Crown Point: All in the family

Updated: May 9, 2012 9:42AM

Standing at a hulking 6-foot-2 and 265 pounds, Pete Parks was born to play football.

His dad (Tom) was a running back at Andrean in the late 1960s and played for St. Joseph’s College in Rensselaer.

Pete’s brother, Tommy, graduated from Crown Point five years ago after a successful career as a running back for the Bulldogs. He recently graduated from the University of Chicago, where he also carried the ball.

Make no mistake, football definitely flows through Pete’s veins.

“I feel like I’ve had the opportunity to take in a lot of learning compared to a lot of other kids who might not have had older examples set for them,” Parks said.

“My brother has pretty much taught me everything. He’s always told hard work really pays off. He also told me not to fear anything. I don’t.”

Parks started playing organized football as a seventh-grader at Taft Middle School.

He’s come a long way in the last five years and lines up as CP’s H-back — a hybrid of a fullback and tight end.

The H-back’s job is to block, pass protect and run receiving routes.

“I’m lucky we have one,” said Parks, who carries a 3.3 GPA and scored 27 on the ACT.

“I think H-back gives some teams challenges that really don’t know how to defend it. In our conference (Duneland Athletic) they know how to defend it better, but with me moving around in our number system, I think that can kind of throw them off a little bit. They forget you’re there. Sometimes, they lose you and you’re wide open.”

Unlike most big guys, Parks has soft hands.

He caught 13 passes for 166 yards and four touchdowns last season, while rushing for 112 yards on 22 carries. He also blocked two punts, illustrating his ability as a special teams player.

“Pete is a very, very good player,” Crown Point coach Chip Pettit said. “He’s got a very unique skill set. It’s really unusual to have a guy who’s that big and can catch the ball, and still have the foot quickness he does.

“He’s not a running back — that’s not his strength. He’s a good blocker. His feet are so good that he stays latched on to the defender. I think down the road, he’s probably going to be a defensive tackle at about 280 to 290 pounds.”

While Parks is more than capable of flattening a defender, he’s also pretty nimble.

“Pete’s really a pretty good athlete in terms of his hand-eye skills and his foot quickness is really good for such a big kid,” Pettit said. “He’s really pretty laid-back. He was a gym rat growing up as a kid. If he had his choice, he’d probably be the two-guard on the basketball team and fire up maybe 10 3-pointers a game.”

Coach

Chip Pettit

record

At school: 63-46 in 11th year

Overall: 68-52 in 12th year

Last season

Lost 16-6 to Valparaiso in

sectional final

Key returnees

TE Tyler Kral

QB Joe Hopman

HB Pete Parks

OL Stephen Hutchison

OL Eric Huttle

K Brett Bayer

Key losses

TB Cody Bacon

WR/DB Austin Atherton

WR Travis Woosley

LB Jordan Jurasevich

OL Alex Zagrocki

LB Brad Qualizza

LB J.T. Rotroff

College prospects

DL Billy Van Cleef

TE Tyler Kral

HB Pete Parks

LB Drew Breuckman

DB Logan McRae

Season outlook

The Bulldogs return nine starters, including five on offense, from last year’s 8-4 team. They need their offensive line and linebackers to develop in order to have a successful season. Senior Jake Lindeman and sophomore Tristan Peterson are expected to fill the rushing void left by Cody Bacon, who ran for 1,497 yards and 14 TDs.

Tyler Wells, Braxston Banks, Zac Plesac and Tyler Smith should give third-year QB Joe Hopman a lot of options. Tight end Tyler Kral and H-Back Pete Parks are good blockers and can catch the ball.

With a kicker like Brett Bayer and an improving defense as the season progresses, CP figures to be in every game.

Postseason

Class 5A Sectional 1 (Chesterton, Crown Point, Lake Central, Merrillville, Michigan City, Munster, Portage, Valparaiso)

Schedule

Aug. 19 at Lowell

Aug. 26 Hobart

Sept. 2 Merrillville

Sept. 9 at Lake Central

Sept 16 at Portage

Sept. 23 Valparaiso

Sept. 30 LaPorte

Oct. 7 at Chesterton

Oct. 14 Michigan City

HISTORY LESSON

Season Record

2001 1-9, 1-6

2002 8-3, 5-2

2003 5-5, 4-3

2004 4-7, 3-4

2005 11-1, 7-0

2006 12-1, 7-0

2007 8-3, 6-1

2008 3-7, 3-4

2009 3-7, 2-5

2010 8-4, 4-3

Sectional titles: 1981, 1988, 2006

Regional titles: 1988

Roster

No. Name Ht. Wt. Yr. Pos.

1 Franklin Curry 5-9 130 10 WR

2 Tristan Peterson 5-11 160 10 RB/DB

3 Connor Miller 5-9 150 10 WR/DB

4 Jamie Johnson 5-6 150 11 RB

5 Jake Lindeman 6-0 190 12 RB

6 Tyler Smith 5-9 140 11 WR/DB

7 Jake Jatis 6-4 195 10 QB

8 Zach Plesac 6-1 175 11 WR

8 Matt Wegman 5-10 165 10 DL

9 Tyler Wells 5-9 160 12 WR

10 Nick Hanlon 5-11 145 10 DB

10 Ayman Tebry 5-9 140 10 RB

11 Drew Breuckman 6-3 195 12 LB/TE

11 Steven Smead 5-10 125 10 QB

12 Joe Hopman 6-0 190 12 QB

12 Vinnie Coniglio 5-9 135 10 WR

13 Nick Faso 6-1 160 10 WR/DB

13 Jimmy Beilfuss 6-0 160 10 DB

14 Ryan Flanery 5-11 165 11 DB

15 Vince Renta 5-10 165 10 WR/DB

16 Austin Solis 6-2 185 11 QB

17 Brett Bayer 5-9 175 12 P/K

17 Logan Grapenthien 6-1 150 10 LB

18 Braxton Rice 6-6 170 11 WR

18 Tyler Kersey 5-9 150 10 10

19 Casidy Zastrow 6-1 175 12 RB

19 Mohammad Elayyan 6-1 195 11 QB

20 Tyler Kral 6-2 215 12 TE/DL

20 Dan Kasper 5-11 160 10 WR

21 Zack Bucci 5-9 165 10 DB

22 Austin Kukulski 5-11 140 10 LB

23 Jack McShane 5-8 155 10 LB

24 Rory Packard 6-2 175 10 RB/LB

25 Tyler Downing 5-9 195 10 RB/LB

26 Cody Hipp 5-8 180 10 LB

27 Anthony Geisen 6-0 190 11 LB

28 Jacob Kocher 5-6 160 10 WR/DB

29 Vince Schoenborn 5-10 160 10 LB

30 Adam Kutemeier 5-11 175 12 LB

31 Jordan Krajci 5-10 180 12 LB

32 Christian Campos 5-10 190 11 LB

33 Danny Aultman 5-4 165 11 RB

34 Carl Brehmer 5-10 190 12 RB

35 Timmy Volk 5-6 145 10 LB

36 LoganFrazier 5-10 145 12 DB

37 Mark Bell 6-2 170 12 DB

38 Ryan Foulds 5-10 165 12 DB

39 Josh Henry 6-1 155 10 DB

40 Pete Parks 6-2 255 12 RB/DL

41 Austin Stanley 5-9 145 12 DB

42 Nick James 5-6 140 12 DB

43 Ron Greep 5-9 150 11 LB

44 Matt Langbehn 5-9 190 11 RB/LB

45 Connor Andras 6-1 190 10 LB

46 Skevo Zembillas 5-7 150 11 LB

47 Brendyn McKinnon 6-2 200 10 LB

48 Blake Hammons 5-9 145 11 LB

49 Pierce Jones 5-10 200 10 DL

50 Ryan Kelleher 5-10 190 10 LB

51 Kevin Peterson 6-0 180 12 LB

52 David Bowman 5-10 170 12 LB

52 Anthony Casillas 5-5 170 10 DL

53 Max Zaleski 6-1 195 10 OL

54 Brandon Strong 5-11 200 10 DL

55 Brandon Bernhardt 6-0 230 11 OL

56 Michael Kopman 5-10 210 10 DL

57 Jake Faso 6-4 220 11 OL

57 Jonah Larson 5-8 160 10 LB

58 Chris Lacy 5-8 175 11 DL

59 Jacob Brown 6-4 225 10 OL

60 Nathan Dick 6-1 245 10 OL

61 Andy Freeman 5-10 230 12 OL

62 Anthony Van Auken 5-11 215 10 DL

63 Alex Leighty 6-2 210 11 OL

64 Eric Huttle 6-0 255 12 OL

65 Quentin Klingberg 5-10 280 11 OL

66 Sean Jones 6-3 235 11 OL/DL

67 Roc Hopman 6-2 215 10 OL/DL

68 Nick Langbehn 5-11 210 11 DL

69 Justin Ferrell 6-2 175 10 OL

71 Dakota Haniford NA NA 10 OL

72 Blake Pals 6-1 245 12 OL

73 Collins Mbachu 6-2 295 10 OL

74 Jesse Torres 6-3 285 10 OL

75 George Mirabella 5-11 260 10 OL

77 Luke Lambert 6-3 265 11 OL

78 Stephen Hutchison 6-1 285 12 OL

79 Michael Young 5-9 285 11 OL

80 Asa Villasenor 5-5 120 11 DB

81 Zach Myers 6-0 165 12 DB

82 Zack Lambert 6-2 205 10 TE

83 Josh Pagan 5-9 160 11 WR

84 Mitchell Kalinowski 5-8 155 11 WR

85 Zane Cecich 6-3 165 10 WR/DL

86 Tyler Frahm 5-6 160 10 WR/DL

87 Logan McRae 6-2 185 12 DB

88 Matt Torres 6-4 210 12 P

89 Billy Van Cleef 6-3 195 12 DL

90 Byron Previs 5-10 160 10 LB

91 Tyler Leslie 6-0 220 10 DL

92 Cameron Tanner 6-1 260 12 DL

93 Steven Potosky 6-3 170 10 TE/LB

94 Steve Alessia 5-8 200 11 LB

95 Nolan Bish 6-1 195 11 TE

96 Kyle Crider 6-2 180 10 DL

97 Tyler Welker 5-11 195 11 DL

99 Kyle Przyborski 5-10 155 11 LB

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