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Andrean vs Crown Point - Birth of a new Rivalry


Guest DT

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Andrean and Crown Point will meet for the first time ever on the gridiron in regular season play when the 59ers travel to The Hub to meet the Bulldogs on Aug 27

This game will likely become the marquee Region prep football matchup over the next decade if they keep it on the schedule

The game coincides with the arrival of new CP Head coach Craig Buzea and an Andrean team that is expected to make a deep tournament run in Class 2A

Andreans new campus will be built on the edge of Crown Point, so expect some huge recruiting battles between these two schools as well in the near future

The 59ers will open at long time rival Merrillville in week one. 

 

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5 minutes ago, HanShotFirst said:

Is Andrean expected to make a tournament run?  Other than Bowen, what do they have coming back?  Lost some studs in their WRs, RB, QB.  Is this season a rebuild or reload?

Andrean goes into every season with expectations of an NCC Conference Championship and a potential state title run.  The fact that they remain in 2A makes those goals all the more attainable.  

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CP vs Andrean is a great addition to the Region football schedule. As DT pointed out, especially if the new school is built on the proposed site in CP. The new school is still not officially approved by the new Bishop. Work continues by Andrean leaders, but Bishop has not decided yet, very frustrating for many at Andrean.

With the addition of CP, the first three games next season are going to be tough for a young, rebuilding Andrean team. They open with Merrillville, then CP, then travel to Michigan power Grand Rapids Central Catholic. Baptism by fire for many new starters.

Offensively they have to replace 9 out of 11 starters, lose key players at WR, QB, RB and will start a sophomore QB behind a new offensive line. Offense will evolve and improve over the course of the season, but will be work in progress early. Defensively, this will be the strength of the team led by Bowen. Many starters and key players return. Good size and speed on defense.

In terms of NCC, Andrean will be right in the mix as usual. Lowell likely will be the favorite, Hobart loses a lot of skill players and leadership, as do Highland and KV. I'd say NCC is wide open.

State title run always one of their goals, but realistically this is a retooling year for them. Talent is there and they have been working hard in off season, but awfully young and inexperienced at Oline and QB.

 

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3 hours ago, RegionFBFan said:

CP vs Andrean is a great addition to the Region football schedule. As DT pointed out, especially if the new school is built on the proposed site in CP. The new school is still not officially approved by the new Bishop. Work continues by Andrean leaders, but Bishop has not decided yet, very frustrating for many at Andrean.

With the addition of CP, the first three games next season are going to be tough for a young, rebuilding Andrean team. They open with Merrillville, then CP, then travel to Michigan power Grand Rapids Central Catholic. Baptism by fire for many new starters.

Offensively they have to replace 9 out of 11 starters, lose key players at WR, QB, RB and will start a sophomore QB behind a new offensive line. Offense will evolve and improve over the course of the season, but will be work in progress early. Defensively, this will be the strength of the team led by Bowen. Many starters and key players return. Good size and speed on defense.

In terms of NCC, Andrean will be right in the mix as usual. Lowell likely will be the favorite, Hobart loses a lot of skill players and leadership, as do Highland and KV. I'd say NCC is wide open.

State title run always one of their goals, but realistically this is a retooling year for them. Talent is there and they have been working hard in off season, but awfully young and inexperienced at Oline and QB.

 

Great rundown.  Thanks!

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18 hours ago, Whiting89 said:

Good David vs Goliath matchup hopefully another pioneer Chesterton result

Not sure how Andrean can be considered “David.” One of the premier programs in the Northern part of the state, without a doubt, and they regularly punch above their weight class.

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1 hour ago, Bobref said:

Not sure how Andrean can be considered “David.” One of the premier programs in the Northern part of the state, without a doubt, and they regularly punch above their weight class.

Andrean 459 enrollment

crown point 2855 enrollment 

Andrean usually hangs with 4as but this is a whole new challenge 

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30 minutes ago, Whiting89 said:

Andrean 459 enrollment

crown point 2855 enrollment 

Andrean usually hangs with 4as but this is a whole new challenge 

They have opened with Merrillville for the last UMPTEEN years..... why is adding Crown Point all of a sudden an issue?  (Umpteeth + 12 years in a row, before Mvill, it was Portage, and before Portage it was Chesterton)  

 

Enrollment... laughable   

Andrean 459 bodied enrollment, yet have a football roster in the 70s ish.    give me a break on saying due to enrollment figures a school like Andrean that has just about every male athlete in that building playing mulitple sports is going to suffer to this ole new challenge of playing Crown Point.   

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15 minutes ago, Coach Nowlin said:

They have opened with Merrillville for the last UMPTEEN years..... why is adding Crown Point all of a sudden an issue?  (Umpteeth + 12 years in a row, before Mvill, it was Portage, and before Portage it was Chesterton)  

 

Enrollment... laughable   

Andrean 459 bodied enrollment, yet have a football roster in the 70s ish.    give me a break on saying due to enrollment figures a school like Andrean that has just about every male athlete in that building playing mulitple sports is going to suffer to this ole new challenge of playing Crown Point.   

When you play 2 bigger schools (that are good) back to back, that can be a lot of wear and tear on a football team and increases the risk of injury. They get to play Merrillville while they're still fresh. Andrean definitely gets better kids than the average 2A team, but depth can be an issue when a key player goes down. Being early in the season, may not be a factor come tournament time.

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7 minutes ago, JeffO2 said:

When you play 2 bigger schools (that are good) back to back, that can be a lot of wear and tear on a football team and increases the risk of injury. They get to play Merrillville while they're still fresh. Andrean definitely gets better kids than the average 2A team, but depth can be an issue when a key player goes down. Being early in the season, may not be a factor come tournament time.

they have had a very competitive schedule for as long as I can remember (17 years in this gig) 

No doubt that this year will be very daunting challenge to start the year, but every team goes thru injury issue, you can get hurt playing Hammond Noll just as much as playing Crown Point.   Injuries are not mutually exclusive to the size of school you play, at least not from my experience.  

I believe last year, Ryan Walsh got banged up a bit towards the end of the season 

10/16 W 35-14 Lowell 16 143 8.9 36 1  
10/23 W 44-0 Boone Grove 5 89 17.8 31 0

2

 

Did that happen vs Boone Grove in the opening round?  Practice ?   I know he missed week's 2 and 3 of Sectionals, before coming back vs Pioneer with a un Walsh like stat line, was that due to the nagging injury?  Pioneer's Defense? The PIT?  

But I do know it was not from playing these guys: 

2020 SEASON (11-2)
Coach: Chris Skinner
Aug. 21 at Merrillville L 13 40    
Aug. 28 at Lake Central W 28 0    
Sep. 4   New Prairie W 42 14    
Sep. 11   East Chicago Central W 47 0    
Sep. 18   Highland W 52 10    
Sep. 25 at Hobart W 35 24    
Oct. 2 at Munster W 44 3    
Oct. 9 at Kankakee Valley W 35 7  
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2 hours ago, Coach Nowlin said:

They have opened with Merrillville for the last UMPTEEN years..... why is adding Crown Point all of a sudden an issue?  (Umpteeth + 12 years in a row, before Mvill, it was Portage, and before Portage it was Chesterton)  

 

Enrollment... laughable   

Andrean 459 bodied enrollment, yet have a football roster in the 70s ish.    give me a break on saying due to enrollment figures a school like Andrean that has just about every male athlete in that building playing mulitple sports is going to suffer to this ole new challenge of playing Crown Point.   

I’m just saying it would be a upset if they beat merrillvile or crown point nothing more nothing less. 

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20 minutes ago, Whiting89 said:

I’m just saying it would be a upset if they beat merrillvile or crown point nothing more nothing less. 

A quick look on Harrell's has the following:

From 2009-2020

Andrean is 5-7 vs. Merrillville.

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8 hours ago, JeffO2 said:

When you play 2 bigger schools (that are good) back to back, that can be a lot of wear and tear on a football team and increases the risk of injury. They get to play Merrillville while they're still fresh. Andrean definitely gets better kids than the average 2A team, but depth can be an issue when a key player goes down. Being early in the season, may not be a factor come tournament time.

With 70 on the varsity roster according to Coach N, isn't depth a moot point?

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Just pulled up roster from sectional championship exchange.....

71 players on Andrean's roster last year.    

we showed up with 20 some due to mitigating risks of covid and we had to make a decision to cut ties with most of our roster and went with bare minimums in the tournament so that we didn't' get contact traced out of a game

3 2 way starters, Bowen started and a few carrels at RB, then gave way to next guy, #24 was two way DB/WR and Walsh was 2 way starter prior to injury.  

  ZERO 2 way OFFENSIVE LINEMAN.  HUGE advantage to be able to pull that off in any classification of football but especially in 1a/2a football where you can take an entire offensive line, and work on adjustments on the sidelines and coach your kids.   I think we had somewhere around 8 or 9 2 way starters.  

So yea, its not an upset when Andrean beats Merrillivlle nor would it be if they beat Crown point either.   Just my thoughts.   

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16 hours ago, Whiting89 said:

So 5 upsets

A quick look on Harrell's has the following:

From 2009-2020 for Valpo/Merrillville games

***2020---DNP

***Valpo and Merrillville played twice in 2009 and 2010.

Valpo is 7-6 vs. Merrillville, compared to Andrean's 5-7 record vs. Merrillville.

 

16 hours ago, Whiting89 said:

So 5 upsets

You are absolutely entitled to your opinion, that those 5 Andrean wins over Merrillville, are upsets.

I politely disagree.

Both excellent programs.

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As I stated earlier, I love the addition of CP and Grand Rapids Central Catholic. I'm a firm believer in the better the competition the better you become as a player, staff and team.

The players and coaches are very excited about the addition of CP. With St. Mary's Parish in Crown Point being the #1 feeder to Andrean, a lot players know each other from youth sports and going to school together. I can see this game quickly surpassing Merrillville in terms of rivalry.

The addition of the 2 year home and home with Grand Rapids Central Catholic is really nice but I would have rather seen Andrean add an Indy Catholic School or even SB or Ft Wayne Catholic school. There are Chicago Catholic schools that would be good adds to schedule but I'd prefer leaving it within the great State of Indiana.

 

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