Great Time of the Year!
Posted 12/10/2008 3:27:00 PM
What a wonderful time of the year, especially for sports fans.

We’ve just come off of the IHSAA football state finals, which set attendance records with 56,050 at Lucas Oil Stadium over the two days. All five of the championship games were close with the 14-point difference in the 3A game the largest margin of victory, and of course the conclusion of the 5A championship game between Center Grove and Carmel was remarkable with Center Grove’s 22-point rally to beat the Greyhounds 36-33.

Some thoughts from the games I was able to watch:

What a tough, physical game between Fort Wayne Dwenger and Cathedral in the 4A contest – exactly what was expected. These are two schools that are known for their success in football and known for being tough teams. Congratulations to the Irish for their win and congratulations to the Saints for an undefeated regular season making it through a brutally tough schedule of Fort Wayne teams.

The 5A game was a classic. The game was over…. It was over, there were no doubts that Carmel was going to win!

During a third quarter commercial break in our radio network and webcast, I joked with play by play man Mark Jaynes and commentator Dick Dullaghan that it would be tough to figure out who would win the Wendy’s High School Player of the Game (being very sarcastic, because Carmel and quarterback Morgan Newton had been absolutely dominant to that point).

In fact, it was so far over (in my mind) that I approached Carmel Athletic Director Jim Inskeep on the sideline to ask him how many overall state championships Carmel would have after the win.

Then Center Grove put together what has to be one of the most impressive, if not improbable, quarters of Indiana high school football.

The defense held Carmel to four plays from scrimmage early in the fourth quarter, the offense moved the ball and scored, while the special teams and kicker Mike Wood delivered two successful onside kick attempts!

Down by 19 points, the Trojans scored 22 unanswered to win.

At any state championship event emotions are high. The emotions on the Center Grove sideline immediately after the game ended were inexplicable. Coaches, players, administrators, cheerleaders… everyone had tears in their eyes. Tears of joy, to be sure, but it was an amazing experience.

Getting back to why this is such a great time of year, look for plenty of updates in this space on high school basketball. While I happily enjoy all of Indiana high school sports, I am a mad man when it comes to basketball. I will be traveling to watch as many games as I can get to and it has already started for me.

Stay tuned in the coming days for some stories of who I’ve seen, talked to, and what is going on in the season so far. It will be another great season in gymnasiums all around the state!
Posted By: Chris May  
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