Andrean captures 1st ever state championship, 21-14 over Heritage Hills in Class 3A at RCA dome

A USA-365.com Special Report By Mark Smith

11-29-2004

Class 3A State Championship - Saturday, Nov. 27, 2004 at RCA Dome, Indianapolis, IN

1st Q: HERITAGE HILLS (7-0) Jacob Nichols, 33-yard run (27^th TD). 33-yard drive, 1 play. (:06) Jace Morrison kick. 11:34 left.

ANDREAN (7-7) Ty Harangody, 25-yard pass (11^th TD) from Tommy Finn (35^th TD pass). 80-yard drive, 8 plays (2:18) Jake Kocal kick. 9:10 left.

ANDREAN (14-7) Tommy Finn, 19-yard run (12^th TD). 53-yard, 3 plays (:48). Jake Kocal kick. 5:07 left.

2nd Q: HERITAGE HILLS (14-14) Jacob Nichols, 1-yard run (28^th TD) 60-yard drive, 11 plays (6:33). Jace Morrison kick. 0:24 left.

3rd Q: ANDREAN (21-14) Tommy Finn, 10-yard run (13^th TD). 80-yard drive, 9 plays (2:36) . Jake Kocal kick. 0:56 left.

4th Q:  NO SCORING.

INDIANAPOLIS (11-27-2004) - It was a little anti-climactic. While the game was close, Andrean knew they had the better team. Eight years after losing their first state finals game in the final minute, the 59ers made it right.

On a Saturday when it rained from dawn till dusk, Andrean let the RCA Dome be their umbrella, holding off top-ranked but undermanned Heritage Hills 21-14 to win the first boys team sports state championship in the 46-year history of the 59^th Street school.

It wasn't so much that it took eight years and four tries to get the big trophy from the Indiana State High School Athletic Association. Hobart needed five tries.

This state crown will go down in history. Andrean may not have a great team in 2004 but they made perhaps the greatest comeback of any state title team in the 32-year history of the state tournament.

Fifty days after losing 48-14 at Griffith on Oct. 8, Andrean star Tommy Finn ran 10-yards for the go-ahead touchdown with 0:56 seconds left in the third quarter, breaking a 14-14 tie and pushing the 59ers (13-2) to the Class 3A state championship.

“After that Griffith game, it wasn't looking so good for Andrean,” second-year coach Brett St. Germain said of that not-so-long ago loss. “Our kids decided they still had a lot of things they wanted to accomplish and we were able to do that.'

“It's hard to put it in perspective right now.”

The ultimate victory had come in a game that the 59ers seemed in control of most of the day, except for the fact that they never had more than a seven point lead at any time.

In fact, Andrean fell behind as fast as is humanly possible when Tommy Finn's first pass of the game was intercepted by Heritage Hills linebacker Brandon Prior at the Andrean 34 -yard line.

On the next play, junior halfback Jacob Nichols (5-11, 170) broke through the defense off his right guard and tackle, running 34 yards on the fast green artificial turf to score with only 26 seconds gone in the contest.

The game goes south for the 59ers right there if they don't score.

“It was really important for us to regain momentum after that first interception,” Finn would say later. “The guys came together. I threw the ball behind Jake (Kocal) and the guy made a good grab. I take full responsibility for that one and I had to do something to get my team going because I felt horrible right then.”

Andrean's crowd of about 5000 fans felt a lot better after the 59ers went 80 yards in nine plays, including a 3^rd-and-goal touchdown pass from Finn to senior tight end Ty Harnagody with 9:10 left in the first quarter.

The drive almost came easy as the 59ers' spread offense (four wide receivers) was initially overwhelming for the secondary of the Spencer County team, which had just 33 players dressed and didn't carry the aura of an undefeated, top-ranked team.

Andrean made it 14-7 on their next possession when a personal foul penalty moved the ball to the Patriots' 41-yard line. Finn fired a 22-yard pass to Kocal before running the final 19 yards up the middle on a quarterback draw play to put his side in front for the first time.

The 59ers should have carried a significant lead into the locker room at halftime but they lost the ball on downs at the Heritage Hills 26 yards line in the final minute of the first quarter; and Harangody fumbled at the Patriot 39 with 7:20 left in the half.

Heritage Hills, which came into the game with 68 wins in the Patriots' last 71 games, then got their running game going and drove 61 yards to tie the score. Nichols scored on a 4^th-and-goal from the one-yard-line to tie the game with 24 seconds left in the half.

The only time when it appeared Heritage Hills might win was the start of the third quarter. The undefeated champions of Southern Indiana's Pocket Athletic Conference got a 23-yard kickoff return from sophomore Jacob McGrew to the 40-yard-line. Ten runs and an 8-yard pass from Pund to receiver Tom Carter pushed the ball to the 12 yard line. But the Andrean defense stopped Pund on an option run at the 59er 11 and then dropped Nichols for a one-yard loss.

On came placekicker Jace Mundon, whose fourth quarter field goals had won the regional title game with Batesville 3-0 and the Southern Semistate Championship game with Bishop Chatard 13-10.

But Mundon's 28-yard field goal atempt sailed left of the uprights and the game remained tied. Andrean immediately drove 80 yards to take the lead. On a 3^rd-and-5 play from the 10-yard line, Finn ran between the tackles, got a good block from center Peter Sanchez (5-11, 260) and scored the touchdown that would eventually make the difference.

“You have a lot of control in here,” Finn said later of the RCA Dome's perfect conditions. “It's great to play here. There's a lot of things you can do.”

Kocal said it wasn't surprising that Heritage Hills did not have the manpower to cover the 59ers' four receivers.

“Honestly, I don't think very many teams do,” he said. “We've got four guys who run good routes. It's almost impossible for the other team to have that many good DBs and cover all the receivers.”

Halfback Joaquin Rodriguez, like Finn, played on the Andrean baseball team that had lost the 3A state championship game 3-2 to New Palestine at Victory Field, which is less than four blocks from the RCA Dome.

“I definitely knew coming into this season, our team had the talent,” he said. “We just had to put it together. Some people lost confidence in us but we never lost confidence in ourselves.”

Joaquin? You never lost confidence even after getting beat 48-14 in the eighth week of the season?

“It was just the regular season,” he insisted. “It didn't mean anything. It's all about the playoffs.”

In the state tournament, Andrean averaged 44 points a game. But it was the defense, which had not excelled, which stopped Heritage Hills on three possessions in the fourth quarter. The Patriots, clearly not a come-from-behind team, was helped with a penalty on each fourth quarter possession. But the 59er defense forced two punts and forced a final incompletion from the Andrean 47-yard-line as time ran out.

The 59ers spoke proudly of how they did it, not only for themselves, but for all the basketball (2000), baseball (2003, 2004) and football teams (97, 2001, 2002), who had come to the finals before and fallen short. But this was a 'Stay the Course' victory. Certainly no team has ever lost by five TDs in week eight and then gone on to win state.

“That really is unbelievable,” said Kocal. “Griffith's got to be saying. What the Heck? In the sectional championship, they were one play away from being in the same place we are. We lost and we came back the next day and said, Okay, so we lost. Everybody's going to be saying (bad) things about us. You just try to stay strong as a team. Our seniors are very strong. Our team has a lot of confidence. We lost. So what? You've just got to refuse to lose.”

There's probably more to it than that but, like this team, it's now history. And when others read the story, 2004 Andrean will forever become the textbook case of how to turn a rainy day into a happy ending.

NINER NOTES:  Senior Jake Kocal says that coach Brett St. Germain is a different kind of coach.

“He's very patient,” said Kocal. “But when he has to, he can get us fired up. He knows what to say.”

During the victory celebration and post-game interviews, Wawasee and Roncalli came out on the field for the 4A title game and, even if you did not know who was who, the red and blue clad Roncalli rebels, two-time state champions, looked like a military unit, ready for war. They were. Roncalli won a third consecutive state championship 35-10.

Two of the five Indiana state titles were won by private schools and a third, Ritter, lost the state title game. Five of the eight Illinois state titles were won by private schools, prompting calls for changes in the state tournament classifications.

Tommy Finn increased his chances to be named the state player of the year next month when he won the state passing yardage title. Finn completed 11 of 18 for 170 yards, giving him 225 of 366 for 3,380 yards, 35 TDs and seven interceptions.

“He's Mr. Football,” said Kocal. “I mean, come on. What else does he have to do? He scored two touchdowns today. Making tackles on defense. What else does he have to do?”

This will probably be Tommy Finn's last football game. He would certainly be welcome at any small school, not the least of which would be Rose-Hulman in Terre Haute, where former coach Jeff Karras now is in charge. Finn could walk onto a larger school but he will not be recruited at a major school because of his size. You've got to be a lot bigger than 6-0, 185 to play in the Big-10 at QB.

Plus, Finn is a major college baseball prospect as a middle infielder. But immediately after his team had won the state title was probably the wrong time to ask, 'Tommy, is this your last game?'

“I don't know,” he said. “I really don't. I'm not just saying that.”

Told that he could eventually be a pro in baseball, Finn just smiled.

Kocal explained the early interception.

“I saw an opening in the middle,” he said. “Me and him (QB Tommy Finn) communicated badly. It happens. But we had confidence in our defense. We came back. They ran one play and scored. We'd been in that position before.”

“We had a good group of kids. No trouble makers. We did a lot of things together.”

Junior linebacker Garret Klein had 16 tackles to lead Andrean and Steve Egan (6-4, 215), who had missed the last two games with injury, returned to make four stops in limited duty.

Andrean's next quarterback will probably be Adam Shingle (6-0, 175), who made 13 tackles as a defensive back Saturday. Adam has apparently benefited from the six extra weeks of practice during the playoffs.

“He's throwing the ball better every day,” said one insider.

Heritage Hills, which is still 68-4 in the last five seasons, had only 13 seniors among just 36 players. They'll probably be back in the semistate next season led by junior Seth Johannemann (6-2, 190), who had 11 tackles against Andrean. Halfback Jacob Nichols (169-904 yards, 28 TDs) also returns.

Heritage Hills inserted sophomore halfback Kyle James (5-6, 170) in at defensive tackle to chase Tommy Finn. The Patriots got more pressure on Finn than New Prairie or Hamilton Heights did, collecting three QB sacks.

Coach Brett St. Germain was asked why he didn't attempt a field goal on 4^th-and-goal from the 25, trailing 7-0 in the first quarter.

“We've attempted only a couple of field goals this year,” St. Germain smiled. “And we haven't made any of them. So I figured we might as well go for it.”

9-24-4 (L) 7-21 at Hobart (9-3)

10-8-4 (L) 14-48 at Griffith (9-3)

11-28-4 (Sat) 14-21 Andrean (13-2)