JIM PETERS: Putting a bow on prep football

We've all scurried inside to take shelter from the cold. Basketball and all the other winter sports, save for gymnastics, are well under way.

But as has become customary, we like to tie a pretty red bow on the local prep football season after the Catholic schools' annual state finals party in conjunction with our all-area and 'of the year' selections.

Sure, we didn't have anybody advance beyond the regional round, but the 2011 campaign in the 2-1-9 can hardly be categorized as boring.

Just ask Merrillville. The palpitating Pirates played five games that were decided by a field goal or less, capped by their wild overtime win over Chesterton in the sectional semifinal.

Merrillville was on the short end of the season's biggest upset, falling to Class 2A Andrean in week 2, at least until the 59ers were ousted in the sectional by Wheeler. There's been talk that the Bearcats' win on Broadway shoots to the top of region's list of all-time shockers. Gotta think about that one. Hey, the Bearcats were 9-0. Were we underrating them? Or overrating Andrean? Either way, I'm glad I saw it.

Most improved team? No brainer. Lake Central goes from 2-8 to 8-2. It's already been said. They're back. Hammond, under first-year coach Eric Schreiber, wasn't far behind, flip flopping a 3-8 mark. River Forest (3-7 to 7-4) was also a mover, and E.C. Central (5-5 to 7-4) took steps forward, too.

In the bigger picture, are we seeing a trend away from feature backs? No disrespect to Mason Zurek, Ethan Biggs and Chad Schultz, but the influx of elusive, dual-threat quarterbacks and the rapid rise of the read option offense seems to be shifting the emphasis away from the 20-carry-a-game bell cows to signal callers who can tuck it or sling it.

Morton's Chris McCormack, Merrillville's Jake Raspopovich, Chesterton's Chris Katsafaros, Lake Central's David Yancey, E.C.'s Everett Coleman, Portage's Rashaan Coleman, River Forest's JJ Pennington, Bowman Academy's Antonio Pipkin and Wheeler's Nick Naspinski (whew, long list!) all forced defenses to pick their poison. Sure, some ran better, some passed better, but you get the idea.

Raspopovich, Katsafaros, Yancey, Coleman, Pennington, Pipkin and wishbone wizards Austin Brown of Griffith and Hammond's Eric Schreiber all will be back, so 2012 promises to be a special year for QBs in the region. Good for us, bad for defensive coordinators.

Last but not least, we bid a fond adieu to Valparaiso's Mark Hoffman. After 35 years, it'll be strange to look at a Vikings sideline without the jolly, green giant roaming it. Now he can watch from a less stressful vantage point and question somebody else's play calling like other fans.

Here's hoping we'll be spending Thanksgiving weekend in Indianapolis next year.

This column solely represents the writer's opinion. Reach him at jim.peters@nwi.com.