Munster, Chesterton look to end droughts

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It's been a long time since Leroy Marsh led his team into a postseason the Mustangs realistically thought they could win.

Maybe that was 2003 or 2002 when the Mustangs lost competitive games.

It's been even longer since Munster actually won a title -- 1996 when the Mustangs defeated Griffith 7-0 before losing to Hobart in the regional.

But at least Marsh can say he has that happy memory of a victorious celebration after winning a sectional.

Chesterton's John Snyder doesn't since he became head coach eight years ago, or in previous years when he was an assistant. In fact, no Chesterton coach has been able to see his team hoist a sectional trophy. Snyder came the closest by reaching the sectional final in 2001 before losing 42-14 to Valparaiso.

Calumet coach Ivan Zimmer is also still waiting to hoist that first trophy for the Warriors' football program. He won three as the head coach of Andrean, one of which came against Calumet in 1990.

That's the only time the Warriors have reached the sectional final.

Same for Clark, though its lone appearance in a sectional final was last year when the Pioneers lost 49-34 to Andrean.

All four teams have either never won a football sectional, or in Munster's case, barely remember the last time it won.

All four have legitimate shots of winning sectional titles this season in the tournament that begins tonight throughout Indiana.

And the four could be facing each other in the finals in two weeks with Munster and Chesterton on opposite ends of the bracket, as well as Calumet and Clark.

Is this the year?

In the Class 3A Sectional 17, two teams have a chance to make history.

Neither Calumet or Clark has ever won a football sectional title. Each has made the championship game once.

Coincidentally, Calumet's only appearance in the sectional final came in 1990 when Ivan Zimmer was on the sidelines -- for the other team. He was the coach of Andrean when it was just starting its string of being a perennial sectional contender.

This year the 59ers aren't having a usual 59er-like season at 3-6, so Calumet feels it has one of its best chances to win its first trophy.

"The players are excited. They know there's an opportunity at hand because we're a pretty good football team," Zimmer said before dipping into his sarcastic mode. "We got a wonderful draw playing perennial power Andrean, then perennial power New Prairie, and then if we're lucky, a rematch with Clark (which beat Calumet 16-15 on Aug. 29). Whoever did the phantom drawing didn't do a good job with the (ping pong) balls."

Even with 24 years of coaching memories, Zimmer still remembers that 1990 victory over Calumet when he wore Andrean colors. Has he reminded his current Calumet players of that game?

"Yes, we did ... I pointed it out to the kids today," he said on Tuesday. "Calumet had a fine football team that year. I believe the score was 7-0 at halftime. They had an excellent defense, but were a little shy on offense.

"(This year) I'd like to think we're balanced. Teams don't win games, but teams can lose games."

Not-so-distant memory

Clark's close-but-no-cigar moment came last year when talented quarterback Craig Fruth led the high-powered Pioneers into November for the first time before also losing to Andrean.

"They read the paper ... they know what's going on," Clark coach Dave Verta said about his players knowing the program's history of futility. "They know they have a great shot and we got lucky with the draw."

That draw has the Pioneers facing Gavit tonight. They cruised past the Gladiators 41-14 three weeks ago. If Clark wins, they will face the winner of Knox-Wirt. The Pioneers already defeated the Troopers to open the season and Knox is without some key players due to legal troubles.

"Out of the four losses, two could have gone either way," Verta said. "Coming into the season a lot of people didn't think we'd have as good of a team as last year. We lost Fruth, Mario Ramirez, Brain Vargo -- but we knew we had some good players coming back who were ready to go last year, they just had some good skill players ahead of them."

On paper Clark isn't as good as it was last year -- 6-3 regular season record compared to 5-4 this year, but all four losses have come to Class 4A schools.

With the favorable draw and influx of talented replacements -- Micah Rooke at quarterback, Cameron Copeland at running back and Erik Martinez at wide receiver -- there's a little more pressure on Verta and his squad. That's quite the opposite of the usual antipathy that goes with being a fan of the Pioneers.

"Coming into this season we did kind of feel some pressure as coaches," Verta admitted. "Once you get there, some people say it won't happen again. Some people were telling us we need to get back. It's gone both ways. So we want to prove people wrong and not let people down at the same time."

Going in cycles

That's how Marsh looks at his team's 12-year drought.

The Mustangs had a real good cycle in the 1980s when they won three straight sectional titles from 1985 to 1987. Their cycle in the 1990s consisted of getting close most of the time and breaking through in '93 and '96. Lately, the cycle hasn't been memorable.

"We were in some good cycles for a long time, but the last few years we've had a shortage of manpower and some injuries at the wrong times," Marsh said.

That is, until this year. Munster is 6-3, its best record in five years, and two of those losses were one-point heartbreakers (20-19 at Lake Central in Week 1 and 24-23 against Hobart on a field goal that ricocheted in off the uprights.

"This year our senior leadership and coaching staff has really stepped up," Marsh added. "Our goals from the beginning of the season have been to try to win a conference champ ... we missed out on that ... and the other is to win a sectional title.

"This is the most wide open Sectional 1 has been in a long time. We've worked hard to get to the point that we're a dark horse in a tough sectional."

Dark horse, part 2

Snyder also looks at his Chesterton squad as a dark horse in Sectional 1, despite the Trojans defeating consensus favorite Valparaiso 12-10 to earn a share of the Duneland Conference title for the first time in eight years.

Believe it or not, Chesterton has only reached the sectional championship game once, and that came in 2001.

To repeat that feat, the Trojans will have to get past Michigan City and the winner of the Portage-Valparaiso game, only to face another tough opponent in the final.

"I look at Valpo as a team that's playing as well as anybody and Merrillville still as a team to beat," Snyder said. "We're still an underdog ... with our quarterback out for a while (that would be Aaron Knight, who will return tonight, but won't play much QB), but our defense has played well and kept us in games.

"I agree with Leroy -- if a team gets on a roll, anybody has a shot to win this sectional. It's not like a college program -- you don't get to choose the kids all the time, so you work with what you have."

Despite its size and propensity to have talented players, Chesterton always seems to be the team no one thinks has a chance to win the stacked sectional.

That's OK with Snyder.

"Until you prove you can be a top level team, you're always going to be an underdog," he said. "We were the underdogs going into (the 2001) sectional as well. We won conference the year before but lost nine starters on offense. We were below .500 going into the playoffs. There's an example of how you can have a losing record and get on a roll."

Contact Steve T. Gorches at 648-3141, sgorches@post-trib.com or visit his blog at blogs.post-trib.com/gorches.