East Noble comes back to beat Red Devils 20-13 at Inferno to advance to Semistate

A USA-365.com Special Report By Mark Smith

Team	1	2	3	4	F
East Noble (13-0)	0	7	0	13	20
Lowell (11-2)	0	0	13	0	13

Friday, Nov. 14, 2003, 40 degrees in Lowell, 4A Regional Championship

1st Q: No scoring.
2nd Q: EAST NOBLE (7-0) Derrick Fisher, 2-yard run (3rd TD). 48 yards, 6 plays.
John Bowen kick. 9:57 left.
3rd Q: LOWELL (7-7) Justin Henley, 65-yard run (21st TD), 83 yards, 5 plays. Korey Kildaras kick. 4:48 left.
LOWELL (7-13) Toby Goetz (13th TD), 15-yard pass from Chuck Thompson.
41 yards, 6 plays. Kick wide. :36 left
4th Q: EAST NOBLE (13-13) Konrad Mundon, 42-yard run (16th TD). 75 yards, 11 plays. Kick wide. 7:33 left.
EAST NOBLE (20-13) Jeff Wedding 1-yard QB sneak (9th TD). 54 yards, 11 plays. John Bowen kick. 0:56 left.

LOWELL (11-14-2003) - If you accept losing as part of the game and not life and death, then you realize that the odds are almost incomprehensible against your squad being good enough and lucky enough to be one of the five teams in 300 that ends the year with a victory in the Indiana state football tournament.

So, if you have to get beat, pick your poison.

How about getting beat by an undefeated, top-ranked former state champion which scores a last minute touchdown to break a tie? In front of a sellout home crowd? Death with honor.

Lowell gave it everything they had but, in the end, they didn't have enough Friday night, losing the regional title by a 20-13 count in front of a capacity crowd out behind the old high school on Route 2.

"We knew that Lowell was a second half team," said East Noble quarterback Jeffery Wedding. "And they proved that. We made some mistakes, but we came back and we just pushed it over."

Wedding, the 6-foot-3, 200 pound three-year starting quarterback, pushed it over from the one yard line on a 4th-and-goal sneak from the one yard line with 56 seconds left, breaking a 13-13 tie and giving the Noble County boys their second regional championship in four years.

It was one of many individual plays which Lowell probably wishes they had to do again. But the Devils (11-2) simply didn't have enough defensively to stop two fourth quarter scoring drives, falling in 40-degree weather to the bigger team from the other side of the state.

"Nobody's doubting our physical effort," said Lowell coach Kirk Kennedy. "But we made a lot of mistakes. They made a few but we made the glaring mistakes. Some that were obvious and some that weren't so obvious. I didn't know if we tightened up down the stretch or what. They made the plays to win and we didn't. I'm as proud of them now as I've ever been. Effort's not the issue. But in a situation like this, mistakes decide it."

The key play f the game came with Lowell leading 13-7. East Noble had just lost 10 yards on a holding penalty and 10 more on an attempted halfback pass by Cody Schneider. On third down and 28, the Knights called a draw play to Konrad Mundon, East Noble's 1,000-yard halfback.

"I was just trying to get about half the yards," admitted East Noble coach Chris DePew later. "So on fourth down we could get a potential field goal or a makable fourth down play. That's all I was doing really."

Mundon broke off left guard and proceeded to break at least four tackles on a 42-yard game-tying touchdown run. A five-yard offside penalty pushed the Knights back far enough where kicker John Bowen missed the extra point but the visitors were even and back in the game.

"Missed tackles," Kennedy said. "We were all over him. Diving at his feet. When you tackle you have to run through the ball carrier. You've got to bring your feet and plant them. We just didn't do that. I give credit to them for the way he ran the play."

Mundon, a 180-pound sophomore who was little more than JV (Schneider was the starting tailback) at the start of the year. He is clearly a coming, state-caliber star. Entering the game with 1,119 yards in 158 carries, Mundon, who is 15 years old, gained 210 yards on 35 carries and did not fumble. He will get bigger, stronger and faster and Lowell, which expects to be good for the next couple of years at least, may see him in future years.

"Konrad can do some things," said DePew, who was an assistant coach on East Noble's 2000 Class 4A state title team. "And he showed it there."

Kennedy said, "He (Mundon) was running low, running hard and falling forward. They were patient and didn't panic when they fell behind."

Lowell's Justin Henley grabbed the kickoff and raced 27 yards to the 50-yard line with 7:10 to play but the Devils lost 16 yards on three offensive plays. A five yard penalty and a bad punt carried only 19 yards to the Lowell 47. East Noble drove 54 yards in 12 plays (including 11 consecutive runs by Mundon) to win the game on a fourth down, one-yard QB sneak with 56 seconds left. After a holding penalty on first down. Mundon broke two tackles on a 22 yard run to the Lowell 32 that made it obvious to the 3,000 chilly fans that the favored team was taking over.

"I thought we definitely had momentum there in the third quarter," said Kennedy. "The game was ours to win, the way it was going. They made some big plays and so did we."

East Noble came in averaging 37 points and 400 yards a game. Wedding, a left-handed QB with 15 TD passes, began the game with 105 of 164 for 1,664 yards a game and he was held to 3-of-7 passing for 71 yards.

"They were doing some things defensively that were different from what we expected," said East Noble coach Chris DePew. "But we found some things that worked and we stayed with them. I don't think I called more than five different plays on that last drive."

He didn't have to. Some deny the obvious but size does matter.

East Noble's offensive front included juniors Juan Hernandez (5-10, 245), Aaron Bauman (5-11, 275) and Brody Dixon (6-4, 305) and tight end Adam Taulbee (6-5, 220) blocking for the hard-running Mundon. Lowell's speed, a big factor for three quarters, was not a factor in the final two East Noble TD drives. In the final period, East Noble gained 127 yards, while Lowell lost 17 yards in six plays.

After a relatively even first half, it looked like Lowell might be able to overcome the Knights' power advantage. But in the end, the better team won. East Noble came into the game with nine turnovers all season and they did not fumble or throw an interception in the regional title game. Lowell did not turn the ball over either. The Devils weren't timid. Junior lineman-linebacker Randy Lukasik, a former fullback, gained five yards on a 4th-and-2 fake punt with 5:35 to play in the third quarter and Lowell trailing 7-0. East Noble converted on fourth down three times, including the winning touchdown. But Lowell did stop the Knights on a 4th-and-1 at the Lowell 17 on the first possession of the second half. The multiple turning points created a memorable game for the big audience, that included players from Andrean, Kankakee Valley and other schools.

"They made the plays to win and we didn't. It was obvious there were two quality football teams on the field tonight. We got pressure on the quarterback but we've been doing that all year. I'm not going to talk negative about our kids. We were outplayed down the stretch, but I'm proud of our guys."

"We work hard. Everybody works hard. You want good things for your kids. I was glad they got to play in an environment like this. It was great that they got to experience something really special. We fell short of your goals. It hurts and it should hurt. When the dust settles, they'll realize that this was a special year. One goal was to put a number (a new year as sectional champions) on the scoreboard and they did that."

DEVIL NOTES: Lowell finished at 11-2 in 1994 but the regular season had only eight games at that time (schools play nine regular games now) and the Devils reached the semistate that season. East Noble was only 1-9 in 2001 and the quarterback was a sophomore named Jeff Wedding. "I thought if we stayed together that we could be good," he said Saturday.

The wide receiver reverse that lost 13 yards on a 3rd-and-13 play with the score tied early in the fourth quarter was not supposed to be a reverse. Halfback Justin Henley was supposed to fake the reverse and keep the ball. The play got confused. Schulz was handed the ball and he dropped it, losing yardage and forcing the punt that led to East Noble's winning TD drive.

Lowell's Larin Childress broke through the East Noble line on the first Knights' punt and barely missed blocking it deep in East Noble territory. Lowell's Jeff Clemens boomed a wind-aided punt 70 yards in the first quarter with the ball rolling to a stop on the East Noble one yard line. But senior Jim Jeffries, in punt coverage, accidentally knocked the ball over the goal line for a touchback, giving the Knights the ball at the 20 yard line.

Kennedy likened East Noble to a Lake Athletic Conference team. "Scheme-wise, they're a little like Munster," he said. "A lot of our seniors have played (on the varsity) since they were kids," said Kennedy. They've seen good examples and they've been bad examples. They've been through a lot. I am proud of the example they have set this year."

East Noble scored their first TD on a two-yard run by sophomore fullback Derrick Fisher early in the second quarter. Two plays earlier, Wedding fired a 29-yard pass to Eric Rhodes, who made a leaping catch at the Lowell three-yard-line. Rhodes appeared to land on the sideline but the referees ruled he had one foot in bounds. Lowell drove 80 yards in 12 plays to the East Noble nine yard line in the second quarter before Korey Kildaras missed a 26-yard field goal. That kick appeared to be very close but watchers in the end zone said it indeed did miss and the referee was correct.

Lowell is now 2-2 in regional title games with wins over Hobart in 1994 and McCutcheon in 1999. The Devils also lost to Hobart in 1992. Senior quarterback Chuck Thompson had one of his best games, gaining 48 yards on six carries and completing three of four passes for 28 yards and a touchdown.

Fullback Toby Goetz gained 38 yards on 11 carries. Henley gained 103 yards on 14 carries giving him 1,554 yards on 147 carries. Rhodes, who gained an East Noble school-record 889 yards on 48 catches during the season, caught only one pass for 29 yards. Lowell collected three quarterback sacks, giving them 49 on the season.

Three radio stations covered the game as well as Com Cast Cable TV, which will rerun the contest on Monday Nov. 17 and Wed. Nov. 19 at 7:00 p.m.

Regional Championship games (11-14-2003)

CLASS 5A
Game 1:   Penn 23, Portage 13
Game 2:   Fort Wayne Snider 36, Carmel 17
Game 3:   Warren Central 27, Ben Davis 20
Game 4:   Center Grove 31, Evansville Reitz 20

Class 4A
Game 1:   East Noble 20, LOWELL 13
Game 2:   Fort Wayne Dwenger 14 Muncie Central 7
Game 3:   Roncalli 35, Mooresville 14
Game 4:   Vincennes Lincoln (11-1) at East Central (10-2)

Class 3A
Game 1:   Hamilton Heights (10-2) at ANDREAN (12-0) (Sat, Nov. 15, 6:00pm)
Game 2:   NorthWood 58, Norwell 0
Game 3:   Indianapolis Chatard 50, Blackford 21
Game 4:   Heritage Hills 16, Batesville 12

Class 2A
Game 1:   Garrett 10, Rensselaer 7
Game 2:   Harding 15, Eastbrook 7
Game 3:   Tri-West Hendricks 21, Speedway 18
Game 4:   South Spencer 19, Brownstown Central 6

Class A
Game 1:   Adams Central 50, LaVille 13
Game 2:   Seeger 36, Carroll (Flora) 0
Game 3:   Indianapolis Ritter 45, Eastern Hancock 3
Game 4:   Tecumseh 41, Turkey Run 19

2003: LOWELL (11-2, 6-1 LAC)
COACH: KIRK KENNEDY, 94-50 in 13th year at Lowell

8-22: 20-13 Crown Point (5-5)
8-29: 42-0 at Calumet (2-8)
9-5: 33-0 Griffith (7-5)
9-12: 42-7 at Morton (5-6)
9-19: 7-21 Andrean (12-0)
9-26: 53-6 Hammond (1-9)
10-3: 22-20 at Munster (8-3)
10-10: 21-7 at Hobart (5-7)
10-17: 23-13 Highland (4-6)
10-24: Sectional 9 quarterfinal 58-21 Lew Wallace (4-6)
10-31: Sectional 9 semifinals 21-7 Munster (8-3)
11-7: Sectional 9 championship Hobart 34-3 (5-7)

11-14: 13-20 Regional championship East Noble (13-0)

(End season)