Lowell falls short of 4A State title hopes in 23-9 loss to Evansville Reitz

INDIANAPOLIS (11-28-2009) I have to laugh at the thought that anyone can be disappointed in Lowell being 1-2 in state finals' games in the last five years.  Yes, the Devils did lose 23-9 in their Class 4A state finals rematch against undefeated Reitz in the Lucas Oil Stadium Saturday afternoon.  The Panthers (15-0), as they did in 2007, jumped to a two touchdown lead in the first quarter and put Lowell in that come-from-behind box from which they could not rally on the floor of a big indoor stadium (it was the RCA Dome in 2007) in downtown Indianapolis.

But there seemed to be a different reaction after the game which saw Reitz strike for three long first half TD passes and then hold on.  Unlike the 33-14 loss in the RCA Dome in 2007, the Devils did not seem devastated by the loss.

"Coming down here isn't our goal," said Lowell coach Kirk Kennedy.  "Maybe we have to refocus; make some changes in how we prepare (for the title game).  Who knows what the future holds?  We'll get back in the weight room and get ready for next year."

Maybe it's just me, but that sounded different from when Lowell first reached the football finals in 2005 and when they were blown out in 2007.  This 'Thanksgiving-weekend-in-Indy' thing is no longer seen in terms of a once-in-a-lifetime thunderbolt.  Some six week tsunami that had endowed these mere mortal boys with superpowers that would expire when the clock ran out and never come again.  Saturday's 14-point loss was a big game that Lowell lost with their own errors, something they'd correct or (for the seniors) see corrected the next time Lowell was in the title game.

The next time?  The first two times Lowell reached the 4A state championship game, there seemed to be an unsettling feeling leaving the big building that the Devils might never be back.  This time?  While no one spoke these words, the Lowell attitude seemed to be, "We'll see you again in a year or two."

"Turnovers near the goal line hurt us," said Kennedy.  "Mistakes hurt us.  I liked our effort once we decided to play football.  But it just wasn't enough.  They're too good a football team to start the game that way.  I think it was just adjusting to tempo."

"I think we had trouble adjusting to game speed," said senior Jeff Stewart who played his final game.  "We were a little out of our routine.  And we shouldn't have.  We were here two years ago.  I think if we'd have just played our game from the start, we could have made this a little bit better of a game."

Lowell (13-2) was the dog chasing the mechanical rabbit all afternoon in the giant size downtown home of pro football's Indianapolis Colts.  The Devils trailed 20-3 at the half, even though they had nine first downs and 125 yards rushing.  Here's what really hurts.  After going 3-and-out the first two times they had possession of the ball, Lowell moved the ball every time they had it (except a 16 second, two play possession at the end of the first half) inside the Reitz' 45-yard-line.  It's hard to gain 250 yards rushing and not score more than nine points, but Lowell accomplished it.

Lowell's traditional game plan was working.  They won the 48-minute time of possession battle 27:23 to 20:37 and the disparity would have been wider if you take away the final 5:49 when Reitz was running out the clock.  There were some things about this championship game that didn't make sense.  Fourth-ranked Reitz was the better team, but so was second-ranked Bishop Dwenger, a team 4A No. 7 Lowell defeated 24-21 in the 4A Northern Semistate game on Nov 21.

You could make an argument that both offensive and defensive breakdowns lost the game for Lowell.  But statistics didn't totally bear that out.  The Devils defense held Reitz, a team that averaged 37 points a game, to just 23 and to only three in the second half.  And the Lowell offense out-gained Reitz 240-203 over the final three quarters.

You got the feeling, especially in the warm conditions inside the Lucas Oil Stadium, that Reitz, the 2007 state champ, would wear down and give up the big play.  But on all of Lowell's five plays that gained 20 yards or more (six if you counted Brandon Grubbe's 47-yard second quarter kickoff return), one of the final possible tacklers made a TD-saving stop.  That speaks to Reitz' team speed, but it also suggested how close Lowell came to winning.

There was debate as to what the biggest play of the game was.

Two plays after the opening kickoff, Reitz had a 3rd-and-3 at their own 42.  An apparent incomplete pass that would have forced a punt was overruled by a pass interference call that was not obvious.  Two plays later, Reitz QB Matt McIntosh, the younger brother of Paul McIntosh, who quarterbacked the west side Evansville school to a 33-14 state title game victory over Lowell in 2007, completed a 41-yard pass to junior Cuda Dimmet for the first TD of the game.

Lowell did not gain a first down on either of its first two possessions and the Panthers then tricked the Devils into a bigger hole.  McIntosh threw a lateral pass behind the line of scrimmage to receiver Jeff Hudson, who threw a 46-yard cross field oass to Dimmett for the second TD and a 13-0 lead with 3:35 left in the first quarter.

The Devils should not have been fooled by this play.  Hudson completed 14 of 15 passes on plays similar to this during the regular season.  Everyone at Lowell saw this play on tape in previous games.  In the excitement of the game, however, they all overreacted to the first 'pass' and were far out of position for the downfield throw.  After the TD play as the large Evansville crowd roared, you could see Lowell players reacting with great frustration, realizing 1.) They'd been suckered and 2.) They'd been warned.

"We were looking in the backfield," said defensive coordinator Brad Stewart.  "They have a few plays like that.  We knew that play was coming."

"That was something we saw on film," Kennedy confirmed.  "We flew to the ball too fast.  We just didn't leave anybody on the backside.  That was a very big play."

In the second quarter, Lowell lost out on another pivotal play.  After a 70-yard drive to the Reitz' 7-yard-line, Lowell junior Jordan Juarez broke off right guard inside the 5-yard line.  As he was being tackled near the goal line, Juarez held the ball out to try to 'stretch' the ball over the goal line.  Reitz lineman Shane Woodget knocked it away and recovered at the one yard line.

"He was just trying to make that extra effort," Stewart said.  "He was just trying to score.  You can't blame him for that."

Then in the final minute of the half, Lowell had a 4th-and-8 from the Reitz 45-yard-line with 53 seconds to go, trailing 13-3.  Instead of punting, the Lowell coaches decide to go for the first down, figuring that Reitz could not respond if they failed.  But Reitz senior Cody Dimmett, Cuda's older brother, sacked Lowell QB Ray Skamay for an 11-yard-loss before he could throw the ball.  Two plays later McIntosh throw a high-arching pass to the Lowell goal line that Red Devil defensive back Stephen Garton appeared to have covered.  Garton (5-8, 150) had inside position on Jeff Hudson (5-11, 160), but as the ball approached the goal line, Hudson cut in front of Garton and snatched it away from him, giving Reitz a 20-3 halftime lead.

"At that point in time we felt the game was slipping away," said Kennedy of the fourth down pass attempt.  "We took a chance to make a play.  You've got to believe in your kids.  They'd given me every indication to believe in them.  Why wouldn't I?"

The first half was a near total disaster of big plays and it blew up Lowell's traditional game plan.

"We just keep pounding and pounding on your body," said Grubbe.  "Some opponents don't want any more of it.  That certainly wasn't these guys.  That's why they're over there with the medals right now."

On the other side of the field, there was the circular story of Matt McIntosh, who watched his two older brothers (Ryan McIntosh was a wide receiver on the 2007 team) win two years ago before he was able to duplicate their feat.

"I cant describe it," said Matt, with a heavy southern accent after the game.  "We had great senior leadership and I look up to my brothers.  I mean, we did it.  I just sat in the pocket.  My receivers did a great job of going after the ball.  That play (the double pass) was a big play in the game.  It really got us going."

It isn't accurate to say that Lowell dominated the second half, but they certainly competed on even terms.  The Devils took the second half kickoff and drove 81 yards for a touchdown with quarterback Ray Skamay completing a 34-yard pass to Joe Bell to the Reitz 3-yard line.  Grubbe scored his 37th TD of the season two plays later.  But McIntosh broke loose on a quarterback keeper and went 51 yards to set up a 28-yard field goal and Lowell trailed by 14 early in the final period.

A run of 42 yards by Grubbe sparked Lowell, but on 4th-and-2 at the Reitz 5-yard-line, Grubbe was tripped up and credited with a one yard gain.  The spot of the ball was questioned on the final two plays of that drive.  It appeared that a nine yard pass form Skamay to Juarez had moved the ball inside the 5-yard-line, but the referees placed the ball squarely at the 5.

"They did the same thing all day," Kennedy protested later.  "They spotted the ball when the runner's knee hit the ground, not where the ball was when the knee hit the ground.  They did it to both teams.  That's not right.  You spot the ball where the ball is when the knee hits."

Grubbe falling one yard short left the Devils down 14 with just 5:49 to make up two TDs.  That's when you knew it was over.

Kennedy seemed disappointed only in the bad start.  In the state finals, Lowell has been outscored 67-17 in three state finals appearances.  But think about it.  It's Lowell, a small town public school facing the state's traditional powers and we're talking about correcting their slow starts IN STATE TITLE GAMES.

"Three semistates," Kennedy recounted, standing in the middle of Indiana's biggest and best stadium.  "Two state finals appearances.  Nothing more to say.  Great leadership.  Great execution on the field.  They're down right now.  They're disappointed right now.  But when the dust settles, they'll realize the accomplishments."

"We really couldn't stop the big plays tonight," said Skamay, who, even though he has basketball and track left in his senior year, was emotional that his time as a Lowell football player had come to an end.

"That's really what it is.  I'm so happy that we got here, but just the thought of this being the end.  It's tough."

"I was happy with our playoff run until now," said Juarez, who will be counted on as a team leader in 2010.  "People had doubts about us at the start.  Plymouth and (Bishop) Dwenger.  They were supposed to be better than us.  We cleared five hurdles.  It was just the sixth one."

FINALS NOTES:  Brandon Grubbe carried 30 times for 160 yards Saturday in the final game of the year.  The Lowell senior's final totals are 1,001 carries for 5,923 yards and 80 touchdowns in three seasons.

There was a lot of talk at the finals about Lowell being a 'dinosaur', a team that runs the ball 95% of the time, the way football was in the 50s and 60s.  It's true.  That's like saying Charlie Weis left a little to be desired in the won-loss column at Notre Dame.  But there's a reality we all have to accept about Lowell football.

While the present Lowell style does appear to put Lowell at a disadvantage in the perfect, windless conditions of the dearly departed RCA Dome and now the $720 million dollar Lucas Oil Arena, there is a huge 'Catch 22' for the Devils.

Forget for a second that Lowell won't ever get the quantity of talent of the other three final four programs (Reitz, Cathedral and Bishop Dwenger) in the 2009 (and the 2007) Class 4A state tourney, that Lowell's style of play is (and always has been) what wins in Northwest Indiana in October and November where you'd have a hard time playing the spread offense that Reitz uses.

The Devils will always be an underdog at the state finals and, like most athletic teams, they'd rather be.

Lowell has won 13 games for three consecutive seasons and they are 39-5 in that time period, the best record in school history.  Lowell has never won 14 games.  Reitz went 15-0 for the second time in three seasons.  The Panthers are 39-2 in the last three seasons.  Reitz was a Class 5A school from 1998 to 2006.

The Lucas Oil Stadium, a spectacular high rising indoor facility, had two unexpected features.  Even when it is half full, it was warmer than you would want for football.  This may have been because the temperatures were in the mid-50s Saturday and the retractable roof was closed.  If they had to do it over again, IHSAA officials might have opened the roof for the first game (it takes a half hour to open and close the roof) and played the game in the open air conditions.

Also, the Lucas Oil Stadium has giant glass windows at the north and south ends that allow fans to see the skyline of the downtown area.  The problem is, the sunlight affects play and viewing the game.  The field is nearly as bright as being outdoors.  This was not a factor in Lowell's game, but it most certainly was evident in West Lafayette's 24-10 victory over Evansville Memorial in the 3A title game that began at 12 noon.

Indiana high schools do not play afternoon games at any level of play and sunlight problems are new to the boys.  There probably isn't anything stadium officials even want to do about the big windows, which are actually a feature of the stadium.  They are a nod to old style Indiana basketball gymnasiums where there are windows up near the ceiling.  Under the present state tournament schedule, the sunlight issue will only affect the mid-afternoon 3A game.

Jordan Juarez said it really is possible to forget where you are during the game.

"When you first start playing," he explained.  "You go, 'Wow! This is the Colts stadium.'  But where you sat playing, it's just like any other game.  It's a lot of fun, though."

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Revised: December 01, 2009 .