Lowell overcomes slow start to beat Ft. Wayne South 16-14, advances to RCA Dome
	A USA-365.com Special Report By Mark Smith 11-20-2005

Friday, Nov. 18, 2005,  32 degrees, clear - Class 4A, Semistate at Lowell

1st Qtr:  No scoring.

2nd Qtr:  FW SOUTH (7-0) Deontrai Campbell, 4-yard run. 85-yard drive, 19 plays. Jonothan McCoy kick. 9:05 left.
FW SOUTH (14-0) Deontrai Campbell, 14-yard run. 50-yard drive, 4 plays. McCoy kick. 4:40 left.
3rd Qtr:  LOWELL (7-14) Jeff Clemens, 18-yard pass from Jimmy Ritter. 75-yard drive, 11 plays. David Lang kick. 4:44 left.
4th Qtr:  LOWELL (13-14) Scott Gray, 74-yard run. 76-yard drive, 3 plays. Kick wide right. 10:22 left.
LOWELL (16-14) David Lang, 32-yard field goal. 22 yard drive, 6 plays. 8:15 left.

RUSHING:  

LOWELL (30-145 yards, TD, fumble): 

Steffan Peck (L) 3-3 yards, Jeff Clemens (L) 3-11 yards;  Jimmy Ritter (L) 7-8 yards;  Scott Gray (L) 17-123 yards, TD.
FW SOUTH (44-156 yards, 2 TDs):

Deontrai Campbell (FWS) 12-53, 2 TDs; Quinton Scott (FWS) 13-50 yards; Robert Murphy (FWS) 14-33 yards; Andre LaGrone (FWS) 5-20 yards.

PASSING:

Quinton Scott (FWS) 4-9, 61 yards, 2 INTs.  

Jimmy Ritter (L)  6-9,  64 yards, TD.

RECEIVING:

Deontrai Campbell (FWS) 2-20; Eric Lathan (FWS) 1-7, Robert Murphy (FWS) 1-34
Jeff Clemens (L) 4-48;  Steffan Peck (L) 1-13; Chris Lampa (L) 1-3 yards

TOTAL YARDS:

(FW) South -  217;  LOWELL - 209

TURNOVERS:

(FW) South - 2;  LOWELL - 1

FIRST DOWNS:

(FW) South - 11, LOWELL - 8

Ft. Wayne South mounted an impressive first half attack with QB Quinton Scott #22 and running back Deontrai Campbell #32 combining their passing and running for a 14-0 lead over Lowell, 11-18-2005.

Scott was held to 4 of 9 passing for 61 yards and 2 interceptions thanks to pressure by Lowell's defense, in this play by Ethan Winel #44.  (All photos by Mark Smith.)

Lowell got back into the game on an 18-yard TD pass from QB Jimmy Ritter to TE Chris Lampa #24 in the 3rd quarter. Javon Reece #52 defends for Ft. Wayne South on the play.

The Lowell Red Devil pep band added some flare and pizzazz (good music, too!) to the semistate championship atmosphere, 11-18-2005.

Lowell's hometown fans cheer on the Red Devils in their first ever semistate victory, 16-14 over Ft. Wayne South to gain a berth in the state finals.

LOWELL, IN (11-18-2005) - Since Lowell had been to the Class 4A Northern Semistate championship game in 1994 and 1999, it was fair to assume that Friday's 2005 Northern Semistate title game against Fort Wayne South was a rare opportunity.  One that was slipping away big-time when South Side took a 14-0 halftime lead.

"There were no adjustments at halftime," said senior Jed Travis.  "I mean, we knew what to do. We just weren't getting it done. We just had to ask, Do we have it or not?  Do we want this or not?  Obviously, we wanted it."

What Lowell wanted is the fantasy of every young football player from the day he suits up as a little kid. Lowell's come-from-behind 16-14 win over South, Lowell fifth consecutive playoff victory, wrote a new page of Red Devil history.  In the 33 years of the Indiana High School Athletic Association (IHSAA) state tourney, this will be the first time Lowell has reached the championship game.

The Devils take on Indianapolis Roncalli [12-2], winner of Saturday night's southern Indiana 4A semistate 14-9 over tradition-rich Jasper.  Roncalli is a three-time defending state 4A champion.  Lowell's first-ever state finals appearance in any team sport will kickoff at 2:30 p.m. Central Standard time (3:30 p.m., EST) Saturday, Nov. 26 in the 55,000-seat RCA Dome in downtown Indianapolis.

But no matter what happens in that game, the Red Devils (10-4) created a life long memory for the Lowell residents in the overflow crowd of 2,500 behind Lowell high school on a bitter cold night.  Trailing 14-0, Lowell quarterback Jimmy Ritter fired an 18-yard TD pass to star wide receiver Jeff Clemens to cut the lead to 14-7.  After the Lowell defense forced a South punt, 2,000-yard rusher Scott Gray took a pitchout around right end and ran away from the speedy Fort Wayne boys for what appeared to be a game-tying 76-yard touchdown.

But when sophomore kicker David Lang's extra point was ruled to have been wide to the right, South still led 14-13 with 10:22 to play.

The shivering crowd had forgotten about the 32-degree weather as the game had come down to a precious few plays in artificial light of the 8 o'clock hour of a late November Friday.

With the entire season on the line for both schools (South has never been to the state finals either), South QB Quinton Scott tried to toss a short pass near the hash marks toward the Lowell sideline that was snatched at the shoe tops by Clemens, one of the state leaders in interceptions.

With the chilly crowd now roaring on every play, Ritter completed a 1-yard pass to Clemens to the South 26. One play later, on a 2nd-and-8, Ritter's off-balance pass was nearly intercepted by the Archer's senior defensive back Russell Dedeaux. On fourth down, with less than nine minutes left in potentially the careers of every senior on the field, here comes the sophomore Lang again on a 4th-and-5, kicking towards the south end of the field.

"Jimmy Ritter told me I'd better make it," Lang would say a half hour later in the post-game celebration.  "I just did the thing I always do.  It all happened so fast."

Travis who, like all the seniors, is two years older than Lang admitted, "I didn't say anything to him. I just stayed away. That's his position. I was just going to let him do his thing. He practices every day. He can kick.  I just prayed to God his foot would strike the ball right."

The 5-foot-10 sophomore, who has three field goals in Lowell's last two games, struck the 32-yard kick very hard, the ball soaring over the goal posts and the construction crane that Lowell uses to film games behind the south end zone. In one of the craziest moments of all time, the Lowell crowd knew the kick was good before the referees, standing next to the goal posts, made the signal.

Lowell's JV coach Keith Kilmer, standing in the crane construction bucket 50 feet off the ground, immediately made the the referee's signal for a good kick (two arms pointing straight up) almost before the ball passed through the uprights with 8:15 to play.

Travis said, "I didn't even look. I just started saying 'Please, please, please.' But then it was good and I started jumping up and punching people. Jumping on people. I cant believe it. It still hasn't sunken in yet."

Jeff Clemens said that Lowell simulates that type of kick at every practice.

"I didn't have any doubt," he said of the winning kick. "We do the countdown every day in practice (as if the clock was running) and we don't leave until we make it.  He's a good kid. He's a good kicker and he's going to be real good in the future."

The future is now for Lowell, a school which had 23 consecutive .500 or below seasons from 1969 to 1992.

South (11-3), which has a similar history (The Archers never before won more than nine games in 80 years of high school football), got the ball twice in the final moments of their first-ever semistate game.  Junior 1,000-yard rusher Deontrai Campbell slipped on a 4th-and 3 run at the Lowell 38 with 4:35 to play and QB Quinton's Scott's 4th-and-3 pass from the South 32 was tipped at the line by defensive end Chris Lampa with 1:23 left in the game.  Ritter then took the snap and dropped to a knee three times to run the clock out before the Red Devil crowd rushed the field to celebrate one of the largest come-from-behind victories in the modern history of Lowell football.

"It was a great football game," said Lowell coach Kirk Kennedy, finally in the finals after 15 years of coaching. "This doesn't make any sense.  It hasn't sunk in yet.  Right now, I just feel like we won a close game late.  If I start thinking about what we've accomplished here, I might not make it to the locker room.

"After that first half, who'd have thought we'd have done this.  We challenged their heart and determination.  It wasn't a matter of Xs and 0s.  I don't know if we were tentative because of the magnitude of the evening or because they just stunned us."

South, the third place finisher in the powerful nine-team Summit Athletic Conference (which has 15 state titles) locked up Lowell early with their speedy defense and started a 10-minute, 19 play drive at their own 15 yard line. Scott (5-10, 185), operating out of Munster's double wing attack, skipped away from would-be tacklers for short gains or quick passes, frustrating the home team before Campbell (6-1, 190) swept right end for a four-yard TD that made it 7-0 with 9:05 to go in the half.

On the next possession, Ritter fumbled on an option keeper, and South got the ball at the 50-yard line. One play later, Scott avoided a near-sack and zipped a quick pas to fullback Robert Murphy who rumbled 34 yards to the Lowell 14.

On the next play, from a spread formation, Campbell zipped off right guard and scored untouched for the 14-0 edge. The Archers (a nickname that has to do with Fort Wayne's Indian heritage) weren't pounding Lowell so much as they were fooling them.

"I was pretty worried at the half," said junior lineman Michael Staniewicz. 

Lowell Coach Kirk Kennedy, 114-59 in his 15th year at the school, takes his first team to the state Class 4A finals Nov. 26 in the RCA Dome.

"It's very hard to simulate their speed in practice. It's just something you don't see." Kennedy added of South QB Quinton Scott. "We were surprised by his physicality, if that's a word. We knew he was fast but I think we had to adjust to his toughness."

Lowell's turnaround began late in the first half when Clemens intercepted Scott at the Lowell 10-yard-line on the final play of the second quarter. Had South gone ahead by three scores, Lowell could not have survived.

To start the third period, Travis and Lampa knocked down fullback Robert Murphy for no gain on first down and Ethan Winel helped stop Campbell for no gain on a 3rd-and-6.  Lowell then drove 75 yards to scored with Ritter hitting a roll-out 15-yard pass to Clemens on 3rd-and-14 to start the drive.  On a first down play from South's 18, Clemens went in motion behind the quarterback and cut up field at the snap against single coverage.

The Archers had been bringing nine players to the front to stop the run, so when Clemens ran past the South corner back there was no help defensively. Ritter's pass toward the goal post was perfect and the lead was cut to 14-7.

"We've had that play in since last season," said Clemens. "I 'told' coach to run it.  Jimmy put it right there. That was a big momentum swing."

"The first touchdown made us believe we could compete and put some doubt in their mind," said Kennedy.  "As many plays as we didn't make in the first half, we made them in the second half."

The next big play was a monster.  South picked up two first downs but chose to punt on a 4th-and-6 at the Lowell 32 when they could have attempted the first down. Jonothan McCoy's punt went out of bounds at the Lowell 20-yard-line and the Devils kept the momentum going.

On a 3rd-and-6 play at the Lowell 24, Gray took a pitchout and cut over right tackle breaking into the open. South's speed had been so obvious that it was assumed that Gray, who played both ways all night long, could not outrun the entire Archers' secondary. But the little Lowell sprinter (5-8, 176) pulled away from the tacklers to score what should have been the game-tying TD with 10:22 left.

It SHOULD have tied the game.  David Lang's extra point appeared to be good but was ruled wide by referees who were standing directly next to the goal posts.  Lowell was still behind with time running out.

"I thought it was good," said Lang later. "It went over the post.  It was close."

But, after the kickoff, South chose that moment to attempt their first, first-down pass all night. Clemens saw it coming.
"I want the ball thrown at me," the Red Devil senior would say later.  "We want the chance to make that play. I saw the quarterback's eyes and I just took it away from him (the receiver)." 

South's defense had held eight teams to 10 points or less so for Lowell to score 16 second half points was miraculous. The Archers may have tired after the long bus ride on a school day and the physical nature of Lowell may have slowed them.  Lowell has been a dominant second half team all season, something that is illogical since they have seven two-way players in Class 4A where most teams have two platoons.

Unless those two-way players are just special.

"Since Pop Warner, everybody has said that this team is going to the state finals," said linebacker Chris Lampa.  "Everybody's put so much pressure on us. It's so crazy that we're there. At halftime I wouldn't have believed this."

"We have our legends here. Mike Pickett (Lowell's all-time leading rusher who played on the Devils first semistate team in 1994) is here. I know tons of players who used to play and everybody's here. It's not just for us. The whole town wanted to come and watch this game. We do the work, but its for everybody."

Scott Gray, who carried the ball 17 times for 123 yards to approach the 2,200 yard mark for the season, was part of the reason hopes were so high for this class, which was undefeated in seventh, eighth and ninth grades.

"Six years," he said after Friday's win.  "We've been saying this for six years now. The 1-4 start helped us tonight, I think.  We knew what it was like to be down and come back."

SEMISTATE NOTES:  South ran a play which is called the 'Jet sweep' where a player lines up in a wing position and races laterally in front of the retreating QB, who hands him the ball forward for a fast moving sweep. Combine that with Campbell (5-10, 185) in a one back set who can run a draw play straight ahead and Scott (5-11, 190) another sprinter at QB who can rock and roll in all directions and defenders are moving in three directions at once.

It's finesse offense designed for above average speed and South ended with 3,700 yards rushing in 14 games and 14 points was exactly what the Archers had scored in their other two losses.  South had lost to 5A No. 1 Snider 21-14 on Sept. 30 and 35-14 to 4A No. 3 Bishop Dwenger on Sept. 16.

Lowell rallied from a 14-0 deficit at home in last year's regional championship game against Wawasee only to lose 28-21. on Nov. 12, 2004. 

Some of us have tried to find the last time Lowell came from 14 points behind to win against anyone and we are still looking. At no time under coach Kirk Kennedy (15 years) has Lowell overcome a 14-point deficit.  

"This proves we can come from behind," said Chris Lampa. "We went back and forth against Concord (a 30-23 win on Nov. 11) but it wasn't like this."

Lampa says the team will try to refocus quickly on the state title game, an imposing matchup with Indianapolis Roncalli, the three-time defending champion.

"We can celebrate tonight, but we've still got to go back to work (Saturday) morning. We tried not to think about playing in the Dome but it was hard not to. Everybody was saying,"Ohhhh you guys get to play in the Dome. How are you going to practice next week? Are you going to get new shoes?"  But we stayed focused. We had the thoughts but we had the game before us. We overcame at the end."

South committed no official penalties in the entire semistate game The Archers were called for holding once but Lowell declined the penalty. Lowell has outscored the opposition 89-20 in the second half of five playoff games.

Lowell's coaching staff loaded up and drove the four hours to Jasper Saturday to watch the Jasper-Roncalli game. Lowell has never played either team. The Devils have never faced any team from Indianapolis.

Clemens said that playing on artificial turf won't be new to him. "I have played on artificial turf in a football camp down at Louisville," he said.  "But it's new for everybody else and it'll be an experience for them."

Dozens of former players including Toby Goetz, Clayton Miller, Larin Childress and Luke Lukasik braved the cold weather to watch the dramatic finish from the sidelines.

"They're all out here celebrating with us," Clemens said. "What else can I say?  They wore this jersey once and now we're wearing it. We owe it to them."

Copyright © 2005 USA-365.com and Meyer Multimedia Services, a division of Meyer Broadcasting Corp.  All rights reserved.
Revised: November 22, 2005 .