Balanced attack sends Warriors to win

Gary -- Though shocked by the first play of the game, Calumet came back strong to win its first Greater South Shore Conference game against North Newton, 38-21, on Friday night. It was the first official meeting as conference rivals for both schools.

North Newton's Jerry Sharpe took Erik Opperman's kickoff at the 10 and dashed through blocks for a 90-yard touchdown on the first play of the game.

Not to be outdone, Calumet came back just as strong when on the third play of the game when Darcell Ballentine scampered down field for a 57-yard touchdown run.

Both teams were able to move the ball through the first half. The second half proved to be the decision maker for Calumet. The Warriors came out and established a short passing game that created problems for North Newton.

Calumet was able to gain consistent yardage on the sharp passing of Mike Akins then went back to the running game with Ballentine gaining yards play after play.

"We had a great week of practice and our line really stepped up and open holes for me to run through," said Ballentine, who ended up with 177 yards on the ground and 43 through the air.

"Our kids played much better than last week and continue to improve each and every week, my hat goes off to North Newton and the coaching staff, they played very well," Calumet coach Ivan Zimmer said.

North Newton had a great effort, especially Ryan Georgeff. Georgeff had an all-around good performance both rushing and passing. Some crucial errors and penalties turned things around for North Newton.

"We felt we came in and could compete tonight, but unfortunately we committed some mental errors that cost us a chance to win. Calumet has some very talented players and they took advantage of some mistakes we made," coach Greg Willis said.

ìWe will strap it up on Monday and start all over again to correct what mistakes we made this evening.î

The matchup was the first conference match for the two schools and the play tonight shows that this will probably be a rivalry for a very long time.