Week 13 Home Team Friday Recap - Final Version

The final 30 minute Home Team Friday show is in the books, and we still have 3 teams left in the Tri-State:   Reitz, Memorial, and Henderson County.  Not too bad.  We have had more, but I can remember a couple of years that we had no teams left.  Those were horrible depressing years for the HTF staff.

Let’s start with the Memorial victory over Heritage Hills in the 3A Regional.  What a great football game.  I am so glad we were able to televise the game again on RTV25.  The weather was absolutely perfect for a Friday night in mid-November. 

I have now seen Memorial in person six times this season.  The Tigers have gotten better and better every week.  You can really see head coach John Hurley expanding the playbook each week to keep the defenses off balance.  I have said it many times, but I really enjoy watching Grant Gribbins control the offense.  Calling him a version of Peyton Manning is absurd I know, but he does a lot of the same reads and has some of the same mannerisms as the Colts quarterback, and even the uniforms look the same.  Gribbins will fake the snap look for potential blitzers and he does a great job of stay on an even keel the entire game.

Me and Randall broadcasting game from the 3rd floor at BosseI said it in the broadcast, and I’m sure many of you read my blogs for Jay Cutler’s website, that the first school that I really covered on a consistent basis was Heritage Hills.  I still have a lot of great friends from Patriot Country.  Since we started doing a full 30 minute football show in the studio it is absolutely impossible for me to go that far on a Friday.  So this was my first time seeing the 2009 Patriots.  It was good to see a lot of familiar faces, and almost all of them gave me grief for never being in The Jungle.

I never like the cliché of “It is a shame one team has to lose.”  That really goes against the essence of competitive sports.  However, I definitely had that feeling with the Tigers and Patriots, and I think you could tell during the broadcast.  I got just as excited for both teams during the game. (probably too excited!  I need to bring it down a notch)

Memorial got off to such a great start.  The Tigers passing game looked superb on both scoring drives.  Memorial has so many talented weapons on offense.  Besides Gribbins in the passing game, his targets can really make him look good.  Jon Wandling, Eddie Reising, Steven Scheu, AJ Stuckey, and Bryce Lueken can really make a play at any time.

That offsides on the Patriots punt on fourth and seven really changed the complexion of the game.  Bob Clayton called two brilliant plays, the fake handoff and qb run with Cody Schmitt and then the screen pass to Ethan Coghill down to the one.  That cut the lead in half at 14-7 and from there it seemed like the outcome of the game was up for grabs on every drive.

I was very impressed with Cody Schmitt.  He can rifle the ball.  He made some nice plays on long down and distances to keep drives alive.  I was also impressed with Tigers defensive end Andrew Carlson who seemed to be in on every tackle.

However, the player of the game was definitely Ryan Hatler.  The small framed tailback for Memorial put the Tigers into the semistate.  Almost all of his damage was done in the fourth quarter when the Patriots defense were playing the run. 

Schmitt and receiver David Maldonado hooked up on two great touchdowns to keep Heritage Hills within striking distance.  However, Hatler and the Tigers offensive line were too much in the end.  Congrats to the Tigers for winning back to back regionals.  This brings me to a retraction.  I said a few times that it was the first time that Memorial won back to back regionals in school history.  I was told that at Tigers practice on Tuesday.  I should have looked it up, and I was wrong.  Memorial won the regional in three straight seasons in 1991, ’92, and ’93, so my apologies to those teams. 

During the telecast, I predicted a couple of times that I thought Reitz would beat East Central by 21 points.  I shortchanged the Mighty Panthers by 3.  Tony Lewis’ club built a 42-14 lead and ended up winning the 4A regional 52-28. 

The Panthers improve to 13-0.  That is really impressive, and few schools in our area have ever been 13-0.  Sometimes it easy to take things for granted on a special football team. 

The Panthers offense has sustained an unreal high level of proficiency.  So good that since September 18th the fewest amount of points Reitz has scored is 35!  On the road at a very good East Central team in the regional, the Panthers scored on five straight possessions.  That is just remarkable.  Matt McIntosh rushed and passed for over 300 yards combined and five touchdowns.  The kid just keeps getting better.

Congrats to Reitz.  The Panthers have been the number one team on pretty much everyone’s schedule, yet they are 13-0.

I will have more on why I think semistates are the most exciting and emotional games, even more than state championship games later on in the week.  I will look more at the Reitz/Cathedral and Memorial/Chatard games.

Mater Dei’s great season came to a close at unbeaten Paoli.  The Cats lead 7-0 in a sloppy turnover filled first half.  However, Paoli tied the game, and then in the second half scored to win the game 14-7.  The Rams have allowed just 6 points a game all season.  The Cats moved the ball, but just couldn’t punch it into the endzone.

I am happy for the young Wildcats.  So many of the starters are just sophomores.  They turned in a winning season and won a 2A Sectional Championship.  Mike Goebel’s club came a long way from two-a-days in August.  The Cats had 30 seniors to replace, they had some major injury problems, and question marks everywhere.  However, they turned in a nice year and laid the foundation for a great future.

I don’t think many people would have guessed that Henderson County would be the last team standing in our area in Kentucky.  That is a credit to the coaching job of Clay Clevenger, and the senior class.  Most of those seniors are three year starters that have willed the Cols to a great season.

Unlike Indiana, Kentucky’s playoff system is seeded, and the highest seed gets home field advantage.  So the Colonels great regular season has allowed them to play at Colonel Stadium for all of the post-season. 

Henderson handled Meade County pretty well.  The Colonels did a good job of not being passive with the lead in the second half, but building the bulge into a 24-13 victory.  Next up the Colonels play the Greenwood Gaters for the 6A Region Championship.  The Cols have a very legit shot at advancing to the semistate.  Good Luck to Henderson!

Owensboro, Union County and Hancock County all saw their seasons come to an end.

It is time for some thank yous as I wrap up the final edition of Home Team Friday recaps.  Thanks to such an awesome and dedicated staff.  Trust me the people behind the scenes are just as passionate about football as I am.  We are all texting each other on Friday nights finding out how teams are doing.  Thanks so much to the awesome folks at Wabash Valley College/Newschannel 15 who volunteered their time on Friday nights and during our two broadcasts.  They really improved the show, and I hope they enjoyed the hands on experience.  We had some rookies really step up and take the show to a higher level.  I really give them all of the credit for pulling off 13 flawless shows.  Our production staff is the best!

And of course thank you to all of the fans.  We do our best to cover as many teams, as many games in three states as possible.  We try not to just brush over a game, but we do our best to give you a feel of how the game played out.  It is not always perfect, but we try our best.  Thanks so much for watching and supporting the show, and thanks even more for reading my ramblings every week!

As everyone knows I root for all of our local teams.  Being from here, I love it when our area is represented well and earns the respect of the rest of the state(s).  In all sports I am always a homer for our teams when they get to this level and start playing out of town teams.  I will never apologize for being biased for the Tri-State.  Some people may not like my style.  That is OK.  I know there is no way to please everyone.  And with that….

Go Panthers, Tigers, and Colonels!