. - Culver didn't have much trouble making it through its first three games unscathed, winning by an average of 17 points, but Week 4 might be a different story.

New Prairie buzzed through Culver last year for a 44-14 win, and also beat the Cavaliers 51-7 in 2005.

The Cougars had trouble scoring against La Porte in a season-opening 35-7 loss, but scored 35 of their own in wins over Class 4A South Bend Clay and Bremen.

South Central (2-1, 1-0 Greater South Shore Conference) at Whiting (2-1, 1-1 GSSC), 7 p.m. - South Central has already experienced a few ups and downs this season, and could be in for another down against Whiting, a team that has only lost six games since 2004.

Won of those losses was just last week against Class 2A Wheeler 37-26.

South Central started off the season with a 20-14 win, but then lost 40-8 to Culver in Week 2 before rebounding last week against Hammond Noll (21-14).

The last time these two teams played was Sept. 6, 2002, when Whiting won 12-9.

Cassopolis (2-0, 0-0 Lakeland Athletic Conference) at River Valley (0-2, 0-0 LAC), 6:30 p.m. - River Valley has yet to crack the scoreboard in two losses this season, and the prospects don't get much better against visiting Cassopolis.

The Rangers beat Parchment 35-7 in Week 1 and Durand 35-14 in Week 2, while River Valley lost 53-0 to Lake Michigan Catholic and 20-0 against New Buffalo, one of the two teams the Mustangs defeated in 2006.

Cassopolis won last year's matchup 48-12 on Oct. 20.

New Buffalo (1-1, 1-0 Red Arrow Conference) at Eau Claire (2-0, 0-0 RAC), 6 p.m. - New Buffalo already matched last year's total wins by beating River Valley last week, but may have trouble surpassing that mark for awhile.

The Bison face an Eau Claire team that won the 2006 matchup 41-0 and ended the season with a 7-3 overall record and a 4-0 Red Arrow Conference record. New Buffalo, on the other hand, lost to all four RAC opponents last fall.

[Ang]

Whew, that's going to be a tough one. City doesn't do well against Valpo. They always have a tough time with any sport. I hope Buzea can pull it out of the hat tonite and beat them soundly.

[Ang]

Even though City lost the last two (Duneland) games, I am pleased with their performance. They are showing marked imporvement in their game. Considering how they've played in the past, I think this is something to be excited about. They have a long road ahead to becoming champs, but I believe they are well on their way.
Here is another excellent editorial by Adam Parkhouse...

http://thenewsdispatch.com/main.asp?Sectio...amp;TM=76645.63

Numbers Don't Lie: Buzea is Better
Adam Parkhouse
Sports Editor, The News-Dispatch


The numbers: 22, 18, 14, 49, 42, 55, 25, 35, 48, 29, 35, 30.

Put your lottery tickets away, you're not a winner. And using those numbers, neither was Michigan City's football program.

Those are all margins of defeat from 2000 through 2006 - excluding 2005 - for City against Chesterton and Valparaiso in the first two weeks of Duneland Conference play. (In 2005, City beat Chesterton 49-35 and then lost at Valpo 28-7.)

You can put your calculators away, too. I've done the math, because I'm cool like that.

The average margin of loss during that span is 33.5 points per game. That's ridiculous.

OK, now add two more numbers to the list: 2, 8. Those are City's margins of defeat this season to the same two schools, dropping the aforementioned average a whopping four points.

Still need more proof that Craig Buzea is turning things around? Consider the following: Chesterton is undefeated at 4-0, perched atop the DAC standings, while Valpo held a 24-10, Week-1 lead over now Class 5A No. 1 Penn.

"I think we're making strides," Buzea said. "I don't think I've ever seen Chesterton and Valpo so happy to beat Michigan City. It was like they won the sectional.

"I think that's a sign that we're starting to get some respect."

Indeed, and deservedly so.

Perhaps the most important thing to point out here is that I and many others had absolutely zero expectations for this team. I felt it would probably get through the first two weeks unscathed, then have tremendous struggles in the Duneland Conference.

The Wolves were at times underwhelming in wins over Gary Roosevelt and South Bend Washington to open the season, but have now turned in a pair of quality efforts against some of the best competition they'll face.

Given the program's history against those quality opponents, a fair question to ask is why has there been this relative success?

There are a few things at play here, but to me a big reason is play-calling.

With apologies to the previous regime, play-calling was rather predictable in the past few seasons. If I was able to know what play was coming, trust me, DAC coaches knew, too.

Buzea is an offensive-minded coach, and it shows. But his basic philosophy is pretty simple: Take whatever the defense is giving you. In high school football, typically the other team is willing to give you one thing in order to stop another.

Take Friday at Valpo as an example. In the first half, City was able to run the ball effectively, gaining around 100 yards in the first two quarters on the ground.

Coming out of halftime, the Vikings clamped down a bit on the line of scrimmage, so Buzea ordered quarterback Nathan Scully to go up top. The junior signal-caller had 195 of his 199 passing yards in the second half, including a touchdown pass to Prentice Lee.

So trust me when I say this: Things are headed in the right direction.

City had a team that not many expected to be competitive in one of the toughest conferences in the state. The Wolves have had legitimate fourth-quarter opportunities to win games they've not even been close to winning in years past.

That's called progress. If Buzea has anything to say about it, there will be more to come.

[Southsider2k12]

Good write up. I am emceeing the Class Olympics this week, which means homecoming is coming up. I really want to try to get to the game this week, because it sounds like good things are afoot.

[Southsider2k12]

Class Olympics was a lot of fun as usual. I am going to make some people feel old here, myself included, but the Class of 2008, the Seniors, pretty well dominated the events.

There was a scheduling boo-boo, so they had the HS open house the same night, so between the weather and that, only the die hards were really in attendence, so it was a great time. They played and competed through rain, wind, and mud.

If the homecoming game is half as entertaining, I will be impressed.

BTW, the Wolves get the Merrillville Pirates as their homecoming game.

[JHeath]

Class Olympics was a lot of fun as usual. I am going to make some people feel old here, myself included, but the Class of 2008, the Seniors, pretty well dominated the events.

There was a scheduling boo-boo, so they had the HS open house the same night, so between the weather and that, only the die hards were really in attendence, so it was a great time. They played and competed through rain, wind, and mud.

If the homecoming game is half as entertaining, I will be impressed.

BTW, the Wolves get the Merrillville Pirates as their homecoming game.

This Friday...at what time?

[Southsider2k12]

Kickoff is 7pm, home coming parade kicks off at 6 pm from Elston.

[Ang]

BTW, the Wolves get the Merrillville Pirates as their homecoming game.

They may have a chance of winning this one. M'ville is tough to beat, but they've done so well against Valpo and Chesterton I really think they have a chance of squeaking a win out of M'ville.

[Southsider2k12]

The last two games at least had some positives in close losses, this weekends game against Merrillville was just ugly. City gave up short fields and turnovers that pretty much buried them right off of the bat. The #10 rated Pirates didn't let up until the final gun. City lost 35-7.

[Ang]

So much for thinking, huh? Boy, I am eating my words now.

Hey, the ND didn't list who won HC Queen or which class won the spirit competition. They never do. This is the 3rd HC I've been out of town and they always list the candidates but never the winners. So, can anyone tell me who won Queen and which class was deemed to have the most spirit?

[Roger Kaputnik]

No idea.

[Southsider2k12]

Let me find out...

[Southsider2k12]

The winner of Homecoming Queen was Shanese McGregor

The Senior Class of 2008 was the winner of all of the homecoming events (class olympics, spirit week, best float IIRC) , and took home the Spirit Stick.

[Ang]

Thanks for the info.

I have to say that I am extremely proud of Shanese. I remember her as a freshman. She had a little attitude problem back then. It appears that she has gotten over herself and become a fine young lady.