Jay's Journey: Football Hoosiers...The 2000 Season
Sunday, November 8, 2009 at 2:14PM November 8, 2009
By Lance Wilkerson
Special for jaycutlersix.com
The 2000 high school senior season for Jay Cutler was more than just winning a state championship and spring boarding himself into Division I college football. It was a year that brought joy and pride to his rabid football hometown, and instilled important values in Jay that he still embraces to this day.
To get to know Jay Cutler, you have to understand the communities that make up Heritage Hills High School. Patriots football is integrated into this area of Southwest Indiana. Kids grow up in the tiny towns surrounding the high school dreaming of playing for the Patriots on Friday Nights. The folks there pack into the small stadium affectionately known as The Jungle for every Heritage Hills home game. It’s one of the greatest home field advantages in the entire state. To this day few opposing teams ever escape The Jungle with a victory.
One of those tiny towns is Santa Claus, IN. It is a place where Christmas is year round, and is the hometown of Jay.
I have covered Heritage Hills football since the beginning of my sports reporting career back in 1993. I have seen some amazing drama play out with the Patriots.
Before all important games on the schedule, every house and business has their windows painted red, white, and blue, with words of encouragement for their football heroes. Everyone is decked out in red, white, and blue clothing. The only topic of conversation is football.
However, when you have that much passion for a team, it can also create incredible heartbreak. Year in and year out the Patriots would lose in the playoffs in devastating fashion. As great as the Pats would be every year, a trip to the State Championship would elude them each season.
I covered some of the most painful ways for any football team to lose. In 1996, the Patriots tied their semistate game against Zionsville with no time on the clock. All that stood in their way to a trip to the RCA Dome was an extra point. The kick sailed wide of the upright. The Eagles scored a two point conversion in overtime for the win stunning the Patriots faithful.
The following season in 1997, the Patriots were back trying to get to the Dome. They traveled three hours north to Indianapolis to play in one of the coldest days of my life. Despite being 12-0, the Patriots were the heavy underdog to the mighty Bishop Chatard catholic school out of Indy. The Patriots had a short field goal to tie the game on the final play in regulation. The snap slipped through the holder’s hands and again the Patriots dreams were smashed. I saw players sobbing and grown men with frozen tears on their face. I interviewed the very stoic head coach Bob Clayton. He is the kind of guy that may have invented tough love. Nothing ever gets to Coach Clayton, and even he broke down right there on camera.
In 1999, the Heritage Hills football team was absolutely loaded. The best player was a beast of a running back and linebacker named Jon Goldsberry (ironically, he later made the Chicago Bears practice squad in 2007). That season the Pats had their hot-shot junior quarterback Jay Cutler. Going into the third round of the playoffs, it was a given that the Patriots would roll over an inferior Mt. Vernon Wildcats team who had never even won a Sectional Championship in school history. Cutler already had a sparkling record of 17-1 as the starting quarterback going into the game.
The Patriots playoff curse continued. In a sloppy muddy contest, the senior Goldsberry got injured in the first quarter, and was out for the game. Mt. Vernon shocked the Patriots pulling off the biggest upset in Indiana winning 6-3.
The 2000 season started with the same typical optimism in Patriot Nation, however, you could not help but feel there was some skepticism as well. Goldsberry had graduated, and the playoff nightmares had added up. Despite it all, the Patriot fans were pounding their chest again, tailgating at The Jungle, dreaming of a Thanksgiving at the Dome.
Interviewing Jay during the 2000 SeasonJay Cutler was simply amazing his senior season. He brought the best out of every teammate, and never took a single game for granted. Cutler was on the field for just about every play. He was as good of a safety on defense as he was a quarterback. Jay caught nine interceptions as a member of the secondary. He returned punts and kickoffs for touchdowns, he ran over and right past defenders on quarterback rushes, and then there is the powerful right arm. High school defensive backs are not coached to defend a receiver more than 35 or 40 yards past the line of scrimmage. Jay would plant that back foot and launch the ball as far as 75 yards to some talented receivers.
Cutler and the Patriots were so dominant, not a single regular season opponent scored more than 7 points in a game. The D registered five total shutouts. The offense averaged an incredible 58 points per game. The high water mark: A 90-0 whitewashing on the road at Pike Central.
In Indiana, a team has to win 6 playoff games to become State Champs. There are no seedings, so opponents and venue sites are a blind draw. Heritage Hills got the worst of the bracket in 2000. As if the playoff curse weren’t enough, the Patriots played just one post-season game at The Jungle.
Playing on the road did not matter, Cutler and his teammates continued to just devastate teams. After four straight playoff blowouts, the Patriots found themselves in the exact same spot that had seen so much sorrow: semistate.
Another big-time Indianapolis catholic school named Roncalli stood in the Patriots dreams of the Dome.
Jay Cutler was literally in the zone that Michael Jordan talked about during those great Chicago Bulls years. Every pass was on target, every stiff arm right to the chest of a would-be tackler, every decision was correct, and every time Jay was near a pass on defense, he picked it off. Cutler finished with 4 touchdowns on offense, and 3 interceptions on defense in the 27-0 semistate victory. Tears of heartbreak turned to tears of disbelief for the ever loyal Patriots fans. Their beloved team was Dome Bound for the first time ever.
Thousands of Patriots fans at Dome At the RCA Dome in 2000, the stage was set like a Hollywood movie script on the Saturday morning after Thanksgiving. The small town tough-nosed country kids in their brand new turf shoes led by their tall gun slinging quarterback were in the big city to take on another Indianapolis school for the 3A State Championship. Not just any opponent, the same Zionsville team that the Patriots lost to just four seasons ago after the errant extra point.
The game even played out like a movie: Football Hoosiers if you will. After Zionsville struck first with a touchdown, the Patriots responded quickly, scoring three straight times. Cutler banged across the goalline on a quarterback sneak, and Heritage Hills was cruising into halftime with a 21-7 lead.
The momentum completely changed in the second half, and the Patriots and their massive fan base that filled their side of the Dome found themselves in a familiar nightmare playoff scenario. Zionsville scored twice to tie the game. Then with just five seconds left, the Eagles had a 33 yard field goal attempt to win the game and send the Patriots to a runner-up finish. I stood right near head coach Bob Clayton. I had this horrible feeling in my stomach. Please no, don’t let this happen again. I didn’t even watch the kick, I just watched Coach Clayton as he looked up at the ball falling woefully short, then he pumped his fist! No Good!!!
Now it is time for overtime, in which both teams had four downs from the 10 yard line. The Heritage Hills defense held Zionsville to a field goal, and the Patriots had a chance to win State with a touchdown. First down, Cutler took the snap, and the exchange on the handoff to the tailback is bobbled and the ball just lies on the ground. If Zionsville recovered, the game is over. Cutler jumped on the football, but now it is second down and 13.
Football Hoosiers needed that Hollywood flair finish to become a blockbuster. Cutler took the snap and fired a backwards pass to sophomore sensation Cole Seifrig. Cutler then slipped out the opposite side while the Eagles over pursued to tackle Seifrig. After deking the defense, Cole fired a pass right back to Jay. Cutler had no one in front of him, and he sprinted toward the corner of the endzone with his arm raised and his hand pointing number one! It’s a play that will never ever ever ever be forgotten.
A moment frozen in time in Heritage Hills HistoryJay Cutler and his teammates erased the playoff curse, and brought the ecstatic loyal fans the State Championship trophy that some thought would never arrive.
I had the honor of speaking at the pep rally the next day. My first words into the microphone: “How does State Champs sound?!” It was one thunderous round of applause after another that day in the high school gym. The heroes all lined up in their jerseys with their state champion medallions around their necks. I remember so vividly seeing Jay Cutler with a permanent massive smile on his face.
As he had done all year long, Jay was quick to point out his teammates during my interview with him. However, after piling up 42 touchdowns, and nearly 3000 total yards of offense, and nine interceptions on defense, and leading his team to a 15-0 record and the school’s only State Championship, it is safe to say that in the town of Santa Claus, the hero that the young kids growing up dreaming of becoming is Jay Cutler.
Reader Comments (2)
Again Lance, another awesome blog! Thanks to you for sharing this with all of Jay's fans.
It is so much fun reading about how Jay developed into the NFL star that he is today. Thanks for sharing these memories!