Grant Gribbins Chooses Franklin College

EVANSVILLE - There have been few high school quarterbacks in the history of the state of Indiana that have been more proficient than Memorial's Grant Gribbins.  This afternoon, the Tigers senior told NEWS 25 Sports Director Lance Wilkerson that he will take his skills to Franklin College.

Gribbins set nearly every passing record at Memorial.  The strong armed quarterback can make every pass on the field.  While running the spread offense, Gribbins can throw deep, and run the screen game.  Some of his best highlights have been when he scrambles out of the pocket.

Gribbins says he will be given the chance to compete with a stable of Franklin quarterbacks right away.  He thanked the Tigers coaching staff for his development over the years, especially reading defenses. 

Gribbins led the Tigers to back to back state championship appearances in Class 3A.  His senior season he was 211-338 for 3363 passing yards and 35 touchdowns.  He also rushed for 412 yards and 11 more scores.

Another former Memorial standout quarterback Chad Rupp also starred at Franklin.  Gribbins is also a member of the Memorial baseball team.

Gribbins won the 2009 NEWS 25 Home Team Friday MVP of the Year.

Grant Gribbins Nominated as Parade All-American

Great news for Memorial standout quarterback Grant Gribbins.  Gribbins has been nominated as a Parade All-American.  It is one of the highest awards for any high school athlete.  Grant is certainly one of the top quarterbacks that I have covered in 17 years, and definitely worthy of the award.  Grant won our 2009 NEWS 25 Home Team Friday MVP of the Year Award.

CLICK HERE for the link and I have copied the story.

by James Naddeo

published: 01/31/2010

Related Features

 

This year, we asked readers across the country to nominate their favorite high school football player for our annual PARADE All-America Team. Although the following players did not make the team, they deserve special recognition for their talent and dedication. Meet five athletes who excel on the field, in the classroom and in their communities.

Grant Gribbins

Quarterback
Reitz Memorial High School, Evansville, IN

The quarterback is without question the most scrutinized player on the football field because of his importance as the leader of the offense, and often, the entire team. Reitz Memorial senior Grant Gribbins has grown into the role over his high school career as a four-year starter who holds most school passing records and led his team to two consecutive berths in the Indiana State Section 3A title games. Running a spread offense, Gribbins finished the season with 2221 passing yards, 275 rushing yards and 30 total touchdowns.

"He's a great kid, a strong competitor and a born leader," Reitz Memorial coach John Hurley said. "On the field, he'll do anything you ask him to do."

Grant doesn't possess the prototypical size Division-I teams look for, but that's not stopping him from pursuing his dream of playing in college. One of Grant's heroes, Purdue graduate Drew Brees, was also told he didn't have the size to be a quality quarterback in college or in the NFL. Next week, Brees will be preparing to step on the field for his first Super Bowl.

"He's definitely somebody I look to for inspiration," Gribbins said. "I'll be rooting for the Colts in the Super Bowl, but I hope [Brees] has a great game." In his spare time away from the field, Grant enjoys officiating youth league football in Evansville and spending time with his girlfriend, friends and family.

Gribbins Wins 2009 MVP of the Year

It is always the perfect way to cap the high school football season.  Thursday night was the 2009 NEWS 25 Home Team Friday MVP Banquet.  All 13 weekly MVPs, their parents, and their head coaches enjoyed an evening of football at Biaggi's Restaurant.

This is my favorite work night of the year.  It is so great to host the best talent in the Tri-State all in one room.  It is really hard to believe that we have been doing this for eleven years.  Thanks to all of the MVPs for a great season.  It is so much fun to cover all of you.  A special thanks to all of the coaches who let our cameras invade practice so much during the season.

This year had to be one of the hardest to choose the MVP of the Year.  Memorial senior quarterback Grant Gribbins has had a tremendous football career as a Tiger.  He is a very worthy winner among some great MVPs. 

Gribbins started the second game of the season his freshman year.  The past two seasons he has helped guide the Tigers to back to back state championship trips to Lucas Oil Stadium.  Gribbins finished the 2009 campaign as the top passer in the state of Indiana with 3363 yards and 35 touchdowns.  He rushed for 412 yards and 11 more scores.

Jeff Hudson, Matt McIntosh, Kolby O'Daniel, and Logan Hayford all did well in the voting.  McIntosh is only a junior and is a favorite to join his brother Paul as an MVP of the Year in 2010.  There are some other great returners such as Kal Prince of Owensboro and South Spencer's Zeke Harmon.

Gribbins joined me at the station to be on live for the 10pm sportscast.  He and his family couldn't be any nicer.  I even had Grant do the Aces highlights on the air.  He did a nice job. It has been a lot of fun covering Grant the past four years.  He is truly one of the best signal callers in Tri-State history.

From previews in August during two-a-days to the regular season to televising three playoff games, Reitz winning state, and the MVP banquet...2009 has been a season to remember!

Wide Open Offenses Power Reitz and Memorial

I have been asked by many people (casual fans and hardcore fans alike) what makes Memorial and Reitz so great this season?  There are many different angles I could answer that basic question:  the quarterbacks, the defenses, the coaches, the lines, the tailbacks, receivers etc. etc.

I think one of the main reasons that the Tigers and Panthers are on the eve of State Championship Saturday is their dynamic offenses.  Reitz and Memorial can spread defenses out so much that it is a nightmare to defend.

The Panthers have to have one of the largest playbooks in the state.  I really think that offensive coordinator Cory Brunson could play a game without running the same play more than once or twice.  I have really noticed it while calling the Panthers games on RTV25.  My job is to setup the formation to give the viewers an idea on what the Panthers are working out of, and to perhaps give them something to look for before the snap. 

I have literally seen thousands of football games in my life at all levels both in person and on TV.  There are formations that Reitz runs that I have never seen.  They will run 5 wide often with no tailback or tight end.  They will put 4 receivers in a diamond formation and the other receiver on the other side.  They can go with a tight flexbone set and run the option.  I could go on and on. 

It is a credit to the kids for knowing the amount of plays in Brunson and head coach Tony Lewis’ offense.  Without question you have to have high football IQ to run the Panthers offense.

Memorial’s offense is similar but the Tigers have their own style.  The Tigers rely on Grant Gribbins experience, reading the defense, and being very accurate.  Gribbins has a great receiving corps that runs precise routes which makes it difficult to defend every receiver on every play.  Gribbins can make all of the throws, and is just as effective outside the pocket.  Tailback Ryan Hatler feeds off that passing success which in turn can setup play action. 

For both teams, the offense is a constant chess match with plays setting up future plays in the game. 

The advantage to spreading out defenses like that is they have to make an important decision.  Does a defense bring a lot of pressure, or play back to defend the pass?

If a defense blitzes they force either Matt McIntosh or Gribbins to make a quick read, and possibly disrupt the play.  The problem with that is two-fold.  If a heavy blitz attacks that means there are less defenders back and it can create a big play or even a touchdown if the offense connects.  Also, it can setup the potent screen plays that both Memorial and Reitz run so well.  The screen allows the pressure to come on in and the then the pass goes over the top with the potential to break it long.  Reitz has not had to run as many screens in the playoffs.  Memorial however has scored many of its touchdowns off very effective screens.

If a defense plays back and does not blitz that can also play in the hands of Reitz and Memorial.  First off, with the great offensive lines of both teams, it gives McIntosh and Gribbins plenty of time to go over reads and find the open man.  For Reitz it also opens up running lanes for McIntosh.  Those lanes can be good for 5-10 yards, or even more.  For Memorial, that allows the inside handoff to Hatler to open up. 

Few teams run offenses as dynamic as these in high school football. (Mater Dei did the same in their championship run in the Schiff years)  The majority of high schools run tight formations and run the ball a great majority of the time.  That gives Memorial and Reitz a distinct advantage because playoff opponents that have never seen the Tigers or Panthers have just 6 days to get ready for it.

Of course an offensive scheme like that does not mean instant success.  These particular offenses would mean nothing without the players running it.  You have to have some talented smart kids that know exactly what is expected of them on every play.  That goes for all 11 players on the field.  McIntosh and Gribbins are built perfectly for the systems, and they maximize the most out of each snap.

The best way to defend it is by having a ball control running offense that keeps chewing up yardage, first downs, and the clock.  We saw that done by Heritage Hills against the Tigers…but Memorial still prevailed.

The Reitz defense really compliments the Panthers offense well because the “D” is consistently forcing their opponents to punt the ball and they get the ball right back to the high powered offense.  Reitz is giving up just 8.6 points a game, and 10 times this season the Panthers defense has held opponents to single digits.

So in my opinion from watching and covering these teams so much is that both will keep the pressure on their opponents by trying to score on every single possession.  That puts a bigger emphasis of taking care of the ball and not turning it over.

Memorial remembers all too well what happened last year.  I think that will be a strong motivating factor to win the school’s first IHSAA football state championship.

As for Reitz, if the Panthers go up by 14-21 points…game over.  The Panthers have consistently jumped out on their playoff opponents, and never looked back.  Hopefully, they can do the same on Saturday.

The cliché is defense wins championships.  I agree with that whole-heartedly.  However, what separates Reitz and Memorial from the rest is those high powered spread offenses that hopefully will bring home two state titles back to Evansville on Saturday.

Memorial Football State-Bound! Fan Information Inside

A standing ovation to the Memorial Tigers!  For the second straight season the Tigers are in the 3A State Championship game, and for the second time they convincingly eliminated one of the top football programs in the entire state: Bishop Chatard.

Memorial fell behind 14-0, but blindsided the Trojans with 28 straight points en route to the 37-21 final.  The story again for the Tigers was quarterback Grant Gribbins.  All season I have called Grant the best quarterback in the Tri-State viewing area, now he may prove he is the best signal caller in Indiana.

The top rated passer statistically was hobbled all week after straining a leg muscle while lifting weights.  Gribbins still put together an aerial attack that the Trojans defense could not attain.  After the clock hit zero, Gribbins finished with 335 yards passing, 4 touchdowns through the air, and another on the ground.

After the initial two scoring strikes by Chatard, the Tigers settled down.  This biggest play coming when the Trojans had first and goal at the one in the third quarter, and the Tigers recovered a fumble in the endzone for a touchback.  That preserved a 28-14 lead at the time, and kept the momentum with Memorial.

The Tigers will now face West Lafayette Saturday at 11am CST at Lucas Oil Stadium.  The Red Devils are 14-0.  Best of luck to the Tigers this Saturday!! 

Here is information for Tiger fans provided by Memorial Athletics Director Bruce Dockery:

Tickets for the IHSAA 3A State championship football game Memorial vs. West Lafayette will go on sale Monday, November 23 4pm at Memorial athletic office.

Tickets are $15.00 and will be on sale daily from 7am until 4pm through this Friday.

With the exception of Thanksgiving day.

Each pre-sale ticket sold $1.00 will go to the football program.

There will be a student fan bus, cost is $40.00 and that includes your ticket. Students must sign up by noon Tuesday, November 24.

State Final T-shirts will go sale Monday, November 23 at 4pm at the athletic dept. cost is $12.00.

 

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!

Week 10 Home Team Friday Recap

I have had a pretty hectic week, so my apologies for getting this out later than normal.  Since it is already Thursday, I will make this both a recap, and a preview of tomorrow.

We set another record on Home Team Friday.  We had 17 games of highlights.  It was a lot of fun to see if we were up to the challenge of being able to pull it off.  It wasn’t easy! We went right up to the final seconds.  Overall, I thought it was a great show.

There were very few intriguing matchups in Week 10.  Nothing at all jumped off the page.  The favorite won every game, but one.  In 2A, North Posey avenged a regular season loss to Southridge.  The Vikings Cameron Calvert has really lifted his team.  He has been a huge spark on offense.  Quarterback Colton Motz continues to make the highlights.  For the second straight year North Posey is trying to get to the Sectional Championship.  That should happen. The Vikes have Tell City at home.  North Posey handled the Marksmen pretty well on the road just a few weeks ago.

The other 2A semifinal features Mater Dei at South Spencer.  This is a game I am really looking forward to.  I wish I was able to cover it.  Randall will have that honor in our Showdown game.  Wayne Hart says we will have heavy rain tomorrow night.  So does that favor the Rebels or the Cats?  Normally, I would say it would help South Spencer.  However, the Rebels passing game is pretty strong.  The Rebels only two losses came in sloppy muddy conditions against Boonville and Heritage Hills.  However, Mater Dei has played the majority of its games on the turf.  So it is hard to say what kind of advantage Mother Nature will play for either team. 

MD had its best win in throttling Forest Park.  I thought that game would be much closer.  Cats head coach Mike Goebel told us they caught the Rangers without their best player, and FP was battling the flu.  Goebel gave a lot of credit to Terry Wagner and Forest Park.

South Spencer advanced last week with a win at Sullivan.  We had some pretty good highlights from that game from our friends at WTHI.  That game was close all the way to the end when the Rebels pulled it out 30-20.  I am sure Mater Dei scouted that game Friday, and South Spencer scouted MD on Saturday.  Should be a great one in Reo tomorrow night!

Let’s move over to 4A.  Aaron Hancock covered the game for us at the Bowl.  Reitz hosted Seymour.  It was an early 6pm start time, and Aaron called me before I was going on the air for my 6pm sportscast.  He said, “I don’t know what Seymour was thinking.  The Owls stomped on the R in pre-game, and then Reitz promptly scored a touchdown in just 57 seconds!”  Just a few minutes later I got these texts on my phone:  “14-0 Reitz”  “21-0 Reitz, the beating is on”.  Ironically, Reitz only scored in the first and fourth quarters. 

The Panthers now have an interesting matchup with Central tomorrow night.  I say that because of how the first game between these two teams played out.  Reitz just blasted the Bears 55-7.  Obviously, Central is much better than that.  The Bears just had one of those nights.  You know Coach Andy Owen will have his team remembering that loss, and I can imagine the Bears have had some pretty lively practices all week getting ready for Reitz.  On the Panthers point of view, even though this is a playoff game, I am sure it is hard not to overlook the Bears a bit for the possible matchup with Jasper. 

Even though this has the markings of a letdown game for Reitz, I don’t think that will happen.  Coach Tony Lewis’ demeanor will really help in this game.  He and his team never get too high, or too low.  That even keel will keep the Panthers focused at the task at hand.  We were out at practice yesterday, and Lewis told us that exact thing.  The only thing Reitz is worried about this week is Central.  However, I cannot help but get a bit excited about the possibility of Reitz versus Jasper next week.

Speaking of Jasper, wow what a statement the Cats made in the opener!  Jasper had to play on the road at Northview (north of Terre Haute), and the Knights were 8-1.  Now if you read my recap last week, I predicted at least a 28 point win.  As a matter of fact I told photographer Blaine Jasper would win by 50.  Well, that is exactly what Tony Ahrens team did.  The Cats turned in a 50-0 shutout on the road.  Both Jasper and Reitz are just obliterating teams.  How can you not look ahead if you are a fan?  Tomorrow night Jasper hosts Boonville.  I am not slighting the Pioneers at all.  Boonville has had one of its best seasons in school history.  The Pioneers will have an uphill battle tomorrow night in Dubois County.

I was really happy for Doug Hurt and Castle.  They have the hardest draw of any of the 5A teams in that sectional.  I knew it would be tough to win at Jeffersonville.  Our old HTF photographer Greg now works at WHAS in Louisville.  Greg was nice enough to shoot some great highlights of both Castle at Jeff, and North at New Albany.  Knights’ tailback and HTF MVP Logan Hayford had some spectacular runs.  That game was close the entire way, but Castle pulled it out 21-14.  I think the Knights loss to Memorial the week before in the muddy slop helped Castle in this game.  Jeffersonville’s field was pretty beat up too, and the Knights seemed prepared.

Castle now hosts BNL in a mud bowl tomorrow night.  I was pretty confident the Knights would win, but with the prediction of heavy rains, it is hard to be confident in any pick.  I think for any teams playing in horribly muddy conditions, scoring first will be huge.  It will be much easier to play with the lead in a low scoring slop game.

No surprises in 3A.  Memorial is the clear favorite in Sectional 24, and Heritage Hills will win Sectional 23.  I thought Mt. Vernon would be able to score on the Tigers, but I did not see how they could stop Memorial’s offense.  That was pretty much the case.  Memorial won 44-21.  The Tigers offense is absolutely peaking right now.  During the Tigers 6-game winning streak, they are averaging 37 points a game.  I think the Memorial/Bosse game will be similar for the Tigers.  Bosse won’t be able to stop the Tigers, but I do think the Dogs will be able to put up some points.  I give the Bulldogs a puncher’s chance with that dynamic offense.  Weather could be a factor with quarterback Grant Gribbins passing game even on the turf if it is windy.

Bosse won at Pike Central.  The Dogs had a 31-7 lead, but the Chargers made a furious comeback.  I got an email from a viewer and a Pike Central Parent named Jennifer.  She said PC should have won.  Here is what she wrote me:

Just to let you know, Pike Central scored a touchdown in last few seconds of Bosse game and should have won.  Even the radio announcers said it was plain as day.  For some reason the refs refused to call it.  Game film clearly shows they were in with time to spare. If the refs would have called touchdown correctly we would have won and should be advancing to next round.  The team is absolutely devastated!  I have never seen anything like this and wow I'm still in shock.  It will be protested by Pike but what good will that do.  We should all be celebrating, instead there is pain and shock.  Our boys played the best game of the season and did in fact beat Bosse.  Please give Pike Central the credit they deserve and make it aware we had a clear victory taken away.  How awful for these boys.  Those refs should never be allowed to officiate another game, ever!

I don’t know anymore to that story than her email.  If anyone else can shed some light on this, please make a comment below.   

Gibson Southern is at Washington in the other 3A semifinal.  I will give the edge to the Hatchets in this one.

It is hard to write much about Heritage Hills.  The Patriots play in such a weak sectional.  Bob Clayton’s club has won every sectional this decade except one.  The Pats have Salem in The Jungle tomorrow night.  I’m going with a 35-0 prediction.

The best 1A game in the entire state will be in Leopold.  Perry Central hosts North Daviess.  Both teams have had great seasons.  It is another game that could be affected by the weather.  I picked the Cougars to win the Sectional, so I will stay with that.  However, I wouldn’t be surprised at all to see PC pull it out.

There is still one week left in the regular season in Kentucky.  Henderson County is at Owensboro tomorrow night.  Before the season, I think most of us would have expected the Devils to win in a blowout.  Not now!  The Colonels are playing so well.  Henderson has won six straight, and the Colonels have won the district.  The Devils have struggled scoring.  In their last four games Owensboro has posted scores of 10, 16, 16, and 16.  I still think Owensboro is the favorite, but not by much.

Henderson had a thrilling win at home against Apollo.  The Colonels erased a late six point deficit by scoring twice and rallying for a 27-20 win.  I talked to one Colonels fan this week that said it was one of the most thrilling games he had seen in years.  Randall talked with head coach Clay Clevenger this afternoon.  The staff was scouting their playoff opponent tonight.

Union County wins the district.  The Braves used another great defensive performance to win 19-2.  Union County is down at Hopkins Central this week.

Illinois playoffs start Saturday.  Mt. Carmel throttled Robinson last week.  Quarterback Alex Hale rushed for 285 yards in the win.  The Golden Aces have a tough opponent at the Snake Pit in the first round.  Mahomet will be the favorite.

As for the HTF show, it was more insane than I would like.  I was at Enlow Field for the Bosse/Harrison game.  Fewest fans I have ever seen there.  I got back and edited my game, plus the Reitz and Memorial games.  We had three different feeds.  2 games from WTHI in Terre Haute, 2 from WHAS in Louisville, and Ryan Jenkins shot some games and fed out of Newschannel 15 in Mt. Carmel.  It was a lot to organize.  We had all kinds of troubles getting our 2 games from WHAS.  We literally were able to pull them off the satellite about 5 minutes before the show.

We have a very short amount of time after the 10pm newscast ends and HTF begins.  My first mic didn’t work, so I tried a second, and it didn’t work!  That never happens.  So I had to use Brad Byrd’s mic.  So literally after Brad signed off, he ran over to me to give me his wireless mic.

The HTF open is playing, and I am try to run the mic under my shirt, by pants are undone, belt out(it was quite the site I’m sure!)  So I am tucking everything in, making sure that production is receiving good audio levels.  I am still getting together when BAM I’m on camera.  I needed just 10 extra seconds to take a breath and get my composure. 

However, time does not stand still.  I knew I had 17 straight games of highlights to get through, and I am thinking in the back of my mind, “God I hope I zipped my zipper!”  I wasn’t even sure what the first game was, and I looked at my scripts and saw Reitz.  That is why I said, “Let’s just get to the highlights as we start off with Reitz.”  After I got going, all was well, and as I said before, I thought it was a pretty good show.

Editor Erica had 27 pieces of video to keep straight with those three different feeds, and she made deadline for every single one of them.

Now that we are losing teams, our shows won’t be so jam packed.  I will miss that.  However, we will now go longer with our highlights as we go deeper into the playoffs.  We have 13 games tomorrow night on the schedule.

Thanks as always for reading.  It means a lot to me that you take the time.  If you ever want me to touch on anything else, let me know.  I will see everyone tomorrow night at 10:35 for NEWS 25 Home Team Friday Live!

 

2009 Sectional Predictions. Who ya got?!

I am hesitant to make playoff predictions for one major reason.  I feel like I almost have to be a politician so I don’t honk anyone off.  When I pick the winner out an 8 team bracket, 7 groups of fans are going to be upset. 

That’s okay.  I think the vast majority of people that have followed my site are smart enough to understand a prediction is nothing more than an educated guess.  If I don’t pick your team, I am not slighting your school or players or coaches in anyway. 

Enough sitting on the fence, let’s dive in.

Class 5A

This is the hardest one as far as knowledge of all of the teams.  Only North and Castle are in our viewing area.  The top three teams in the sectional are all 6-3:  Castle, BNL, and Floyd Central.  The Knights are the defending champs.  However, 2008 HTF MVP of the Year Graham Saiko was one of many great seniors they lost.  Floyd Central has only won one sectional in school history and that was in 1998.  Jeffersonville is always better in the playoffs than the regular season.  I think the winner of the opening round game between Jeff and Castle will win the sectional.  I will be a homer on this pick.

Champion: Castle

Class 4A

This sectional boils down to one question:  Reitz or Jasper?  Central has had a winning season, but the Bears lost to Reitz 55-7.  Boonville turned in its best regular season in years, but the Pioneers lost at home to Jasper 41-13.  If either Central or Boonville beat Jasper and Reitz in back to back weeks, I will throw them a parade on my neighborhood street.  Any team that pulls off that accomplishment would certainly deserve a celebration.

Northview is at home against Jasper tomorrow night.  The Knights are 8-1, and will have mother nature on their side to neutralize the Cats.  All of that said, no way Jasper loses.  No way.

So…Panthers or the Cats?  It is too bad they have to meet in the sectional.  Could you imagine a semistate game between these two titans with the winner going to Lucas Oil Stadium.  Jasper knocked off Reitz in a thriller a year ago at Alumni Stadium.  However, this year the game will be at the Bowl.  Reitz is playing on another level right now.  They are averaging 40 points a game.  I love both of these teams, but I think you have to make the Panthers the favorite…I think Tony Ahrens will like being 11-0 and being an underdog!  He will be able to use that respect card all week at practice.

Champion: Reitz

Class 3A

I hated when Heritage Hills was shipped out of the Evansville area sectional.  The Patriots have no competition year in and year out in Sectional 23.  This is not Bob Clayton’s best team, but they will definitely win the sectional.

That brings us to Sectional 24.  Memorial is the clear favorite.  The Tigers have won five straight, and are coming off a trip to the state finals.  I think Grant Gribbins is the best quarterback in the area(which is saying a lot with McIntosh, Ahrens, Prince, Welp).  Gribbins is ranked sixth in the state in passing.  He has over 2000 yards and 22 touchdowns.  Jon Wandling is third in the state in receiving.  The Tigers toughest two opponents will be Mt. Vernon and Bosse.  I give the Dogs a punchers chance with their offense.

Champion: Memorial

Class 2A

This one is by far the most difficult to choose a winner.  I could make a good argument for five of the teams in this sectional, including Forest Park.  After starting 7-0, South Spencer has lost two tough games.  The Rebels have a favorable draw.  They will more than likely host Mater Dei in the second round.  That will be a huge game.  On the top of the bracket, I will take Southridge.  The Raiders have won this sectional three straight years.

Who will win?  Mater Dei has lost four straight games. I think the Cats will go one of two directions.  They will mail it in, or they will rally and put it all together.  I think MD can put it together.  If the Cats can beat the Rebels (and that's a huge if!), they will likely have Southridge at the Bowl for the title game.  The Raiders have gotten the best of the Cats lately.  This is a really tough choice.  I will be accused of being an Evansville homer, but I’m the furthest from that.  I am going to take Mike Goebel in this one.  If I am wrong, I think South Spencer wins. 

Champion: Mater Dei

Class A

Tecumseh hasn’t had as strong of a season as the Braves did last year.  The Braves play the same team that gave them their only loss a year ago:  Linton.  The Miners are always a powerhouse.  North Daviess has played all 1A opponents but one.  That was 3A Washington.  The Hatchets knocked off the Cougars.  Perry Central has a lot of playoff experience.  The Commodores remember that stinging loss a year ago.  They also have my favorite player in Mikey Wilkerson(no relation).  I am going to say that North Daviess and Linton play for the championship.  The Cougars handled the Miners easily the first time, and will again.

Champion: North Daviess

Feel free to tell me your opinion.  I am sure 2A will be the most criticized.  For good reason…there are a lot of great teams there.   Thanks for reading, and leave your comment below.

 

Week 9 Home Team Friday Recap - Her Name is Rio!

After the insanity of the Week 8 show, I am happy to report that Week 9 was pretty smooth.  Stress level was high, but that is always the case. 

Here we are, mid-October and the regular season is over in Indiana.  At this time next week, nearly half of the teams will be eliminated in the Hoosier state.  It is so sad for us on the HTF staff when the season winds down.  We truly love covering football on such an intense basis.

Let’s start the recap of rivalry week with the game that I normally look forward to the most:  Reitz vs. Mater Dei.  It is amazing how this rivalry has come full circle again.  After the Cats won five straight from 1997-2001, now it is the Panthers who have won five in a row.  What is more amazing is that Reitz has shutout Mater Dei three straight years. 

You could see this lopsided game coming.  Mater Dei is very young, and pretty thin in some spots.  The Cats will be just fine in the playoffs.  I’m sure MD’s confidence has been shaken these past couple of weeks, but starting on Saturday, I really think the Cats can make a run in 2A. 

As for Reitz, what more can you say?  It is almost becoming impossible to come up with different angles to look at this team.  The last five weeks in particular, Reitz is averaging nearly a whopping 50 points a game!! (47.2).  Only twice has the defense given up double digits in points all season, and they are now averaging just a shade over a touchdown per game. 

Quarterback Matt McIntosh has blossomed this second half of the season.  He is as healthy as he has been his entire career.  Alordo Bell had a monster night with 200 yards rushing and 4 touchdowns.  How about giving some credit to both lines?  The big guys are quick enough to block downfield on so many of the screen plays.  Size and strength is always the number one asset for lineman, but for Reitz you have to be quick to get into the linebackers and secondary on those screens.  The defensive secondary for Reitz has been great in the passing game, but they can also play near the line of scrimmage to control running teams. 

I knew Reitz would be good this season, but I honestly didn’t know the Panthers would be this strong.  It is not just the fact they are 9-0, it is how high of a level they’re playing the game.  I would be interested to know how many Reitz fans even saw this dominant of a team coming.

Next up: North.  Our photographer the Blaine Train was worried that after he left the Bowl for Central Stadium he might miss all of the Bears touchdowns.  He was worried that the game would be lopsided in favor of Central.  I have to give myself a little bit of credit on this one.  I told him, that this rivalry is truly one where the cliché of throwing out the records really applies.  It is amazing how many times the favorite in this series gets upset! 

Great win for Mike Wilson’s club.  As I have said 1000 times, Wilson’s teams may start off slow, but they always seem to make a run at the end.  Tailback Richard Compton rushed for 261 yards and 3 scores.  North has had a tough year with youth and injuries, but the win over Central I would imagine has erased some of the bitterness of the season.  That shows what a coach Wilson is.  He had his guys prepared, even with a 2-6 record.  North is now at New Albany for the 5A Sectional, while Central will try to regroup against Harrison at Enlow Field in Class 4A.

Speaking of Harrison, what a wild game at Enlow for the Eastside rivalry between the Warriors and Bosse.  I covered this game.  If you have been reading my blogs each week, you know what I think of Bosse.  The Dogs are fun to watch, and are much better than their 2-7 record.  Harrison fans were pinning their hopes of ending their three game losing streak against Bosse. 

We probably set some kind of nationwide record in this game.  We have to be the only station to have 3 different photographers covers a game with a combined record from the teams of 1-15.  I had a lot of highlights while I was there shooting the first half.  Josh Pendleton was just unreal this game.  He rushed for a jaw dropping 344 yards and 7 touchdowns!!

At half the game was tied at 19.  I was determined that if Harrison broke the streak, that we had to have a camera there.  I called Blaine to ask him how he was doing up at Central Stadium.  He said he got a touchdown from the Bears, and they are down 20-14.  I asked him who has the ball, and he said Central. I told him to stay for the Bears drive then head to Enlow.  He called me back a few minutes later.  Central scored a touchdown to go up 21-20 in the fourth quarter.  He left thinking he may have the game-winning touchdown for the Bears.  Of course Compton and the Huskies rallied to win.

Blaine got to Enlow and Harrison is down 5 points but is driving.  I called Blaine and he answered and is talking to me on the phone while shooting the highlights. (not easy!) You can literally hear him on HTF show saying “Harrison just scored” on the phone to me during that highlight.  Harrison would get the 2 point conversion to go up 34-31 with 7:30 to play.  Blaine now had all of the Reitz/MD highlights, the Central/North highlights and this Harrison TD.  No way could I have him stay that long.  I told him to get all of that back to the station.

Now my mind is scrambling.  Harrison is up three.  The Warriors could break this streak, and they would surely celebrate like crazy.  David Heckard covered the Memorial at Castle game and was almost back at the station.  I grabbed his disk full of highlights and sent him right back to Enlow.  Yep, that’s right…a third photographer at the Bosse/Harrison game!  It’s kinda funny now looking back on it.  I gave our meteorologist/sports guy a microphone.  I told him whoever wins will be celebrating, so make sure to get some good video, and to interview the winning coach.  I told him Andrew Weinzapfel is a great guy if Bosse comes back.  

So David got to Enlow, and Bosse is already up by three.  Again, I am eager to hear what is going on, and I called him.  He answered and said Bosse is up three….errrr….they just now scored a touchdown!  I asked him if he shot it.  “Nope, I was formatting the disk.”  Oh well, we had plenty of Bosse highlights.  David got the Dogs dancing and celebrating the win with the Eastside trophy.  He interviewed Coach Weinzapfel, and that aired on Saturday.  As for the Warriors, another regular season without a win.  I truly feel horrible for those players.  To think how they work that hard from two-a-day practices in the summer to now and never have a win.  I can’t imagine how tough that must be.

Let’s go to Reo for another awesome HTF Showdown game, and another game with a team trying to snap a streak.  I have to tell a funny and perhaps corny story first.  Every time I drive to South Spencer high school, I sing Rio from Duran Duran.  I am showing my age.  I do it every time.  I sing that dumb song even in the newsroom when we start talking about traveling to South Spencer.  I apologize to my Rebel friends for incorporating Duran Duran into your school!  What is worse is I always combine two songs: “Her name is Rio and she dances like a wolf.”  I probably need some kind of therapy for that.

Ok, I digress, on to the game.  Heritage Hills had beaten South Spencer every year since 1991.  It is hard to imagine the streak is that long with so many great Rebels teams.  That just goes to show you how awesome Heritage Hills has been.  However, this was the year all of the Rebels were pointing to end the streak.  The Rebels have a great team, and they had their county rival at home. 

In the sloppy field, the defenses dominated the game.  That wasn’t a huge surprise.  After all, both schools had some of the best defenses in the Tri-State.  For the second straight week, the mud really hampered the Rebels passing game with quarterback Zeke Harmon.  You just cannot expect to be able to throw deep in those kinds of conditions.  The Patriots were just suffocating on defense, and they were great on first down. 

With the game tied at 7, Heritage Hills had the ball at the Rebels 30 with 1:00 left.  However, the Rebels came up with an interception and returned it to midfield.  So now the Rebels had a chance with: 40 left.  However, the Patriots picked off a pass, and they’ve got the ball back down to the 30.  The Rebels hold to end a furious final minute and this game went into overtime.  Heritage Hills stuffed the Rebels, and the Patriots end it with a touchdown run.  Final score 13-6, and the streak continues.

Video can be so moving, and can really be transcending.  The instant the Patriots won the game; the Rebels Zeke Harmon fell to the ground pounding his hand into the ground in what must have been a crushing moment for him.  Just moments later, a Heritage Hills player showed amazing class in bending over to console Harmon.  He told him to keep his head up, that they were a great team, and he knew they would make a deep run in the playoffs.  Randall got this shot, and overhead the entire exchange.  It was a piece of video I will never forget, and what makes high school football in our area so great.  Here are two bitter rivals, after an extraordinary overtime game showing the ultimate sportsmanship.  I don’t know that player for Heritage Hills offhand, but if I find out, I will write about it in the future.

Congratulatons to one of, if not the best, coach in the Tri-State.  Bob Clayton earned his 300th career victory with the Heritage Hills win.

Randall had his own crazy night.  On Thursday our satellite truck broke down and had to go into the shop.  Our other main live truck was already in the shop!  So we were in a bind.  Our boss Mark Glover stepped up and had the mechanics patch together a temporary fix for our regular live truck so we could use it for HTF.  Here is the problem; Reo/Rockport is on the very fringe of being able to getting a live shot signal.  If we couldn’t get it, we didn’t have a satellite truck to make it happen.

Randall and Aaron Hancock made their trip out early in the afternoon to go test the signal.  No go in Reo.  It just was not a strong enough signal.  Ugh.  So for the 6pm show, I told them to try and go to Yankeetown elementary school (yours truly is an alumni…go Yanks!)  I thought that would be close enough to get a signal.  They make it to Yankeetown up on the hill, but the video was scratchy, and the audio was definitely crackly.  It was now time for both of them now to get to their games.  I told them that after the games to go to the Newburgh Lock and Dam.   My last words to Randall were, “as long as the HH/SS game doesn’t go to overtime, we should be OK.” 

So here it is, Randall is in Reo.  The game has ended, he has to get to the lock and dam to meet Aaron to feed back, and the worst part, he now has to fight traffic out of Reo!  Randall told me he was pretty sure every living person in Spencer County was at the game, making the traffic a nightmare.  Here is where it kind of gets funny.  Being a Newburgh native, I know that the Lock and Dam is a popular spot for young couples to make-out.  Of course, I would never know about this first hand.  Anyhow, here comes Randall screeching into the parking lot of the lock and dam with a NEWS 25 vehicle, and a NEWS 25 Live Truck.  He said he saw some cars with some fogged up windows.  He laughed and told me, I can only imagine how much they were freaking out seeing the news crew there!  Somehow, Randall managed it all.  He edited his entire story and fed it back in plenty of time for the show.  That is why Randall wasn’t live in Reo. 

In Newburgh, Castle hosted rival Memorial.  I really thought this could be the best game of the night.  Because of that, I had David Heckard shoot just this game.  I wanted to make sure to get a lot of highlights, not only for HTF, but for file video to use in later stories.  It seemed to me that Castle Stadium was the sloppiest of all fields.  Players were just covered from head to toe in mud. 

It was tough going for either of the talented quarterbacks to be able to pass.  However, once again Grant Gribbins put together a spectacular highlight.  It was very similar to the best play from 2008.  Gribbins scrambled far to his right, made a sliding stop in the mud, and went the other direction eluding the Castle rush.  He made it all the way to the other side, keeping his head up the whole time looking at his receivers, and then he stopped again, barely planted his back foot and threw it all the way across back to the right side to Jonathon Wandling for a touchdown.  It was simply amazing, especially in those conditions.  That wasn’t the play that won it for Memorial.  It was Ryan Hatler’s kickoff return for a touchdown to start the second half that put the Tigers on their way to their sixth straight win. 

Doug Hurt’s team now has a tough opponent to start the 5A Sectional.  The Knights are at Jeffersonville.  The Red Devils are 5-4, and boast a solid defense.  Castle is the defending sectional champ.  Memorial meanwhile starts its hopeful second straight run to Lucas Oil Stadium with Mt. Vernon.  The game will be played at Central Stadium.

The only other 9-0 team besides Reitz is Jasper.  The Cats ended the regular season with Mt. Vernon.  Jasper won 49-13.  Taylor Day had another typical night for him:  193 rushing yards and 5 touchdowns.  Jasper has so many weapons on offense.  Because Aaron was late getting out of Yankeetown, he missed the very beginning of the game. 

Jasper plays 8-1 Northview in the first round.  The game is in Brazil, but despite all of that, I predict the Cats win by 28 or more.

The other game that I was very interested in was in Illinois.  Mt. Carmel hosted Boonville.  This ended up being the Runner-Up Bowl for the Big Eight.  Obviously Jasper was the champ, but the race for number two was interesting.  I really thought this would be a closer game.  Boonville was coming off an impressive shutout win against South Spencer.  However, the Pioneers were blitzkrieged by Mt. Carmel.  The Aces just opened it up in the first half.  It was 28-0 in a hurry.  Mt. Carmel has really put together a nice season.  Darren Peach is one of our favorites.  The Aces are now 6-2 with one more regular season game to go at Robinson before the Illinois playoffs start.

Other news and notes from Indiana.  Southridge and North Posey both had shutout victories.  Those two meet in Poseyville for the opening round of the 2A Sectional.  The Raiders won easily in the regular season.  I was surprised Perry Central lost.  The Commodores dropped their first game of the year.  A home loss against second ranked Paoli 14-13.

In Kentucky, Henderson County has won five in a row.  I knew the Colonels would whip up on Marshall County.  Henderson has such a physical defense.  We went out to Cols practice today and Coach Clay Clevenger explained how they give out “Big Hit” hats for the best hits in the game.  That attitude carries over the field.  Not a lot was expected from this young group, but here they are with a 6-2 record and a great chance to get the top seed in the district.  Henderson hosts Apollo Friday night for Senior Night. 

It was not pretty, but Owensboro outlasted Hopkinsville 16-6, and Owensboro Catholic hammered Todd County Central 49-0.

We also made another trip to see Union County.  The Braves were on the road at Webster County.  Union County wins again.  The Braves host McLean on Friday.

Our main director for Home Team Friday was on vacation.  Filling in was Gary.  He had a pretty much flawless show.  The only minor error was the wrong background under the full screen scores, but that was no big deal.  I’m sure none of you even realized it.  Thanks to Gary. 

If I can find the time, I will do a special blog entry for Sectional Previews. 

Thanks so much for reading and watching each and every week, and I look forward to reading your comments below.

I leave you with this song in hopes you get the chorus stuck in your head!  You need to feel my pain.  It is my gift to you!  Crank it up and enjoy!

 

Week 8 Home Team Friday Recap ---The Show That Barely Made It!

Due to technical difficulties, this blog entry will include technical difficulties!  Week 8’s Home Team Friday show was the most challenging in my 17 year career at NEWS 25!  A cascade of problems happened to put our football show in serious jeopardy!  So much so, I thought I was going to go out on the set and say, “Tonight’s edition of NEWS 25 Home Team Friday Live will not be seen tonight, instead enjoy this rerun of Three’s Company.  We’ll see you next week!”

Before I get to the entire behind the scenes chaos, let’s talk some pigskin…We had an astounding 15 games on the show!  That is an HTF record!

I begin with a salute to the good people of the EVSC for getting the three city stadiums in such great shape.  Paul Neidig and Dr. Vince Bertram and others deserve a lot of credit for the upgrades to Reitz Bowl, Enlow Field and Central Stadium.  Even with rain blowing sideways, and flash flooding the day before, the fields were in outstanding shape.  I took this picture of Enlow with my iphone. 

There weren’t a lot of intriguing matchups in Week 8.  Many of the games seemed lopsided on paper, and that’s how they came out.  The best one was by far was our HTF Showdown: South Spencer at Boonville.  I picked the Pioneers in this one.  It was no slight to the Rebels; it was because of Mother Nature.  I have seen the Pioneers lethal ground game, and I knew the muddy conditions would favor Boonville. 

South Spencer head coach Bruce Green told us two days prior that he was worried that the slop would hurt his passing game.  Boonville’s Kyle Whitten is such a bruising tailback.  He already has 13 touchdowns this season.  The other W in the backfield can also pick up the tough yards.  Jacob Winsett is averaging nearly 5 yards a carry. 

I just think it is great to see Boonville and South Spencer having so much success.   It has been nice this year to talk about different schools.  The Pioneers and Rebels have given their fans a banner year, and it is not over yet.  One more note on Boonville, congrats to receiver Ridge Green for winning the play of the night.

At the Bowl, Reitz jumped out quickly on Bosse.  A new Panther made the highlights.  Hamilton Carr put on some sweet moves.  Carr even had a nice interception.  He was mistakenly put on my shot sheet a third time for a catch down to the ten.  That was Jeff Hudson.  I should’ve known better.  I didn’t catch that mistake until after the show.  I loved the highlight that the Blaine Train got of Morgan Jones’ touchdown.  Blaine couldn’t have been much closer.  Blaine will have the Reitz/Mater Dei duties on Friday.  There is not much better in our area than being at the Bowl for the Westside Rivalry.

 The Panthers have beaten every team by double digits.  I talked with head coach Tony Lewis briefly tonight, and we went out to practice on Monday.  Lewis is always looking to improve, but he has to be happy with the way his team continues to peak towards the end of the season.  Safety Eric Bryant told us that the defense was disappointed how they finished the Bosse game.  However, credit the Dogs for putting up 27 points on the Reitz defense.  That is by far the most the Panthers have given up. (Panthers are giving up only 8.8 ppg)  Bosse has a great chance to pick up a win this week against Harrison.  I will be at Enlow covering that game.

Speaking of the Panthers defense, I put up their story on our website on Monday on the D.  I am at the mercy of this web program to find a nice screen capture to use for the video player.  I thought this one came out pretty well.  Feel free to save it to your computer.

 I had my best night shooting of the season.  Even though I wasn’t dressed for the miserable sideways rain, I enjoyed myself at Enlow Field.  As I have said before, I really like covering the Tigers.  Their offense is so much fun to watch.  However, almost none of it even made the air because of some bizarre behavior by a referee. 

For some reason, this young referee that was working on the Tigers sideline felt the need to constantly get in front of the cameras.  I was down there with my buddy Bo McFall from channel 14, and a courier/press still photographer.  This ref kept running right in front of lens during plays.  Now you can imagine between just the 3 of us, there is a ton of space on the football field.  However, this ref just made it his mission to make our jobs difficult.  In my whole career, I have never had that happen.  My solution was to just go to the back of the endzone and shoot back there.  Ironically, the back judge back there was super nice.  We talked several time between plays. 

I like shooting in the back of the endzone anyhow with Memorial.  Quarterback Grant Gribbins can throw to any section of the field at any time.  Being in the back gives me more flexibility in getting the best shot.  The Tigers scored 4 times against Harrison in the first half.  I almost left after the third score, but stuck it out trying to get greedy for another great highlight.  I am glad I did.  I got a beautiful shot of Jonathon Wandling diving for the touchdown catch.  The Tigers are going to be a force in 3A.  They are really playing well.

How about Forest Park?  The Rangers continue to impress.  In just year two, they nearly beat South Spencer and Heritage Hills.  The Rangers took the lead on the Patriots with just 3 minutes left in the game, but the Pats came up clutch with a kickoff return for a touchdown to hold on for the 21-16 victory.

I have gone to so many practices at so many different schools over the years.  No one and I mean no one works on special teams more than Bob Clayton at Heritage Hills.  How many big games have the Patriots been in where they return a punt or kick for a touchdown, or block a kick?  All of that work paid off against Forest Park last week. 

Heritage Hills is 7-1 and will take on South Spencer this Friday.  That is our HTF Showdown game.  The Rebels have not beaten the Patriots since 1991.  It should be an insane atmosphere in Reo, and a great game.

David Heckard made the trek way up north for three games.  He told me Jasper looked sloppy against Washington.  However, the Cats still won easily 35-12.  I am so glad to see quarterback Austin Ahrens on the field.  He was banged up at Mt. Carmel last week.  I was told Austin played with a brace on his knee.  He is a tough kid that is leading his team to a perfect season.  They will look to finish 9-0 at home against Mt. Vernon.

Heckard has been begging me every week to cover North Daviess.  They are on the outer fringe of our viewing area, but I thought why not!  Let’s go to Cougar Country!  There were some hilarious muddy highlights in that game.  That play where they gang tackled the guy in the mud puddle was fantastic!

He also shot the Gibson Southern 17-14 win over Tell City.  The Titans Josh Wildman made an awesome interception on a tipped pass.  It was second in our Play of the Night voting.  I loved the play.  Great concentration by Josh in the mud!

Mt. Vernon is now 5-3 after beating Princeton.  The Wildcats had two safeties!  That is pretty unusual for that to happen.  The Cats got a tough draw in the sectional to play at Memorial.  That means the next two weeks Mt. Vernon is at Jasper and at Memorial. Yikes!

Just up the road, North Posey also won.  The Vikings defeated Tecumseh.  Joe Gengelbach’s team will host Southridge in the first round in 2A.  The Vikes end the season at Pike Central.

Let’s head across the Ohio River.  Owensboro struggled with Apollo a little more than I thought.  The Devils led 16-0 at halftime, and that was all they would score.  The Eagles mustered a touchdown in the second half for the final of 16-7.  The Devils have Hop Town at home Friday.

Earlier this year I talked about unfortunate times when we shoot a game and while we were there we get highlights of just one team, then the other team comes back to win.  It happened to me when North played Henderson in week two.  Well it happened to Corey Allan on Friday in Hancock County.  We were told by Hancock County earlier in the day that the game was going to start at 7pm.  Corey had to shoot that game, and get back for Owensboro/Apollo.  Well the game started at 7:30 which put him behind the 8-ball right away. 

Owensboro Catholic had some night highlights and scored, and Corey had to get out of there to get to Apollo in time.  Well the Hornets came back to win, and Corey had no highlights of Hancock County.  I knew that was going to be a problem, and if you listened to me on the air, you could hear me talk up Hancock County and how much I loved the Hornets run to State in 1999.  Well that didn’t matter to one Hornets fan who just lit into me in an email.  It’s amazing how mean and rude people can be.  Do people really think I am out to get a certain team?!  We travel the tri-state and get 15 games and still people aren’t happy.  Oh well, I guess that is a good thing.  We have created a product that people expect a lot from.  I really should post the email.  I think many of you would be in disbelief.  Maybe I will another time.

Speaking of horrible luck, we went all the way to McLean County for the Cougars game against Muhlenberg County.  Spencer Phillips of the Cougars rushed for an amazing 401 yards and 6 touchdowns!!!  Somehow, someway that I can’t even begin to explain, our photographer didn’t have a single highlight from him!  I apologize to all of the Cougar fans and to the Phillips family!  What a special night for Spencer.  I have tried to mention it on the air a lot to make sure he gets the credit he deserves!  Way to go Spencer!

Back to Home Team Friday headquarters.  It is about 8:30pm and I just finished editing my highlights from the Memorial game.  I was pretty worried all night of how we were going to pull off 15 sets of highlights and a 3 minute Jay Cutler feature in one show. 

The first sign of trouble was our website.  We have the most frustrating company called World Now that runs our NEWS 25 website.  As a matter of fact, they run most of all TV stations in the country including channel 14.  For some reason World Now is testing some new programs and our station’s site is being used as a beta version.  Well, we have had one problem after another.  It is so frustrating, because there is nothing we can do about it.  Our entire scoreboard was messed up.  It took until around 9:15pm before it started working correctly.  We take a lot of pride keeping the scoreboard as live as possible.  I cannot express how angry we all were at World Now for the problems.

Despite that, things are going smoothly.  All nine of our photographers, and everyone else knew we were on a tight timeline, and everyone was ahead of schedule and doing a great job.  We get all the way to about 10:10pm…25 minutes before our show.  All hell breaks loose.

We do not have tapes anymore that run in our shows.  Our cameras record onto disks and those disks are put in a computer to edit.  Then all of the clips are sent to a main server to be played during the football show.  As I am editing the Jasper game, I hear some screaming from the control room.  Our 10pm newscast is on the air, and our entire server has crashed.  That means no video.  None!! 

I always say you have to be at your best when things are at the worst.  I am trying to stay calm and figure out a solution.  An editor grabs a bunch of old tapes and starts recording the video out of the edit bays to tapes.  The problem with that is for last week’s HTF show we had 25 clips!  There is no way on earth he could possibly dub down 25 different sets of video in such a short amount of time.

Meanwhile, engineers are scrambling to try and get the server fixed.  Jennifer Cahill is currently anchoring an entire newscast live without any video!  It is pretty much mass chaos.  Not to mention, we still have a lot to get done before HTF starts.  Our producer Jason is still gathering scores, and there are still 4-5 games that haven’t been edited.

I start thinking…how am I going to do a football highlights show without video?!!?!  Not to mention I had been hyping up all week that we were going to have a record 15 games on the show.  I could see it now, “Welcome to Home Team Friday, we were going to have 15 games, instead here is a dry wipe board, and I will draw some pictures.”

Here comes an editor running down the hallway…”The sever is fixed!”  Thank goodness!  It is now about 10:25pm.  We have to regroup and make sure all 25 clips get finished and are sent in the right order so nothing gets messed up on the air.  I finally take a breath when I hear: both editing laptops at the Showdown Live site have crashed!  Are you kidding?!  Randall and Aaron are at the live truck in Boonville.  They of course have Randall’s Showdown game between the Pioneers and Rebels to feed back to the station.  Aaron also has the Southridge and Heritage Hills games to feed back.  Those are 3 important games that might now be lost. 

I slam together some final highlights, and furiously look at rosters to write down shot sheets.  10:30pm now.  One of the laptops is up and running and they are feeding back all of the highlights back to the station.  I still have no shot sheets from Aaron’s two games.  He calls me and reads them as fast as possible over the phone.  I am just scribbling furiously on my scripts.

10:32pm, I write down all of my final scores that I didn’t already have, and look to see what clips are still not finished.  There are still around 7 clips that haven’t been sent to the server.  Panic is setting in.  Erica is our first year editor.  She has done just an amazing job.  She is in charge ever piece of video that goes on the air.  She tells me, she’ll have it all done, and that is good enough for me. 

10:34pm, I am mic’d up and trying to get into show mode.  Once the show starts, I have little time to go over anything and make any changes, so I am trying to go over any last second items in my head. 

10:35pm, HTF open is airing, deep breath…and GO!

I try to do my best to always thank the HTF staff.  So many people that you never see on the air are responsible for such a great product.  Because you see my big head on TV, I get the credit.  I am here to tell you, there are no better people in any station that go the extra mile like the HTF staff.  We are TV market size 101 in the country.  I guarantee you; we could hold our own with anyone.

I sincerely thank every one of them for jumping in and doing what they could to make it all come together.

I am betting that as you watched last Friday, you had no idea that we were on the brink of disaster.  I hope we never have to go through anything like that again!  Here is to a nice peaceful Week 9 show!  We’ll see y’all at 10:35pm on Friday, and not a minute before!